Welcome to The College Tour's CORE Class. Here we walk through the four pillars of finding the right college for you: Location, Campus Culture, College Type and Majors. When finished with your class, please enter your email address where we will send you your answers, along with a certificate of completion. You will have the ability to also share your answers with your teacher, counselor, or parents. Click Play below to start the class now!

Welcome, everyone, to The College Tour’s Online Program. I'm Alex Boylan, Host and Co-Founder of The College Tour. The College Tour is a TV series that streams around the world on numerous platforms, including Amazon, Tubi, through The College Tour App, and right here at thecollegetour.com. Each episode of The College Tour tells a story of a new institution through the powerful lens of its students. These are authentic stories from your peers! Content from the TV series is used in this online class.

The College Tour is also a website. It was built to be one of the tools you use when starting your college search! On the website you will find all episodes of the TV series, college 'Tour' pages and hundres of videos. The stars of these videos are your peers, real students going to school at these institutions!

At The College Tour, we believe strongly in the power of story. Through stories, we are going help you with your college search.

So how does this program work? This class is video-based, meaning - we will pose a question, give you some guidance on what short videos to watch, and then you will add in your answers from what you learned. The whole class should take roughly 45 minutes to complete. Once finished, you should have a good idea of how best to think about and navigate your college search.

There are two main goals of The College Tour's Online Class:

1. We want to inspire you about attending college and help make your college research fun and not so overwhelming.
2. We want to bring colleges and their students' stories to YOU, especially if you are unable to tour in person.

Sound good? I’ll see you in the next video, everyone.

There are a lot of different, incredible tools and resources out there to use when navigating your college search. Many times, all the information can be a bit overwhelming. So we have narrowed down the Four Factors we recommend you consider when starting your college research.

#1. Location
#2. Campus Culture
#3. College Type
#4. Your Major

There are many other very important factors you will take into account: cost, scholarships, academic ratings, financial aid, sports programs, acceptance rate, graduation rate, student/teacher ratio, proximity to home and much more. But if you start with these four categories, it will help you begin to narrow down your search.

I’ll see you in the next video.

#1: Location
You may have heard the saying, "Location, location, location!" Well, there is a reason - your college's location can be key. For some, you might want to be in a small campus town, in a rural area. Some might want to go to college where the campus is right downtown in a major city. Some might want a small campus location right next to a major city, so you have access to internships. Some might want to be close to home. You might love snowy winters and want to go to a 4-season campus, while others might be ready to ditch the cold and head south where it’s warm year-round. You might want a location that is close to world-class adventure. Some of you may want to be in the mountains, while others want the ability to hit the beach on weekends. Many of you might not yet know. There are no right or wrong answers here. This is merely a tool to get you to start thinking about your college's location. Watch one or more videos from each category below and list what type of location you liked the best and why. And I’ll see you in the next video.

To Do: Watch some Location videos below and answer the questions at the bottom of this section.

#2. Campus Culture
Campus culture is an important aspect of choosing the right college for you. Each college has its own vibe, traditions, academic programs, clubs, school spirit and much more. Finding one that matches your personality will enhance your college experience greatly.
Watch some of the videos below to get a sense of some different campus cultures. Once finished, write your answer about the kind of campus culture you are looking for. And I'll see you in the next video, everyone.

To Do: Watch some Campus Culture videos below and answer the questions at the bottom of this section.

#3. College Type
There are many different types of colleges and universities out there. There are large state universities, smaller private liberal arts colleges and community colleges. There are schools that focus on agriculture, technology or research, while others that are more technical. There are also schools with various affiliations - HBCU's, religious schools, art institutions, and lots more.

So which one is right for you? Watch some of the videos below and write down which College Type makes sense for you! And I’ll see you in the next video.

To Do: Watch some College Type videos below and answer the questions at the bottom of this section.

#4. Your Major
At some point in your college journey, you will need to choose your Major. I bet there are some of you out there that have always known what you wanted to be as a professional… but I bet there are a lot more of you out there that don’t know! That is OK! If I am being honest… I didn’t know what I wanted to study when I was going to college. But The College Tour is here to help you… whether you want to study engineering, entrepreneurship, aerospace, nursing, communications or any of the hundreds of other majors out there… it's fun to learn about majors - what that study and work will look like at college, and how that will translate into a job, after college. (In addition, some of you might be re-careering or be a non-traditional adult learner.)
Watch some of the videos below and write down one or more Majors you are interested in and why. And I’ll see you in the final video.

To Do: Watch some Major videos below and answer the questions at the bottom of this section.

First off, congratulations on making it to the end of The College Tour’s Online Program. You have now heard stories from your peers with various backgrounds, who attend different types of colleges, in different locations, with different campus cultures, and have gotten an idea on a wide range of majors. So here is your final question to answer: from all you have learned today… write down one or more colleges you are interested in applying to, and why. And remember, we are here to be one of your resources whenever you need. Just go to thecollegetour.com, watch episodes, research more on our ‘Tour' pages, and most importantly, have some fun!

We hope you have enjoyed this class. More importantly, we hope to see you on campus real soon! Cheers, everyone!

To Do: Take a moment to write down which colleges appealed to you and why, in the text area below.

You Made it!

To Do: Enter your contact info below to receive an email with all of your responses and receive your certificate for completing the class!