As a transfer student, should I visit schools?

<p>What are people's opinions on visiting schools if you're a transfer student? I'm guessing it's less important than for freshman admissions. Do people normally visit if they're applying to transfer? Or do they just visit after they get their acceptances? </p>

<p>Also, one more question: I'm at SUNY Stony Brook right now, and I'm not too thrilled with it. My lowest grade is a 99 out of all my classes, so I'll have a 4.0 most likely, or close to it. I have 30 credits brought in from AP classes, and I've seen that some schools want me to apply as a junior applicant based on this. I know that not all of my credits will transfer, but I need to explain and justify my major in this case. But I just started and am only in an introductory course in linguistics (my major), and I may want to switch to something else. Not that I don't like linguistics, but I'm also very interested in international relations. I feel like I could justify that as a major, more tangibly, than linguistics or philosophy. Like I've dedicated a lot of time and money to working with Oxfam, and I absolutely love it. I could see myself working for them long-term. I'm applying to be a change leader this year, too. I've spent hours dedicating my time to learning about their campaigns, especially the newest Grow campaign. I volunteer with the Manhattan Action Corps and am at events and meetings for it every week. I feel like I'm more passionate about than linguistics right now, but that's only because I have experience that relates to it. I find a lot of the transfer questions very difficult to answer because of the major thing and also not fully knowing how to articulate why I want to transfer to certain schools.</p>

<p>I feel like it’s equally important to visit schools as a transfer. After all, you’re going to be spending ~two years there, so shouldn’t you make sure it’s a place you love? Visiting (and taking tours, etc) shows interest, which is also a plus.</p>

<p>Yeah, I can see what you mean. I guess the problem is trying to fit in the time for that as well as money being an issue. </p>

<p>Should I visit my top choice - U. Chicago? I went to an info session for them and have spoken (3-4 times, both in person and via e-mail) to the person who will decide my acceptance (for Long Island), and she said I didn’t have to. I’m thinking I’ll visit the schools that I am able to drive to from NY? It’s not that I don’t want to visit the schools, but I’m wondering if it’s worth all the time/money if I don’t end up being accepted. They’re all really hard schools so for a lot of them it’s a toss up -
ex: USC, UVA, Barnard, U. Chicago, McGill, Reed, Swarthmore…
How else do I find out about a school besides visiting them? Like I don’t really know <em>why</em> I want to transfer besides sort of superficial characteristics. When I visited schools last year, it didn’t really help me in this aspect either, though. I just know they’re all good schools for my interests and am applying to each one for different reasons.</p>