College Tours- an unnecessary fad ?

Students,

If you come to me for advice on a college visit, I will choose the road not taken. If you have some cool bucks stashed in your piggy bank or your parent's bank account, for sure, visit as many colleges as you want(an urban college, a large public university, or a small liberal arts campus). And why only visit colleges? Explore the ambient trees, parks, city life, nightlife, restaurants, etc. However, while you do, remember that college life needs immersion, and a visitation may not be sufficient. 

If you are visiting a college to gauge if you belong there based on how it looks and feels, well, unless the college has an abysmal infrastructure and abysmal reputation, in which case it doesn't require any consideration, they all look and feel pretty much the way colleges do(unless you are particular about spending your days in  Greek Revival or  Collegiate Gothic style architecture). Regarding your feelings, I suggest you be wary of your impulsive delight or disapproval. Feelings change as you acquire new experiences. Belonging takes time, and belonging takes effort. I believe that in an ''instant gratification" world, our orientation to life has skewed. Our desire to instantly click and connect is hyped preternaturally. Several things in life, unless they look and feel outright broken, demand time and attention. It can not be expedited. It should not be expedited. 

Colleges are about experiences, and I wonder if a two-day tour where you fall in love with the campus( with cloying sentimentality) and the architecture resonates with your personality translates into your lived experience, governed by many factors that kick into play once you start your college life. How woefully inadequate it is, that comfort becomes the barometer of your visit. Because comfort takes time. Comfort takes adjustment. Comfort takes commitment. Comfort also takes the readiness to move out of your echo chamber and be challenged by your own ignorance. For sure, that discomfort is bound to disturb your homeostasis and create repulsion, but it can also lead to the discovery of a world that doesn't look like you and sounds like you. There is no compulsion to subscribe to or attach yourself to the different world views. The mere acknowledgment of a different world is a celebration of diversity. That's a learning, too. 

College life(and, for that matter, life) is about CHANGE- What you like at first sight may not be ensured a few months later. As people, are we not fastidious and capricious? Do we not get quickly bored if our parents pack sandwiches for lunch three times in a row? What makes us, therefore, believe that what we see right now will continue to enchant and excite us for the next four years? As friends, academics, professors, and extracurriculars get added to our day-to-day routine, as roommate fights ensue, toilets clog, and ennui for cafeteria food sets, that's when real life jump starts. Visit a college if you must, but it isn't a mandatory rite of passage as it is made to believe. 

Not to forget, a million-dollar question is - You like the college, but what if the college doesn't reciprocate your affection? What if you don't gain admission to that college? What if you don't have the money or credentials to apply( brutal truth, nevertheless a truth). Does that mark the end of life? 

Well, one realistic way to answer this is to accept what comes your way and make the most of it. That 'most of it' is only possible when you keep the door ajar- for new experiences, for not-my-absolute-favorite experiences, for let-me-give-it-my best-shot experiences, for who-knows-this-might-just-work-for-me kind of experiences. A college education is not merely a rite of passage to assert your independence; it is also about discovering yourself in capabilities you never knew you had while reaffirming those you have known for a long time and those that add depth and meaning to your life.

Determination is a wonderful thing, but determination shouldn't equal rigidity. A rigid body, a stiff body, is a dead body. When your body bends at the joints, it moves and dances to the melody of life... sometimes euphonious, sometimes cacophonous, and sometimes silent. Embrace it all to experience what it means to be truly alive, and not just an appendage. 

Disclaimer- Some colleges consider a 'visit' almost as crucial as a GPA. It reflects your genuine interest and adds weight to your application. This piece of writing does not apply to you.