<p>I was just curious if one really holds any weight over the other, or if both are such a such a small factor in admissions that it doesn't really matter. I'd like to think making the effort to visit the actual school especially if it is far from home would help a bit, but that's probably just wishful thinking.</p>
<p>“I’d like to think making the effort to visit the actual school especially if it is far from home would help a bit”</p>
<p>Since colleges that truly want the best possible applicant pools (i.e. the most selective colleges) know that for practical and financial reasons, this is limiting, they won’t place an advantage to this group.</p>
<p>For some schools, more reliant on yield, “demonstrated interest” will be a factor. </p>
<p>FYI: this group does not include any of the Ivies +MS</p>
<p>No ivies here :)</p>
<p>It’s hard to give you an dependable answer without knowing specifically which colleges and universities you mean. But it isn’t too hard to say that the best way to know what any particular college thinks about this question is to ask them. Why not simply ask the colleges that you’re applying to?</p>
<p>My daughter did this in the fall of 2010. Specifically, she asked at Brandeis. She said that if it would make a difference to Brandeis, she’d be perfectly happy to fly to Boston and interview on campus, but if it didn’t really matter to Brandeis, she’d interview with a local alum, and we’d save our money for tuition and keep our carbon footprint a little bit smaller. The answer she got from Brandeis? Save your money and your carbon footprint, and interview with an alum.</p>
<p>She got in. (And in the end, chose to go elsewhere, but I wouldn’t have predicted that at the time.)</p>
<p>The reason I asked was that I was wondering if the time on campus could have been better spent sitting in on a class or checking out the department than on an interview when he could have done that closer to home. This is Case Western, interviews are recommended, but not required. But he is there now, so no worries. And from the vague text messages I’ve received he’s actually giving thumbs up at first sight. This is from the kid who said he didn’t want to go to school in a city. It was worth the airfare so he could see all city campuses are not the same.</p>
<p>Probably, all things considered, a campus interview might be preferable. Seems to have been a big plus for older son. Younger son had an interview at one school with a senior interviewer (student volunteer or paid job, not sure) in the admissions office. Not sure how important that was. Ironically, for some reason, I still have her card on my bulletin board.</p>