<p>How important is the fact whether a student visited the school campus or not during the decision process?</p>
<p>I am looking at CMU and Columbia apps and they ask if one visited the campus. CMU actually says on their site that they prefer someone who has visited the campus.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>I think a campus visit always demonstrates that you are a serious applicant and not someone just tossing another app into the common app pile at the last minute. The campus visit is a meaningful way to show “demonstrated interest”. The fact that CMU and Columbia both ask on their applications if you visited campus is a tip-off that to them, it matters.</p>
<p>At CMU and many other schools, you get added points on your app for the campus visit.</p>
<p>If the visit to CMU or Columbia will be difficult for you due to distance or cost, make contact with your regional representatives at these schools to let them know you are very interested even though you are unable to visit.
However, if you live within a few hours drive of a school. you should make every effort to visit.</p>
<p>Are you certain kids get points added? I doubt it. Instead, usually, it expresses your interest to adcoms and shows your were serious enough to actually explore the campus. At competitive colleges, many applicants are using more of a scattershot technique-- don’t really prefer, let’s say, Columbia or CMU, often don’t even know what each is really about. But, for the price of the app, they can apply. Etc.</p>
<p>The best place to determine how a school really feels about ‘demonstrated interest’ is on their common data set. CMU’s indicates it’s an ‘important’ factor ( <a href=“http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2011_12/c-first-time-first-year-admission.pdf[/url]”>http://www.cmu.edu/ira/CDS/pdf/cds_2011_12/c-first-time-first-year-admission.pdf</a> ). Columbia’s data is not presented in the same format ( [Columbia</a> University Statistical Abstract | Student Data](<a href=“Columbia OPIR”>Columbia OPIR) ). Perhaps someone else knows where to find this. If they are asking about a visit on the application it’s a good guess that it matters to them.</p>
<p>Having said this, there are more ways to show demonstrated interest if a visit is not doable for you. As has been mentioned make contact with the local rep, see if there are any admissions events in your area and make sure to attend these, sign up for mailing lists from admissions as well as any available for your department of interest.</p>
<p>We visited CMU and the folks at Admission made sure child signed in. They said they made note of all visits. They were also conducting interviews (which you could sign up for online). It seemed like they did place some importance on visiting the campus.</p>
<p>Choosing colleges to apply to is a very thoughtful and targeted process. Spending tens of thousands of dollars is a huge financial commitment. Reading applications is time consuming and the labor costs for the college of staffing an admissions office is not negligible. Yes, I believe students should visit colleges they are serious about. As to the question, is it recommended…that information as someone says is in the common data set.</p>
<p>We have seen that at other schools also - admissions representatives do say that they keep track of each contact the student has with the school - visiting, e-mailing, interviewing (either on campus or at a local event), stopping by a booth at a college fair, etc. They understand everyone can’t visit, but there are other things you can do to demonstrate interest. </p>
<p>Do the CMU reps visit anywhere near your area in the Fall? Many come here to put on shows in the evening and visit individual schools.</p>
<p>I also couldn’t find it for Columbia. In general, signing in can also be just about them tracking visits, staffing, etc. You have to check for each college. IME, for top schools, your regional rep will remember an inquiry or meeting him/her on their roadtrips.</p>
<p>I think visiting colleges before applying is way overrated, especially if one is applying to multiple colleges in different parts of the country, each with acceptance rates under 20 percent. My son visited his 3 most-likely choices after he was accepted but before he made his final decision.</p>
<p>One can learn as much or more about a school (including clubs and traditions) on the Internet over time that by marching around for a couple hours on a packaged tour. Most schools will ask “Why us?” in a supplement and this is an excellent way to demonstrate knowledge of the institution and why it meets one’s academic and personal goals.</p>
<p>A CMU admission rep told us during son’s interview that an applicant gets “points” for visiting the campus, attending sleeping bag weekend, and taking advantage of other opportunities to demonstrate interest.</p>
<p>Some schools, such as CMU, definitely pay attention to contacts made. They have reps that visit many areas, and if one is close to you I suggest you attend an information session.</p>
<p>Of course there the exceptions (like LoremIpsum), but in a class that I took on college admissions, demonstrated interest was a factor in deciding between a few very similar applicants.</p>
<p>We all know that there are students that apply to numerous schools with absolutely on interest in attending (ie:safety schools). Students with stellar applications may be using several schools as safeties, and what school wants to be the one that a student only attends because they couldn’t get into anywhere else?</p>
<p>Our class chose to admit the student who had two contacts with our “school” (spoke with a regional rep and visited campus) because it showed that she had a real interest in our school.</p>
<p>I just looked at last year’s app for Columbia. Yes, they do ask if you attended an info session, did a tour or attend a special event (like my d did for Fu School of Engineering) Does it help? Not in D’s case. Interestingly enough, she was accepted to two schools which were high on her list, but we didn’t have a chance to visit. In the end, we waited to see where she got accepted and then visit. It will feel like forever that you are on college tours… If we couldn’t make it to a school, we did attend the college tours that would come to our area. It is a good idea for your S/D to look at the college’s website. There is a tremendous wealth of info about what research projects the university is involved with or curriculum development. My D also read the school’s newspapers to get a pulse of the campus and they all have a presence on FB. So, it really depends on the school. Smaller LAC’s will track, highly selective schools generally do not with over 30,000 applicants. Once your S/D does apply, they may get an interview, and it is important to be able to answer the Why us question. Good luck with it all!</p>
<p>We visited Emory on a day they were not having tours because of a special event, so we did a self-guided tour. But admissions office was open and the person there specifically said to “be sure and give us your name so that you still get credit for the visit.”</p>
<p>^ Emory is notorious as a ‘show us the love’ school. This doesn’t surprise me at all.</p>