For Prairie Ridge High School student Nick Gungren, selecting a college is among many difficult decisions he’ll be faced with in the coming months.

As the Crystal Lake native found out at Monday’s open house, the decision on which college to attend just got a bit more difficult.

Gungren said he has also toured the campuses of Illinois State University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, but wanted to visit NIU before making a final call on where to attend.

“[Northern] is nice because it’s in-state,” Gungren said. “The cost is lower [than the other schools] and it’s pretty diverse. I don’t really know at this time, though. I’m just looking around.”

Val Berg, sophomore speech language pathology major, has helped with admissions for the past two years. Berg’s duties include running the bus tours and serving on the panel of the interactive welcome program “Northern Exposure,” which has enabled her to help undecided students like Gungren.

“I think if you have any questions at all about Northern, or just want to come and see the campus, this is a great way to get a jump start,” she said.

Monday’s open house, the first of four this year, drew an estimated 2,000 people, according to NIU Director of Admissions Robert Burk.

Burk, who has served in the admissions office since 1986, said the open house events are a direct indicator of future enrollment figures.

“You can really gauge how your year’s going to be based on the number of people who come to our open house programs,” Burk said. “The visits are indeed the most important thing. People know the name Northern Illinois, but can’t really tell the type of institution we have until they come here.”

Seventy-five percent of students in attendance will eventually submit an application for enrollment, he said.

“Northern puts on a really good forum on what it’s like to be an NIU student,” Burk said. “These visits, that’s the mother’s milk as far as recruitment’s concerned.”