Imagine this: a student walking around on a future college campus. They see all the academic buildings and dorms, they meet with advisors and future students, and they try to see if that college can suit their needs. A student may need to repeat this process multiple times. Now, in reality, this image doesn’t exist.

At FHC, juniors and seniors are limited to two college visits a year. This number is rather insignificant and does not make sense. While there is a purpose to limiting college visits, two college visits a year simply isn’t enough.

When applying for colleges, students are often encouraged to apply to an average of five colleges. College visits are limited to four total for both your junior and senior year. This is not an adequate amount of visits. If students apply to five or more colleges, they will have to pick what schools they get to tour. While tours are available over the summer, one can get a completely different feel while students are on said campus. If a student wished to get a more accurate tour of a school, they would only have that opportunity four times.

Aside from finding a personal fit, students can also use college visits to weed out possible applications. If a student tours a college as a junior and absolutely hates it, they will probably not file an application. But, since students only have four total college visits for all of high school, students can not tour as many schools, therefore, making it harder to weed out possible schools. While unintentional, this lack of college visits creates more work and stress for students.

It is also very hard to schedule a college visit. Most colleges don’t plan visits on the weekends. Some students simply do not have the time after school to plan a visit. If a student plays a sport or has a job, it can be much more simple for a student to just miss a day of school. Schedule conflicts make it very difficult to plan a college visit.

As for out of state visits, these are almost impossible with the current policy. Some out of state schools are too far to only last one day. A student could use both of their allotted college visits for the year if they wish to tour an out of state school. There should be a fix for this issue. If a student would like to visit multiple out of state colleges, they should have the opportunity to.

One visit on campus simply isn’t enough to find the right fit. Students are forced to find the right piece of the puzzle with limited attempts. It is not right that students really don’t have the opportunity to visit the same school twice. In the case of most college seeking individuals, it is wise to take a tour and shadow a current system. But in the case of our current visit system, it is impossible to do both.

For some seniors, the limit on college visits is rather challenging. Seniors often spend the winter or spring season shadowing at colleges before they make their final decision. With the qualifications for exam exemptions, it can be very difficult to shadow at colleges and receive exam exemptions. Why do good students have to sacrifice finding the right college to be exempt from exams?

While I understand the purpose of limiting college visits, two visits for your junior and senior year simply are not enough. I believe that while there should be a college visit limitation, just two times a year is not fit. If a student does not have over seven college visits and they bring back a signature of authenticity from every college, I see no problem. Seven days may sound like a large number, but in perspective of a whole school year, this is less than four percent of the school year.

I believe that the current system needs to change. Honestly, all the days fly by in high school, one more absence won’t make a student fail. This policy is flawed and jeopardizes a student’s future happiness. Students should no longer have to sacrifice and bend over backward for college visits, FHC should start accommodating them.