<p>I've been told that touring the college/s before you actually attend is important. The thing is, I've already done extensive research on the places that I am planning to apply to. Does a personal visit make that much of a difference? I don't really want to waste my parent's money on tickets if I don't have to...</p>
<p>It depends. If you are sure that you want to attend a large state university then no, visiting will not be a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>If you’re interested in small liberal arts colleges, then yes, demonstrated interest is a plus in admissions.</p>
<p>If you’re not enthusiastic about your safeties, then yes, sometimes a visit helps allay your concerns (and you may need to visit several to get to that point).</p>
<p>If highly selective mid-sized universities are your major focus, then no, wait until you get accepted (but you may still want to visit your matches and reaches).</p>
<p>If you’re planning to apply ED anywhere, visit first!</p>
<p>Yes visits are good because you will learn so much more then you can learn on line and you will get to interact with students. </p>
<p>Also if the school is small they will count a visit as demonstrated interest and that is good.</p>
<p>Most schools will come to your area or high school and it is good to visit them there even if you visit them on campus as well.</p>
<p>There are many ways to demonstrate interest, and frankly if a school would decide to reject someone from the opposite side of the country because he/she didn’t buy a plane ticket to specifically visit that highly selective institution, that’s not a school I’d recommend going to. </p>
<p>Here are some ideas on how to demonstrate interest [How</a> to Demonstrate Interest in a College - 8 Ways to Demonstrate Interest When Applying to a College or University](<a href=“http://collegeapps.about.com/od/theartofgettingaccepted/tp/how-to-demonstrate-interest-in-a-college.htm]How”>How to Demonstrate Interest When Applying to College)
[The</a> Dynamics of Demonstrated Interest - Head Count - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/the-dynamics-of-demonstrated-interest/24288]The”>Head Count: The Dynamics of Demonstrated Interest)</p>
<p>yes, you must visit.(IMO) you will scratch some schools off your list and some other schools you will fall in love with. it is a gut feeling that you can only get by visiting and is very important.</p>
<p>I did visits with my kids and they were very helpful in getting a better feel for the type of school they wanted and understanding if a particular school seems like a good fit. If money is an issue, I know people who don’t visit until they are accepted to a school and are seriously considering attending. </p>
<p>If you are applying to smaller schools and can’t visit, it is important to demonstrate interest in another way such as asking to interview with an alum that lives locally, going if the school visits your HS, visiting the school’s booth at a local college fair, emailing your admissions rep from the college etc.</p>
<p>In my humble opinion, if you have not been to the school and really are interested in going there , you need to visit. My DD really liked all she read and researched about one particular school. Once she got there she absolutely hated it. She did not like the campus - and it looked great from all she had seen. She couldn’t even put her finger on the whole reason either - it was more of a feeling. And if she had not visited she never would have known and then enrolled and it would not have been good. Just like getting a car - you have to test drive it first.</p>
<p>If you do visit, pre-plan your questions and things you want to find out for each school (the list may be different for each school, based on what you have found out from its web site and other resources). That way, you can get more value from the visit, rather than just finding out what you already know, or being influenced by just superficial things like what the weather was the day of the visit.</p>
<p>Regarding showing interest, you can check whether a school uses that in admissions by checking the school’s common data set, section C7, or its admissions page on [url=<a href=“http://www.collegedata.com%5DCollegeData:”>http://www.collegedata.com]CollegeData:</a> College Search, Financial Aid, College Application, College Scholarship, Student Loan, FAFSA Info, Common Application<a href=“look%20for” title=“level of applicant’s interest”>/url</a>.</p>
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<p>A visit might not be much of a test drive, since you won’t be doing academic assignments, labs, tests, etc. in the school’s classes.</p>
<p>Also, remember that not all students have plenty of money to spend on college visits. Not all will be able to schedule a visit during regular class session that coincides with an off week for their high schools.</p>
<p>However, if the student considers a visit to be important to determine if s/he likes the school, the most important school to visit before applying is the safety, to ensure that the safety is a school that s/he likes (as well as one that s/he is sure to be admitted to and sure that s/he can afford).</p>
<p>We did visits as inexpensively as we could, and I did find them to be very helpful. I also really enjoyed the one-on-one road trip with each of my kids - I was really glad to have that time together before sending my kids off to college!</p>
<p>There is nothing like boots on the ground to figure out if a college is right for you. We also had colleges that seemed perfect on paper, but that were not right for my kids once they visited. We tried to combine visits with other activities (camp pickup, drives to family vacations, etc.). We took spring break visits to one section of the country with several colleges to visit. Did a bit of vacationing and several college visits, which made the ticket purchases go further because we saw several colleges.</p>
<p>Visiting your top choices after you’re accepted makes far more sense than visiting before you’re in. Unless you live in Wyoming, you likely live in driving distance of a few regional schools, a LAC or two, and some of your larger state schools. That should give you an idea of which environment you’d prefer. Frankly, with the internet students can research enough about the school (assuming it’s not super obscure) to determine whether or not it will be a good fit for them.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree with whenhen: Visit the colleges in your own backyard, whether or not you’d ever consider attending any of them. College visits - to ANY college - can help you decide whether you like large or small, big sports vs. no sports, urban vs. self-contained campus, etc., etc.</p>
<p>I’d also agree with the posters above who suggest that you probably should visit before you send in an enrollment deposit next spring . . . but whether or not you even really need to do that depends on you. If you think you can land on your feet no matter where you end up, then you probably don’t need to visit.</p>
<p>If they’re far away just visit them once you get accepted. I only visited one college that’s a plane-ride away and that’s because I plan to apply ED. Apply to them if you think you’d like them and visit once you actually get in. Visiting won’t make or break acceptance.</p>
<p>My son ended up attending a school that we did not visit before applying. We did visit after he was offered a nice scholarship abd he fell in love with it. There were also a number of schools that he was very interested in on paperr and when we visited he just didn’t like them. One school that was on the bubble for him, he applied to but then as we saw other schools, interest waned. He skipped the interview and was never officially accepted. When I called because we hadn’t received a decision they asked that we withdraw the application. </p>
<p>That may not answer your question but maybe it gives you an idea of which schools you may need to talk to about the importance of a visit.</p>
<p>Is it not necessary to visit each and every school you apply to. It is good if you can, but it is not necessary. It is however a good idea to visit at least one of each type of school you are applying to (eg. a small LAC, a large public research university, ect.) so you can at least have an idea of what type of environment will suit you best. This is maybe something you want to do before you form a final list of schools to apply to</p>
<p>Obviously it is best to visit your short list of schools after you have been accepted though, if it is possible. If not, I highly suggest taking a “virtual tour” of the campuses if you can.</p>