<p>Well, how many schools do people apply to? My D1 had 9 schools on her list, heavily titled toward the Northeast. She had visited all but one of them before she applied, which was fairly easy to do in a single trip, plus one summer spent partially on Cape Cod which had been scheduled for reasons quite apart from the college decision process The school that became her top choice, where she applied and was accepted ED, was not even on her radar before the visit. We threw it in almost as an afterthought in a visit designed mainly to see another school nearby. She loved the school nearby (the original target) and for a few hours I thought it might be her #1 choice, until we visited what eventually became her #1 school later that same afternoon. It was love at first sight for both schools, and for a time they shared the#1 spot until further investigation and reflection moved the eventual #1 into firm command of the top spot. She’s never regretted that choice. Had we waited until after acceptances, it’s likely she never would have even applied to the school that she is now convinced was the best choice for her. And I’ve never doubted that choice, either. The school has a distinctive culture quite unlike any other; it’s not for everyone, but D1 knew immediately it was a great fit for her, and knowing her, I think she’s right.</p>
<p>D2, who is applying this year, also has 9 schools on her list and has visited every one. Her list is split pretty evenly between the Northeast and the Midwest. We’ve been able to do some of the Midwest schools on local day trips. She saw most of the Northeast schools on a single spring break trip with her mother, and one on a different spring break trip to visit her sister at her college.</p>
<p>I guess my thinking would be that if as the result of a visit you can eliminate a school before applying and paying the application fee, why not do so? It seems like a lot of wasted effort and a certain amount of wasted money to apply to a school that you’re going to end up not liking anyway. And it seems like an awful lot of pressure, as well as academic disruption, to cram in a bunch of visits and late acquisition of school-specific information in the spring of senior year with decision deadlines looming. If you’ve already done your homework and can go into the application process with a clear sense of relative preferences among the schools you’re applying to, that final decision is already pretty much made once the acceptances roll in. Assuming, of course, that you’ve got the resources to make the visits work.</p>
One note: we wasted significant time and money visiting a school that we could have eliminated in advance if we had done a little more homework–it didn’t have the right major. So it pays to do a little homework even before visiting.</p>
<p>Right, but distance isn’t the only factor. If returning home requires air travel, proximity to a major airport might also be an issue. Our D1 goes to college just outside Philadelphia; there are frequent non-stops between Philadelphia and Minneapolis-St.Paul, where we live. It’s roughly a 2.5 hour flight (actually less, but scheduled for 2.5), so realistically, she’s looking at about 4.5 hours doorstep to doorstep, leaving her college to get home. That makes it possible to come home for the occasional special weekend (e.g., to see her sister in a play).</p>
<p>One of the schools D2 is considering is Middlebury, which doesn’t have a major airport. You need to find a way to get to Burlington (just under an hour driving, but no regularly scheduled public transportation), then from there it’s anywhere from 5 to 7 hours of travel time with one or more changes of planes along the way. Or you could find a way to get to Bradley Airport in Connecticut, or Logan in Boston, or La Guardia in New York, and catch a non-stop flight from there; but given the travel time to any of those airports from Middlebury, the total travel time will be about the same as flying out of Burlington. Effectively that means whichever way you go, it’s going to take nearly a full day of travel to get home, which means the occasional weekend trip home just ain’t happening.</p>
<p>We have been on a few with the kids but it has been a mixed bag. Some have been over the summer during baseball tournaments. S1 rates the schools based on how he hits and on the depth of the fences. I’m not sure I trust my kids’ decisions based on what was going on in my mind 30 years ago on my college visits.</p>
<p>I liked Bucknell because they had large red brick buildings with white trim, something I vaguely connected with wealth and success. The students were largely well-dressed and good looking - another thing my immature nerd mind figured I would get if I went there, as if it were contagious.</p>
<p>I ended up attending RPI largely because the attractive blonde tour guide was obviously flirting with me. The way she smiled and looked the 16-year-old me in the eye when she talked told me that coming here was “meant to be.” Boy, was I surprised when I found out the next year that 1) she didn’t remember me at all, and 2) attractive blonde female sightings were rarer than yeti sightings on that campus.</p>
<p>I fed the folks some BS line like, “it just feels like the right place to me.” It turned out OK but was not the best fit. I like to think my BS filter is turned up a little higher than average, but my own kids’ judgement capacities, so far, have been better than mine at that age.</p>
<p>I went on two college visits this last summer, so let’s call them College A and College B. Before I went on the visits, College A was close to, if not my first choice college and College B was a college that was completely off my radar, but my parents insisted we go look at it.</p>
<p>First visit: College B.
It was wonderful. I felt at home, the students were awesome and welcoming, everything was perfect (maybe except the below freezing weather).</p>
<p>Second visit: College A.
Awful. Our tour guide (an admissions officer) walked at least a mile ahead of everyone else in the crowd the entire time and you would literally have to yell at her like a moron to ask her a question. At the end of the 30 minute tour, I was ready to run.</p>
<p>I’m a pretty analytic person obsessed with data and testimonials, but apparently I give massive tons of weight to campus visits. After these two visits, College B jumped to my first choice college and College A plummeted down to the bottom of the 5.</p>
<p>I’m not dissing you JHS. I hope you know that.</p>
<p>My son visited 20 and applied to 10. We visited about 10 safeties and he picked 2, I think unerringly. He applied to both EA and was accepted to both. Either would have been a good choice. He was accepted at the other 8 too and then April was busy. He had a vacation week and we took a second week for revisits. His schools were always good about time off if we notified and there were no conflicts. He brought work along if he needed to. Again, we loved the visits and thought they were valuable, but if students can’t do them that might work too. My H walked on to his campus, sight unseen back in the 60s. He couldn’t have chosen better than Oberlin.</p>
<p>Cantconcentrate, why would you eliminate College A just because ONE person (whom you’d never have to deal with if you went there) is a dork? That’s about like eliminating a college because it rained while you were visiting.</p>
<p>Tip of the iceberg. If the admissions office cannot find and train appropriate tour guides, why should you assume that the rest of the school is run competently?</p>
<p>I took campus visits over the summer. College A ~ 1 hour away from home. College B ~ 2-3 hours away from home.</p>
<p>College A: I signed up for a regular visit. My parents and I had a walking tour of campus, dorm tour, attending a meeting about the school, and a meeting about how to apply. During the lunch break, I ate at the school’s largest dining hall. I thought the food was decent but my dad believed otherwise. Also, there were booths set up at the dining hall for incoming freshmen to get more information about the school.</p>
<p>College B: I signed up for a campus recruitment event. There were refreshments and basic info tables before the actual introductory meeting about the school. Afterwards, groups of prospectives were split off to planned events. A walking tour came first. My parents and I attended a professional med meeting, housing meeting, and financial meeting. By noon’ish, the campus event was over and groups were leaving. My parents and I ate at the school’s Union and ate Wendy’s. We attended a dorm tour of a new hall. </p>
<p>Personally, my main reason for the visits was to confirm what research I had about both schools and to get a general vibe of imagining myself attending.</p>
<p>I agree with LoremIpsum. We wouldn’t necessarily eliminate schools with tour guides whose personalities we disliked, but if they were unfriendly, stupid, silly, or generally incompetent–absolutely.</p>
<p>I think so. Some colleges consider ‘shown interest’ when they are reviewing applications. Some more than others. Also, whatever impression you may have of a particular college may change after you visit. It did for me. I visited two universities where I thought I would be applying before I visited and changed my mind afterwards. I visited another where I thought it would be too large of a university (and is an arch rival of my b-ball team) for me but after I visited, loved it. Also, it is important to visit while students are in session.</p>
<p>I don’t think so. Well atleast I hope not. I hope to go to college out-of-state across the country. I suggest getting in touch with current students and alumni.</p>
<p>It ultimately depends on two factors: campus culture and shown interest. And for both you need to know what kind of college you’re applying to and what they’re looking for. For example, Union had about 7-8 questions on the commonapp supp asking if you have ever visited, toured, went to a college fair and saw them, etc. I unfortunately marked no for everything… It didn’t look so good. But I did get in so take it with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>DISCLAIMER: I’ve only visited two colleges and I’m a senior applying to colleges, 12 in total.</p>
<p>Sad to say, but tour guides make a difference. I was slightly in awe of our Caltech guide. She walked around backwards, in flip flops, knew everything about CS major, was just so articulate, said hi to many people, etc. I thought she was one of brightest young persons I had met.
Then to another college. Tour guide popped her gum, lots of umms, knew little about STEM majors, showed us her dorm room (a mess).</p>
<p>I never directly asked the worm his impression of the 2 guides. A few years later, he spoke of how nice the C guide was to him. She started working at a local company, and he was offered summer job there. She was a most impressive person.</p>
<p>I think visiting the campus benefits the applicant with decision making once he/she is accepted to the school of his/her choice. It’s a matter of " a good fit" to the applicant including the campus setting and ambience…</p>
<p>I think it’s important for a student who feels it is important…some kids really don’t care at all.</p>
<p>My kids grew up around a group who all wanted to go to one of the big state schools in Ohio (OSU, Miami, OU) and really didn’t care which they went to other than if they were big Buckeyes fans. They went where they got in or got $$$ or to the campus their social group chose. They all had fun, they all got educations, they all got jobs. All wanted a big school with a lot of school spirit. </p>
<p>There were some from the high school who wanted the same experience but without the big group from high school–they went to Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Kentucky–</p>
<p>None of them seemed to check out the schools in person til after they got in and it didn’t seem to matter to them.</p>
<p>My sons, and a lot of their closer social group, didn’t want big. Visiting smaller school, IMHO, is more important because a smaller school is more likely to have a defining vibe–it can be a lot harder to find a niche in such a school.</p>
<p>I am a freshman in college. I went on six college visits and applied to five schools. I agree with those of you who are saying the visits are not always that helpful. I made a lot of snap judgments about the schools I visited based on tour guides, how the dorms smelled, etc. Really silly stuff. Ultimately, I ended up at a large public university in my state. I’m happy with my decision. I do not understand the emphasis for kids to visit school after school and apply to so many different schools. One of my friends applied to 13 colleges, and he had the hardest time figuring out where to go. Not worth the stress. Visit, if your kid wants to, but it should be up to them.</p>
sounds familar to my Midwest state and I want to get out of it. I’d prefer going across the country (east/west doesn’t matter) so I feel the visits are expensive and time consuming for a junior who should be focusing on other things.</p>