<p>I am interested in a number of schools including Pitzer, Earlham, Whitman, Grinnell, Beloit, Warren Wilson, and many more! However, I simply can't afford to visit many of these places until after I would be accepted. This basically rules out early decision. I want to play d3 soccer in college and a lot of the schools I am interested in are hard to get in to. I have a 3.9 UW gpa but my predicted test scores aren't good. I got a 177 on the psat I believe. The way I see it, one of the only ways I could get in to some of these schools is through visiting and applying early decision. However, my family can't afford the cost of such. I live in Oregon so getting to Whitman, Puget sound, and Willamette wouldn't be hard for me. However, places in the East coast, the mid west, and even california would require plane tickets. To get in to really hard places, it seems like you need to visit because they want to know you are very interested in attending their school. I simply can't afford to visit them all! My parents could afford to send me 1-2 places in all actuality. I've been researching the schools and that can only get you so far. I've toured places with my family as my sister is a senior (i'm a junior). I've gone to Southern Oregon, UC Davis, College of Idaho, and Western Washington. None of these places really seem the ideal place for me.</p>
<p>My question is how to let schools know you're interested, figuring out what places to really invest my time in possibly visiting, and how to chose a school if you want to do early decision.</p>
<p>I'm interested in a school with a good chem and bio departments, helpful pre-med advising, d3 soccer (lacrosse is an option too), and under 5000 people. I also want a very liberal college and one that is dedicated to helping the environment. I will need substantial financial aid as my sister will be in college at the same time. Our FAFSA estimated family contribution was around 16,000. That means 8,000 for each kid when we will both be in school? Her school next year will most likely even be over 16k. Thanks for help!!</p>
<p>You don’t have to visit the schools to show interest. If interest is considered a real factor in admissions, the schools will probably say so. Then doing thing like attending a college fair and signing in at their table will count as well as asking the admissions office questions. Think about it, the schools that have really low admission rates can’t seriously expect all interested students to visit. It would be unfair to those who don’t live close by. </p>
<p>Are you good enough to be recruited for D3 soccer and is that something you really want to do? If so and a coach is really interested in you, then that could help decide which school to apply early decision to. </p>
<p>It’s not necessary to visit colleges to demonstrate interest. As far as early decision goes, that can be tough without visiting. However, you can really dig into the websites for more information on the types of activities at the schools and so on. You could probably narrow it down to one reach school and if the financial aid doesn’t come through, you would still be able to regular decision.</p>
<p>I know the above to be untrue. Some colleges routinely reject students who have not visited to protect their yield. They are much more likely to yield those who have visited. You need to identify your schools where demonstrated need is important. </p>
<p>If you’re good enough to get recruited for soccer, many schools will fly you in for an official visit.</p>
<p>OP, it seems that schools will ding you if you don’t visit and you live nearby. So your strategy of visiting schools nearby makes sense. As for schools that are far away, if you can’t afford to visit, you can’t afford it…I disagree that schools will ding you for that when it’s a question of a plane flight. That said, if it’s possible to visit, then it does add a little cherry on top. Figure out which schools care about demonstrated interest. Find their Common Data Set (CDS), and look under the admissions factors. Some will say that interest is “considered”. Others won’t consider it at all. If your family might have some budget for visits, concentrate on the former, not the latter. </p>
<p>Don’t just go to big college fairs. See if a rep from the college is going to be speaking in your area, or at your high school. If you’re not sure, email or call the adcom at each school who is in charge of your geographic area, saying you’re interested in learning more about the school but can’t afford to visit, and wanted to know if they are scheduled to come speak at your school. You may instigate a visit! At the very least, you’ll get “interest” points. Similarly, if you’ve got questions about the school or a department, email your adcom to ask if he/she can put you in touch with a prof or student who can answer your question.</p>
<p>How do you go about identifying which schools are interested in demonstrated need?</p>
<p>As for whether I am good enough, I think so! I’ve already had coaches interested in me from a few schools. I believe I am competitive enough to play at the d3 or naia level. I am pretty sure coaches won’t fly you out unless it is at least d2, or d1. I could be completely wrong about that! I guess if I really set my mind to it they might consider it.</p>
<p>It really depends on how far away you live. If it’s not an easy drive to see, I agree with Sadilly: They won’t “ding” you for not visiting. There are other ways to show interest–go to alumni events, get to know your regional rep. Visit their table at college fairs.</p>
<p>The most compelling demonstration of interest, IMO, will be in your “Why X” application. The more you know about the college, the better that will be.</p>
<p>I live in Oregon and I’ve toured both U of O and OSU and didn’t like either too much. Besides that my instate schools aren’t very good ones. I have toured Southern Oregon as well. Basically the only OOS publics I am considering at this point are Evergreen (not sure about their financial aid) and Western Washington as my sister got a WUE scholarship there. It is sort of hard to pick a few safety schools if you don’t like any of your in state options.</p>
<p>Getting dinged for not visiting is definitely a concern. However, I kind of want to apply somewhere ED to get the stress off as well as pin down a team I can play for. I would never do that unless I spent a substantial amount of time on campus and was sure of it.</p>
<p>Not sure if it meets your whole list, but check out Westminster College in Salt Lake City. Small school. Beautiful new science building. Vibrant city (college is in a really fun neighborhood). I was impressed with the faculty members we met. Great merit money. I loved this school when we visited. My son decided he wanted to attend a much larger school, however.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is a bad combo of circumstances. You really need to maximize your aid package, and the only way to do that is to compare RD offers. If you apply ED, you may get enough aid to make the school affordable…but you might not. Money stress is much, much worse than admissions and pinning down a team stress. </p>
<p>Check out the Financial Aid policies at the schools on your list. Run some Net Price Calculators, to see how much aid they might offer. See if there are going to be big loans. Look at the forums for the schools here on CC, and see if these schools are offering generous or stingy FA packages. You can rule out some schools right off the bat this way.</p>