<p>i want to see what the college/university is like before i apply but most colleges i am interested in are a flight away. i cant pay for so many plane tickets, so what do i do?</p>
<p>We started visiting early, and wove visits in with trips we were already taking anyway. If you can’t do that, you could try to keep costs down by:</p>
<p>(1) Research carefully before you visit so you aren’t wasting time & money on schools that you could never get admitted to because of your stats, or the Net Price Calculator indicates you can’t pay for. And just make sure (as much as you can from the internet and books like Fiske Guide to Colleges) that they really sound appealing to you.</p>
<p>(2) Related to that, but spend more time visiting match/safety schools than reaches. Odds are very high that you will end up at one of those anyway.</p>
<p>(3) If you know anyone in the area, see if you can stay with friends or relatives to keep costs down.</p>
<p>(4) We drove to some schools that others might have chosen to fly to. Of course there is a limit to where this makes sense. If you are driving, maybe you can go with another student to share costs.</p>
<p>(5) If you can’t visit some before applying, be sure you “show interest” anyway. Sign up for mailings on the website, attend if they have a session in your area, email the admissions rep for your area if you have questions, do an interview with an alum or via Skype if they offer it. However… if you wait until you are accepted to visit, it doesn’t always save a lot. You find out in late March at a lot of schools, then have one month to visit and decide. Plane tickets are stupidly expensive on really short notice like that.</p>