What to Expect on Your University of Denver Campus Tour
What to Expect Touring The University of Denver
What you should expect
Pre-tour presentation
The campus tour
Touring the University of Denver
If you’re a college-bound student, or the parent of one, planning a University of Denver campus tour this fall, winter, or spring, this guide will walk you through exactly what to expect. You’ll get a clear look at how the visit is structured, what information you’ll hear, and how to get the most out of your time on campus.
If DU is already on your list, something probably caught your interest: the mix of mountain access and big-city opportunities, a campus that balances outdoorsy and urban energy, or maybe specific programs you’ve heard good things about.
But the actual tour is where you start getting answers to the real questions:
What is student life here actually like?
Do you need a car?
Can you balance academics with everything Denver offers?
Is DU a place where I’d feel at home?
If you’re asking these, you’re likely in that phase of the search where your list has narrowed from 4,000+ U.S. colleges down to 10–20 serious contenders. Now you’re trying to sort out which one is the best fit-and more importantly, which one you won’t look back on wishing you chose differently.
What You Should Expect
(You can schedule your DU tour here)
Most universities follow a similar tour format. DU’s standard visit lasts about three hours and includes:
Part 1: Admissions Office Presentation
Intermission: 10-minute break
Part 2: Tour Guide Introductions
Part 3: Campus Tour
The structure stays the same unless it’s a special event day such as Fridays @ DU, Journey to DU, or Transfer Preview Days.
Part 1: Admissions Department Presentation
Your day begins with an hour-long presentation led by an admissions advisor, someone who directly reviews applications. You’ll get a firehose of information, so note-taking can help.
However, after attending well over 20 DU tours in the past few months, I can confidently say that everything covered here is already available online, and even easier to understand on Vivaday.
Here’s what the presentation normally covers:
Cost & Financial Aid
Merit, athletic, and music scholarship opportunities
Standard cost info: Cost of Attendance (link)
Housing (2-year on-campus requirement)
First-Year Halls:
Johnson-McFarlane Hall (“JMac”)
Centennial Hall (“Halls”)
Centennial Towers (“Towers”)
Dimond Residential Village (newest, most updated)
Second-Year Options:
Nelson Hall
Nagel Hall
Transfer House
You can also ask current students about Housing on Vivaday.
Dining
One dining hall with 7 stations (almost every student will say its terrible)
$250 per quarter for food outside the dining hall
You can also ask current students about Dining on Vivaday.
Applications & Deadlines
DU accepts the Common App
Early Decision I: Nov 1
Early Decision II & Regular Decision: Jan 15
ED applicants receive an additional $5,000 merit award
You can also ask current students about their Application process on Vivaday.
Study Abroad
100+ programs
70%+ student participation
Cherington Scholars Program: round-trip flights + same DU tuition (scholarships included) for students with a 3.0+ GPA
Study abroad info: Study Abroad
You can also ask current students about Study Abroad on Vivaday.
School Facts
~6,600 undergrads
~6,200 graduate students
9:1 student-to-professor ratio
100+ student clubs (start your own with 10 friends)
Access to DU’s Mountain Campus
You can also ask current students about their experience on Vivaday.
Degree Offerings
100+ programs
Research-based liberal arts model
DU’s “4D Experience”:
Deepen Intellect
Develop Well-being
Discover Character
Design Careers & Lives of Purpose
You can also ask current students about their major on Vivaday.
Community & Student Life
On-campus resources
Academic support
Transportation
Campus culture
For almost all of these topics, you can get clearer, more personal insight by asking real DU students directly through Vivaday.
Part 2: Tour Guide Introductions
After the intermission you will meet the tour guides outside. The number of students that are registered for the tour that day affects how many tour guides you can choose from. Typically there are 2 current students leading the tour.
Try to pick a student who is in the major you think you want to study. As a caveat, there are over 100 degree offerings so the odds that 2 tour guides are studying what you want to study are slim.
However, you can go on Vivaday and find a current student at DU who is studying what you want and ask them direct questions.
Part 3: The Campus Tour
The tour guide will walk you through the Engineering or Business school first (but not both), so you can select a guide based on who is leading that tour.
During the walking portion of the tour it's the best time to run to the front of the pack and get your questions in because once you are at a new stop on campus, the tour guide will give you a ton of info and crack a few jokes along the way.
TBH, the information the tour guide provides does not vary from tour to tour and each moves in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction around the 125 acre campus. Taking you through a mock dorm, athletic facilities, and some academic buildings.
On these standard tour days there won’t be allocated time for eating in the dining halls but if you go to the Admissions office they can hook you up with a day pass. BUT like I said, if you find a student on campus or on Vivaday and you ask them about the dining hall quality, they will tell you it's terrible and gets old fast.
Final Thoughts
I hope this breakdown helps you get the most out of your University of Denver visit. Touring is a huge step in narrowing down your college list—and getting one step closer to finding a school where you’ll feel confident, excited, and never wonder if you should have picked somewhere else.
Have a great tour!