<p>I visited Northwestern during the summer of 2008 with family friends. I was in 7th grade back then so Northwestern probably has no record of me ever visiting. We went because my mom's friend's daughter was about to apply. </p>
<p>NU's supplement asks you to indicate when you've visited the campus. Can I put that I visited Evanston in the summer of 2008?</p>
<p>Does Northwestern care whether or not you've visited??</p>
<p>Plenty of people don’t have the means to get to Chicago to visit, me included, and I got in. It would possibly help a bit, but it won’t hurt you. I’d wouldn’t put that you visited, because it wasn’t really a visit for you, and you probably weren’t paying attention (I know I didn’t when I was dragged to colleges in middle school) anyway.</p>
<p>I personally believe that visiting can add to your application’s appeal factor. Keep in mind that Crimson and the others who were accepted this year without visiting applied ED, essentially rendering the “Level of Applicant’s Interest” aspect of admission null and void. </p>
<p>That being said, if you list a 7th grade visit on your application, it may sound desperate. In this case, I’d agree with Crimson about leaving this out of your application. If you can visit in the meantime, however, I would go for it. I visited in February of last year, after all application materials were due.</p>
<p>Avunculars, it’s time you found out about the existence of a document called the Common Data Set. Most colleges and universities publish one. It gives all kinds of information about the institution. They’re all arranged in the same way (that’s what’s “common” about them). Section C gives information about applicants for first-time freshman admissions, and Item C7 tells what criteria a college or university uses in making admissions decisions. Northwestern says that the level of an applicant’s interest (which would include, but not be limited to, visiting campus) is “considered,” but it is neither “important” nor “very important.” </p>
<p>Here’s a link to Northwestern’s Common Data Set: [2011-12</a> First-time, first-year (freshman) admission, Common Data Set, University Enrollment - Northwestern University](<a href=“http://enrollment.northwestern.edu/common-data/2011-12/c.html#c7]2011-12”>http://enrollment.northwestern.edu/common-data/2011-12/c.html#c7). You can usually find the Common Data Set for a college or university that you’re interested in by Googling the name of the institution and the words “common data set.”</p>
<p>And, just to confuse matters, I’d give the opposite advice from Crimsonstained and cowboycliche. I think if you visited Evanston when you were in middle school, and the experience has stuck with you through the years, you should say that you visited Northwestern in 2008. But I don’t think it’ll be a determining factor in the fate of your application either way.</p>