Students walking on campus, Johns Hopkins University, Md.
When you're doing a college search, keep geography in mind, don't just focus on academics.
Find out about the weather in that part of the country and how it affects sports and activities that are available.
Is the local culture conservative, laid back, radical — and will that be the right atmosphere for your child?
You can screen schools with recruitment videos or online campus tours, but take them with a grain of salt. They will show the campus in the best possible light.
Some websites also sell camcorder tapes of college tours that offer more objective video tours of college campuses. Not fancy, but at $15 each they provide a lot of information for the money.
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