College Info & Visit Summaries

We visit a dozen or more colleges each year. For Colorado schools, we visit the major colleges each year and the other smaller and regional public colleges every two years.

One of the best ways to understand the “vibe” and environment of a college or university is to physically visit and talk to as many current students as possible. That is why it is important to visit colleges while classes are in session, if at all possible. If you have friends that attend or have recently graduated from the school, talk with them. At a minimum, ask:

● What other colleges did you look at and why did you choose this one?
● What are the 3 or 4 most positive surprises about the school or the area that you weren’t expecting?
● Any negative surprises?
● What is your major? If it is one you are interested in, ask more about it and the program.

The reality is you can’t visit every school. Use these other resources to learn about it.
● The school’s web site
● Virtual tours
● Educated Quest College Profiles, Stuart Nachbar - Mostly Northeastern Schools

Our College Visit Summaries

Mostly Midwest and Western Schools

College Resource Books

Listed below are great resources, but are often limited to several hundred schools. They are available at most public libraries.

AHEC Visit Summaries

When we visit colleges, we collect various types of information to augment our database, but focus especially on current students’ experiences.

To provide a personal view combined with aggregated data, we combine our visit notes with an AI response that specifically tries to capture the social and academic “vibe” of the school. The AI pulls information from the college website and many other college related websites to get that view across more sources. Typically the AI responses align well with our observations, but there are occasional surprises. Remember that AI is typically not working with the most current data and some may be many years old.

The structure of our AHEC Visit Summaries is an initial list of student experience and vibe related items. Next is a list of Pros and Cons that are commonly mentioned in online forums. That is followed by a list comparative schools and how they are similar as well as how they differ from this specific school. At the end of the text we generally include the current Admissions Department presentation (excluding any video) followed by general pictures of the campus.

Beyond my visit notes, the AI is asked to give the highest preference to the school website for summary information, but others sources may be added by the AI.

Citations from the AI are forced to the extent possible. These visit summaries should be used as a starting point for further research as AI can provide inaccurate or outdated information. If interested in a college or university, pursue multiple sources of information, starting with the school’s website.