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With homework assignments, extracurricular activities, and a social life, you're pressed for time. But the decision of where to go to College is upon you, and it's not one that should be taken lightly. Though you've narrowed your list down to 15 schools, you don't have enough time to visit all of them. So how can you get a feel for what each campus is really like? Turn to a Columbia University (New York, NY) alum and WB celebs for help.

Neglecting the  

campus visit

  is college suicide. The phrase "never judge a book by its cover" holds true in this case. Those shiny college brochures sure look nice, but you can't get a real sense for the student life, activities, and culture just by flipping pages.

Case in point - four years ago, Doug Imbruce found himself in the Big Apple, attending Columbia University despite never having visited the school. "After watching a few 'Seinfeld' reruns, I decided that New York City was my best bet. I applied last minute to Columbia," he recalls. "The acceptance [letter] came, and I was thrilled to have a shot at life in Manhattan as an Ivy League student. "Upon arrival, Doug realized he was incredibly unprepared for all the challenges Columbia and New York City posed. "I was miserable my first six months," he says.

Behind the Scenes: Creating THE U
Doug's little-fish-in-a-big-pond struggle eventually simmered. But he can't lie - it was a rough time in his life. And he'd hate for other students to make the same mistakes, which is why he created THE U, a collection of DVD tour guides of 50 popular American colleges. "One day while I was watching 'MTV Cribs,' I realized I could produce content teenagers would love that could also help them make one of the most important decisions of their lives," explains Doug. "Students need to understand that college is their decision. Making it for anyone else - parents, a boyfriend/girlfriend, friends - is a recipe for disaster." If you don't have the opportunity to visit your school choices, you can still avoid college--decision regret by actually taking a campus tour from the comfort of your own couch.

The DVD series is a collaboration of about 3,000 college students, dozens of TV production experts, a seasoned board of advisors, and 50 guidance counselors, all of which had a hand in producing segments of the DVD. "The videos don't patronize high school students, and we deliver a truly uncensored perspective on each college - everything from professors to partying," Doug says. "THE U gives students the opportunity to observe firsthand what College life is really like, while still providing important academic data and information."

Special Features: What's THE U Got to Offer?
The behind--the--scenes, MTV--style DVD tours various schools, solicits student feedback about their campus experiences, and showcases what schools have to offer students. All it takes is a push of the play button. Each school segment boasts the 4--1--1 on what professors expect from students, average class sizes, Cafeteria food, and the campus social scene.

About the Cast: THE U's Celebrity Tour Guides
If you can't physically visit your top school choices, how about touring campuses virtually alongside KRISTIN KREUK ("Smallville"), DAVID GALLAGHER ("7th Heaven"), JOANNA GARCIA ("Not Another Teen Movie"), HILARIE BURTON ("One Tree Hill"), CHRIS PRATT ("Everwood"), JAMES LAFFERTY ("One Tree Hill"), and JARED PADALECKI ("Supernatural")? TV stars like GREG SMITH of The WB's "Everwood" - a close friend of Doug's and THE U's executive producer - are contributed their time to help students with their college decisions by hosting various segments. Although Greg hasn't had the chance to go to college yet, he plans to apply when his TV production schedule simmers down.

"Doug and I have been friends for a long time. We first started talking about the idea [for THE U] three or four years ago," recalls Greg. "I had a lot of friends who were unhappy with their college choices. They relied on Web sites and brochures. Then they realized they didn't quite fit in at their chosen schools for a variety of different reasons."

Greg hopes THE U can help college--bounders avoid the mistakes his buds made. "THE U can be a very valuable tool with digestible content," he attests. To get the entire DVD collection for $39.99, visit www.theu.com. Individual discs - "The Ivy League," "Northeast," "South," "Midwest," and "West" - are available for $14.99 each.

Play All: Tour These Schools

• Columbia University (New York, NY)
• Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
• Princeton University (Princeton, NJ)
• Boston University (Boston, MA)
• Syracuse University (Syracuse, NY)
• University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL)
• Purdue University (West Lafayette, IN)
• University of California, Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)



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Ysolt Usigan is a frequent contributor to The CollegeBound Network. Learn more about finding a school that's right for you.

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