Over the summer, I toured a lot of the schools that I now plan to apply to (Brown, Tufts, BC, Williams)
Do campus tours count as demonstrated interest towards a certain college?
Yes, but not all colleges care. Goggle the Common Data Set for each college; there is a question on there that indicates how important it is.
This older thread may be helpful:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1626043-ways-to-show-a-high-level-of-applicants-interest.html
I agree with the above^^. Some schools see you visiting as you really wanting to go there and showing interest while other schools don’t value it as much. I don’t want to assume but I feel like ivies won’t care that much just because they are the ivies and so many people visit them. However I could be wrong so check out the post above for more accurate information.
I second everyone else’s response; it depends on the school.
To add a bit though that others haven’t though; as a general rule, I’ve noticed that this applies to schools that are trying to climb the rankings (in order to protect the yield). Having a student to attends a tour, likes it, and applies, is more likely to attend than an equally qualified student to has shown no interest.
I can’t speak with any certainty for the four schools you mentioned. I could make the argument that the ives like Brown compete against each other so attending will be a huge plus, or I could make the argument that because their an ivy, they have no shortage of people wanting to attend as their first choice.
Yes, it definitely counts. You’ve come to the campus and decided to apply. So the school knows it’s not likely that a student will come to the school for the first time in the spring for accepted student day and decide they hate the place.
I imagine it would have more of an impact at a (terrific) school like Williams than at an Ivy, which gets many, many applications for the simple reason that it is Ivy League.
I think the impact of a visit is multiplied at a school where a student applies ED (and to some degree EA). The school knows a student visited, and it is their first choice. That is the kind of enthusiastic student they want on campus.
Do you have some very safe options? I obviously don’t know anything about your stats/other info but all of those schools are reaches or high matches for everyone, or nearly so.
Good luck!
If you Google each college’s common data.set you will be able to.see if demonstrated interest is important.