Dear high schoolers touring college campuses,

Welcome to the beginning of the next chapter of your life! I’m sure many of you are feeling many different emotions when going on campus tours; I can remember feeling anxious, nervous, excited, and confused all at the same time while embarking on campus tours myself a few years ago. It’s perfectly normal to be feeling these things while stepping foot on a college campus for what may be the first time for many of you.

As a campus tour guide, I am excited to show off my school to you and your family, and I hope you all are equally as excited. I will happily tell you everything about my school, from how many chimneys are on the language building, to what to bring for your dorm room, to pointing out the best places to study, to which bus routes to take to avoid the bad weather.

Please engage with me while on tour. Tell me about yourselves! If I know more about you, I promise I will try to cater my tour towards your interests and tell you about different things on campus that may speak to you. Also, don’t be embarrassed if your parents ask a lot of questions. They are just looking out for you, and remember, this is also a bittersweet time for them. Don’t worry if you’re the girl whose dad asked about residence hall policies with both genders living on the same floor, or if you’re the boy whose mom asked about campus security five times. These are excellent questions to bring up, and I can guarantee that other parents on the tour were wondering the exact same thing.

Also, don’t worry if you don’t know what you want to major in while going on tour. Yes, some students know—or seem to know—exactly what they want to do with their life. However, it is perfectly normal for juniors and seniors in high school to not have a clue what they want to major in. Many freshmen (and some sophomores) in college haven’t even figured this out yet, either!

I know that some of the information I will tell you might be more or less interesting/exciting than others; however, please listen, because I am ultimately trying to benefit you and assist you in making one of the biggest decisions of your life: where to attend college. On my tours, I will mention many campus resources, from academic advisors to writing centers to the health center. Please don’t disregard this information, because I bet you will visit one, if not all, of these places during your college career at some point.

Finally, have fun on your campus tours! You are most likely getting out of class for this, right? Interact with the other students on your tour, if there are any. Take pictures with the famous statues on campus. Smile awkwardly for your parents by the sign with the school’s name on it while hundreds of college students walk by. And please, please tell me if I am about to walk backward into a light pole.

I hope to see you on campus soon!