I was a first generation college student. I did not visit any of the schools that accepted me due to financial limitations, and I loved my four years at college. My son has gotten into a few, and he is waiting to hear from some other highly selective schools. Are there other parents here who think that a visit is overrated, or am I in the minority? Would love to hear some thoughts…
Congrats on your son’s acceptances! IMO, at this point, your visits to “some other highly selective schools” won’t add anything to his college apps or his selections. If you book all the trips now to save a few hundred dollars and later find out that he is turned down by these highly selective schools then the visits would be a sad one. On the other hand he is happily admitted later this month you end up spending more money for some unplanned visits, but the trip will be a joyous one and its a good problem to have.
Our college visits were huge in helping my son make his final decision. There are just too many things about a campus that do not come through via a website or research. If you are concerned about money, I would narrow down the visits to the one or two schools that make the final cut. Not sure my son could have decided without those visits. So, not overrated at all IMO.
College visits are important. Maybe less so at large universities simply due to the breadth of diversity & options.
Visting might help acceptance chances at those few schools that consider applicants’ interest level (check their Common Data Set section C7).