<p>If school make campus visits, try to go then.</p>
<p>Most definitely!</p>
<p>Before I went to visit SUNY Stony Brook, I had looked at tons of pictures online and whatnot, and I thought I would love it. I went there, wasn't impressed, and honestly couldn't see myself spending 4 years there. I didn't apply. Had I not visited, I would've applied and wasted $40 and time on the supplemental.</p>
<p>Love that "Gotta trod the sod" :) </p>
<p>From our experience, the visits were so important. With a boy (and I know all are different, but ours is so aloof!) the visits kind of made him realize that yes, he would be graduating and yes, he needed to come to the realization that he had to have a preference of where he wanted to go. The visits kind of made it "real". </p>
<p>salt, he had the same experience with VT as you did! :) The visit to Blacksburg was what it took- although UGA will always have a place in his heart, too!</p>
<p>There are other benefits to the visits, besides help choosing a college. Traveling with my son by ourselves was a great time to have time together. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.</p>
<p>^ I concur with Inquisitive Mom. My D & I have done quite a few initial visits, some with the rest of the family in tow and some just the two of us. I know they've been important to her, not only in getting a feel for the school and the community but also in bringing home the reality that she's nearing the end-game in her college preparation. It's been highly motivating for her academically. There's a boost you get from actually visualizing yourself at a college that helps sharpen one's focus on the steps needed to get there.</p>
<p>For me as a parent, it's also been important. I've gotten to know D much better as she's gotten to know herself through this process, which is as much about exploring her likes and dislikes, her dreams and aspirations, as it is about exploring the particulars of the college. And there's a special bond between us that's grown through sharing this process of exploration and self-exploration. I see her spreading her wings, getting ready to leave the nest. I know I'm going to miss her. But it also helps me to be able to visualize each of the colleges on her list, to have a little better sense of where she might be headed and what her life might be like.</p>
<p>That said, it's expensive. I sometimes wonder if the thousands we've invested in this might not have been better invested in her 529. But I guess in the end I
m pretty confident we'll be OK financially, so Im not losing any sleep over it.</p>
<p>It depends on the kid. I took my oldest to see a bunch of very different colleges (Caltech, Stanford, Berkely). He thought they were all fine. Really all he cared about was the level of academics and specifically the computer science department. In the end he had to choose between Harvard and Carnegie Mellon and the caliber of the department remained his most important criteria - he's at CMU. While I think he would have made the same decision without a visit, I have to say, the presentations by CMU's School of Computer Science were head and shoulders above anything we saw at any other school.</p>
<p>Anecdotal evidence: I was set to attend the University of Michigan until I went out and visited it. There are things that you can't know until you visit a place in person and see the environment for yourself. I don't think that you need to visit a place to decide if you want to apply there though.</p>
<p>Belevitt I've had long discussions on CC about University of Michigan- Ann Arbor campus. Would you mine telling me your reason of not attending University of Michigan- Ann Arbor... or so more like what you didn't like about the campus.</p>
<p>My situation: Didn't apply to F&M at first in high school, visited later in the year... would have applied ED. Visiting is everything in making your decision.</p>
<p>I think it's very important. My daughter's first choice, on paper, went to the bottom of her list after we visited -- nothing was as she expected. Conversely, after visiting, she fell in love with, and chose to attend, a school that wasn't high on her "paper" list. She's a junior there now and couldn't be happier. The school gave her a huge merit aid package too. It turned out to be a perfect fit, and she never would have realized that without the visit. It can make all the difference.</p>
<p>It seems to me that college visits are indispensible. It's fun to travel with the dd, and it is making the whole I-am-going-to-college thing real to her. She has tried like the dickens to avoid the thought, since she's somewhat of a homebody and is adverse to change (until it's over, lol). We've been to 2 colleges so far, and one she really liked and one she doesn't want to attend. </p>
<p>It is a great way to get your kid engaged and to put something tangible with the websites. </p>
<p>We are also visiting in order to show her interest, because you can't attend a college you're not admitted to. The top-tier LACs seem to want the students to visit. I was going to visit after acceptances came, and use the visit to help her choose, but some of the schools prob. wouldn't admit her without a visit. So there will be 2 rounds of visiting, prob.</p>