Representatives from Brown University, Wake Forest University, Pomona College, California Institute of Technology, UC Riverside, and others have visited campus this fall, pushing the College and Career Center to its scheduling limits.

“We had 140 schools this year, and it’s usually around 120–meaning I had about 20 extra schools this year–so we’ll probably have less schools in the future,” said college and career adviser Joan Batcheller.

Although she encountered difficulty fitting all of the visits into the school’s schedule, Batcheller said that she found the college visits important and beneficial to students who are beginning their college search. “Kids should be coming, and a lot of kids don’t come, but it’s really worth the half an hour to hear the information,” she said. “These are the readers. Like the Brown guy goes, ‘I am your first read for your application.’ They can tell you what they’re looking for [like explaining] ‘This is how we look at applications holistically.'”

The increasing number of applications received from Campolindo students prompted many of these institutions to send representatives this year. Michael Cameron, assistant director of admissions at Brown University, told the attendees that he decided to come after noticing the amount of applications they received, and the potential he and his colleagues saw in Campolindo’s student body.

“[The college visits are] a pretty unique thing that happens at Campo,” said counselor Amardeep Dhaliwal. “We have a lot of college reps that come to visit, so I think it’s a good opportunity for students, especially seniors, to talk to people who represent the schools that they’re thinking about attending.”

“The college visits are a really good way to learn information about schools that you can’t just find on their website,” added junior Tali Braun. “I was able to find out what is and isn’t important to me in a school and which colleges would be a good fit for me, which was really helpful.”

While college visits are coming to an end for this year’s seniors as the early action deadline passes, Batcheller plans to facilitate these beneficial meetings for years to come.