I first toured Hope in August 2021. It wasn’t my first college visit, but it stood out as the first visit where I really felt like a person, not just a statistic or part of the tour guide’s daily checklist.
Before my tour, I had barely heard of Hope, but I had a friend go on a tour and recommend that I do the same. I suggested it to my mom. Not knowing a lot about the school, she wasn’t sold on the idea, but still we drove the hour from our home in Kalamazoo to Holland. We had a one-on-one summer tour, sat down with my admissions representative, and then stopped for coffee downtown at Lemonjello’s. It wasn’t a perfect day — the torrential downpour mid-tour certainly added some charm — but it was memorable in the best way it could be. Months later, after I’d officially made my college decision, my Mom told me she’d known it would be Hope by the way my eyes lit up during that very first tour (If only I had consciously known, too, then the decision-making process would have been much less stressful!).
If you’re thinking about touring Hope this summer, I couldn’t recommend the experience highly enough.
Through August, one-on-one in-person tours and meetings with admission representatives are offered weekdays from 8 to 4 p.m. These can be signed up for on the admissions website. Every Wednesday throughout the summer, admissions also hosts a group tour experience with a presentation. Hope also has options for virtual tours, and open houses throughout the summer.
What will a tour and admission representative meeting be like? In my experience, both were highly personalized. My tour guide shared my prospective major, so he was able to tell me about the department and introduce me to the professor in charge of internships. After the tour, I received an email from this professor connecting more about the department with me. Sitting down with my admissions representative was an equally encouraging experience. He clearly cared about me as a person and not just as a student, wanting to help me make the college decision that would work for me. He asked me about what I was interested in, not just my academics, and clearly cared about my responses. I left my day at Hope feeling like it would be a place where I felt I mattered, and where I could help other people feel that, too.
If you’re considering a summer visit at Hope, take a chance and try it out! Register for a campus visit at hope.edu/summer.