<p>We visited twice during the application process. Visited before as a tourist. We have visited many other schools in the application process. It seems that all State flagships are the same. Very little difference on look and feel, except the location of the school. Financial differences vs. program strength made our decision a very obvious one. No hesitation there. S is happy camper. I am fine with that as well.</p>
<p>For our son, who is older, we visited once - just your typical tour and information session. His school is 3000 miles away, so that visit had to count! The next time we went back was for registration and orientation, which was a 2-day affair. Then back once more for move-in day.</p>
<p>For our daughter, who just chose her school YESTERDAY :D, we visited twice. Once after she applied, and again yesterday for their admitted students event (with an overnight). Hers is 60 miles away, much easier. ;)</p>
<p>Never did visit DS’s college . . .we were comfortable enough with the process he was going through and the profile of the school that when it shot from #7 to #1 on his list we were fine with it. So our first visit there was move-in day.</p>
<p>He visited there once during the April “time to make a decision” time frame. That was a whirlwind . . . Wednesday by train for an overnight to one school, leave again on Friday to fly to Montreal for McGill then fly out to Ohio to see the school he ended up selecting.</p>
<p>Was more important for the kid to see it than for “us” to see it . . so if your child is comfortable traveling alone that might be a good approach if SHE is the one who needs the visits.</p>
<p>Once for a tour, again for a cello lesson, again for holiday extravaganza and music open house and finally for scholarship competitions. That makes 4 and D is totally excited about attending so it was worth it.</p>
<p>One visit after acceptance–but only five hours away.</p>
<p>Once. But a lot of people have gone to college never having visited the campus and the vast majority of them do just fine.</p>
<p>I think the importance of visits gets a bit overblown during the application process. Once is plenty.</p>
<p>For D2, twice, once in the late summer, once on Admitted Students weekend. We pulled her out of school for it since the timing didn’t fit with our spring break. </p>
<p>D2 would have made the decision to attend even if she didn’t see the college a second time. It really was the only one of her choices that fit all 3 of her criteria. With D1, personal visits after acceptance (during the same 4 day weekend) helped her make her decision.</p>
<p>Try to get the list of visits down to 2 if all four colleges are far away…just for financial and logistical reasons.</p>
<p>Both S1 and S2 had only visited their schools of choice once before accepting. Don’t worry about the dorm: they are only for one year, and the roommate/hallmates will make or break that experience, not the size of the room or the location of the bath.</p>
<p>When you mention that your child’s schools are inconveniently located, do consider that factor if she attends that school for the next four years! Remoteness was a serious problem with my oldest son - not only did he have to turn down other accepted student visits during April, but the location kept us from visiting during his time there (11 hours drive, 4-6 hours by plane with either a connection or a long bus ride). It also came into play when he had to pay a a lot extra for flights during breaks, and the bad weather and lack of flights meant that he had a negative experience almost every time he flew.</p>
<p>S2 attends a college with great air connections, 20 flights a day to our city, and that keeps the price way down. His father and I never saw his school; he visited with his brother and loved it. By that time, I had learned to trust his evaluation of a school. Of course, I had some reservations, but they are never in terms of living quarters or food, etc. It’s the challenge of the academics and the overall fit that I worry about.</p>
<p>As a student (not a parent) I visited every school once with my parents. The ones that I really wanted to go to and felt I wanted to see the nightlife of I visited friends who attended those schools on my own. I started my own site that does virtual tours of campuses because I had friends and personal experiences that were less than pleasant when visiting a school that I wanted to attend, and would have benefited from a site that showed me what the school was all about.</p>
<p>The odd thing was that many colleges we visited ended up being the colleges the kids didn’t want to go to. </p>
<p>We went to Cornell before rising-HS senior fall, and DS was totally turned off by the town, campus, and weather even at that time of year. We had been to MIT a couple of times for events like the Havard-MIT math competition, and he decided against applying there with the don’t-want-to-be-a-minnow-in-the-ocean complex. We had gone to CMU numerous times since we lived close by and the kids had all participated in their C-Mites childrens programs, and he felt very comfortable with it, and became his dream school. He had also been to Penn State numerous times on competitions such as PJAS and was happy with it as a safety.</p>
<p>DD applied to Gannon because they had a guaranteed med program and went once for attended an accepted student weekend, but felt it was a total non-fit, and declined. Similarly with Washington and Jefferson, after one visit, when she felt it was too small. She did visit Case once after being accepted and would have gone there had not NU come through (no visits till move-in day) from the waiting list.</p>
<p>We did the same: son visited but we never saw it until we dropped him off. My only regret: we never went to any “admitted days” and that would have helped me. But he never had a need to revisit.
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<p>We visited several schools during the summer, then S went back to the top two choices for overnight visits during accepted student events. (He also visited a third one again that happened to be in the same city as one of the other two but the scheduling was bad for their accepted student event and he didn’t stay overnight there.) </p>
<p>After the overnight visit he did NOT want to attend his former first choice and liked the one he ended up attending much more than he had after the summer visit. So I think the second visit was worth the expense and time. He missed a few days of high school, but they were considered excused absences and not a problem.</p>
<p>I’m a student, but thought I’d chime in -
I visited once, the summer after my junior year. A different relative took me to visit. My parents never saw the school I chose - my mom saw it when I moved in; my dad still hasn’t seen it.</p>
<p>Frankly, I would have a) much preferred to visit one more time, such as during the spring of my senior year. Time/cost made it hard, though. I don’t know if I would have changed my mind for sure, but there were a lot of things I didn’t think about/realize. In the summer, it can be really difficult to get a sense of what the school feels like during the year, though I realize that’s hard to do at any time. And b) I think it would have been nice if my parents could have seen the place where they were going to spending thousands and thousands of dollars to send me.</p>
<p>LIke iadorking, we’ve ended up on d’s campus 4 times – once on a traditional visit day, and to meet w/faculty in her department, once for the on-campus audition, once for a scholarship/honors competition, and just last week to make sure it’s the tops and turn in her “yes” and see another performance. Each time we’ve gone, she’s gotten more and more excited, and is starting to get a feel for the campus. We were lucky, however – it’s 2 1/2 hours away. The school that was 1000 miles away got one visit – when she auditioned – we stayed an extra day to do all the tours, etc…and glad we did, as she found out it really wasn’t the place for her.</p>
<p>My D and I visited once - after she was accepted. I went on the campus tour while she sat in on classes and met with the faculty. I took her on a mini tour so she coould at least see the dining hall and a dorm room. She has had a great year there. It is halfway across the country, with only one airline option from here and no direct flights. Did that worry me? Sure. But she knew that was where she wanted to go and it has all worked out great.</p>
<p>I agree w Toledo in post #11. Visiting during summer may produce a very different vibe than when students are actually there. </p>
<p>My D was very undecided when she applied and got accepted at more places than she thought she would. We visited every place she applied to once prior to applying. She had it narrowed down to 2 schools and we sent her to the overnight visit for admitted students for those two. So glad we did. the one that she liked the most initially was the one she really detested when she spent the night. turned out that the day we first visited, school vibe was different because most of the student body was off at a football game.</p>
<p>If your kid is really comfortable and has no worries though, you could consider not visiting. With the costs of transferring and the possibility of that extending ones time beyond 4 years, I think an overnight visit to his top choice while school is in session is money and time well spent to be sure.</p>
<p>My older kids visited their colleges once each and my son visited after acceptance. My youngest son, OTOH, has re-visited two colleges twice and one college three times and still has not decided!</p>
<p>We visited once and he is going back for admitted students day but has already committed. </p>
<p>We visited all but two schools (because he was done with the visiting thing) and one school he visited twice, the 2nd time on a re-visit day.</p>
<p>We visited all schools once during the application process. Two were after the applications were in. Two schools she visited during junior year. One of those DD was thinking about applying ED, so I took her again, for a longer visit. She did decide to apply ED and was wait listed there. When accepted at the school she is at now, my DH took her back in April of her senior year. This school is a plane ride away and only DD and I had gone the first time. This second visit was very helpful and sealed DD’s decision, as it had been 18 months since she had seen the school (and her perspective had changed in that time as well). I think it is important to see the top contenders while they are in session and during senior year.</p>
<p>My parents only saw my school once, at an admitted students day-- which was also the only time I saw it before I committed to it. It worked out fine for us, we were comfortable with that. I do think there is such a thing as overthinking where you risk making yourself conflicted over nothing, so if she was happy with her first visit I wouldn’t feel like it’s necessary to go again.</p>