Make the Most Out of Your Visitas

As real spring weather is beginning to trickle into Cambridge, our lovely new prefrosh are as well! With Visitas approaching and time cracking down to make a college decision, it's important that your first impression of campus is the best that it can possibly be. Here are six tips to help you make the most of your Visitas experience!

Don’t Come in with a Packed Schedule (the website is a suggestion)

Yes, we know that you’re looking at the Visitas schedule, overwhelmed looking at how you’re going to be able to fit in an extracurricular fair, comedy show, and a jogging tour of campus all at once. But a quick piece of advice: Don’t! While it is good to have an idea of what you would like to do during your time visiting campus, it is much more worthwhile to come in with an open mind. Being lenient allows for spontaneity, which you will appreciate when trying to make plans with your new friends! Walk by the river, or even grab boba! (Seriously though there’s like five boba places in the square now)

Know what different entryways mean (if you are in an upperclassman dorm!)

This might be a personal one, but I think that everyone should learn from my experience. As someone who was hosted in Pfoho as a prefrosh, without even knowing what the Quad was, it was definitely a feat navigating to and from the yard (not to mention I didn’t even have swipe access into the building). Anywho, PLEASE pay attention to what entryway your host is in. There will be multiple dorms of the same number. Don’t knock on the wrong one — if the red lanyard isn’t enough to point you out among the other students, this definitely will be.

Be Genuine!

Lets face it, you are all incredible. You all got into Harvard, you’ve definitely got something under your belt that makes you incredibly unique and interesting among the rest. Key word is all. Don’t spend your time at Visitas flaunting how you’re still deciding between multiple Ivies or that you’re leaving early for Bulldog Days — nobody is asking nor does anyone care. The people that you are meeting are the ones that you will potentially spend the next four years of your life with, have fun and try to be yourself. There will be networking opportunities in the future, you have time to showcase your personality a little during this weekend.

Take Advantage of the Free Stuff

Okay, so I know that I mentioned the extracurricular fair earlier and said not to stress about making every event, but that is genuinely something that you should go to. The merch there? Like no other. There were bucket hats, drawstring bags, stickers, free coffee coupons, and even chewable coffee. (I still have these in my drawer at home, lowkey am too scared to try them.) Other events on the schedule will have free boba or other treats, and even the Harvard Shop had a little goodie bag for us to grab. You need to start your Harvard merch (and coffee?) collection somehow, this is obviously a wonderful place to start.

Remember a Blanket/Pillow/Sleeping Bag

Look, again maybe this was just a personal thing, but I didn’t realize that in being hosted we would literally be on someone’s floor. You’re going to be tired from walking all day, navigating a campus that you’re unfamiliar with and introducing yourself to a trillion new people. The last thing that you’re going to want is to have skin-to-floor contact with someone’s carpet that's overdue for a vacuum. It’s the core of midterms season, you can’t blame your hosts for their messes. Save yourself the trouble and make sure to come prepared!

Make Dean Khurana’s Instagram

This might not exactly make sense to you as a prefrosh now, but trust us. Soon it will.

This list of pointers could truly go on and on, but at the end of the day only one thing really matters: You! Visitas will only be what you make of it, so we hope that you take the opportunity to explore your new possible home with open arms. Congratulations, and we cannot wait to see you (and your red lanyards) on campus soon!