how bad will this look? i am also an nc resident so it probably looks worse
I live in VA and also didn’t tour or interview :/. They say it’s not required so I don’t know if it will necessarily hurt chances. I think it can only help your chances, if you do it.
I would do an interview, even if it is not in person do Skype. As a student who works in the admission office, wake really wants to know that you are serious about the possibility of attending. Not doing a tour is generally fine, I didn’t, but an interview is much more important.
Look at the Common data set for Wake. Section C7. Do they consider interest? If so, you should consider visiting or an interview.
Do the interview. It’s important. It’s also good practice for other college interviews (and jobs). Regarding a visit, if you can’t you can’t. However, if you can, I highly recommend it. We found that fit and feel were quite important to S during his selection process. Without seeing for himself, it would have been quite difficult to compare options. Admitted students day are also great, so that’s another approach. The challenge with that is they tend to be clustered together in March so it’s hard to attend. We had a few on the same day so choices to eliminate had to be made prior. Having visited beforehand made that choice easier.