<p>Hey, I'm a junior and have yet to visit any colleges. </p>
<p>I am planning on visiting some colleges this summer, but I do not have much money so I was wondering how plausible this plan would be:</p>
<p>1) Visit all the nearby schools, specifically my backup state unis, maybe one or two reach schools
2) Apply to all the huge reach schools I would love to go to
3) If I get accepted to any of the reach schools visit them AFTER acceptance
4) Decide where to go based on those visitations</p>
<p>So, pretty much it all depends upon the amount of time allowed between acceptance notifications and a required response. Soooooo, see title.</p>
<p>Thanks! Sorry I couldn't seem to find the answer on college sites =/</p>
<p>Many private schools announce decisions at the end of March and have reply date of May 1. Many public schools have rolling notification and reply-to dates. </p>
<p>Most schools have some formal admitted students events scheduled in April so you will have a chance to tour, sit in on a class, meet potential classmates and perhaps do an overnight.</p>
<p>Regular application: application deadline varies, school’s decision date April 1 or before, your decision deadline is usually May 1.
Rolling admissions application: application deadline varies, school often decides shortly after you apply, your decision deadline is usually May 1.
Early action (non-binding) application: application deadline is earlier, school’s decision date is earlier, your decision deadline is usually May 1.
Early decision (binding) application: application deadline is earlier, schools’ decision date is earlier, your decision deadline is shortly after receiving the school’s decision and financial aid offer.</p>
<p>You’re plan is a good one -I did the same thing when I was picking colleges.
Most schools send out decisions between March 15th and April 1st. You’ll have the entire month of April (you need to decide by May 1st) to visit schools and get a feel for where you want to go. You should definitely attend admitted student days and overnight programs for schools that you’re interested in.
Good Luck</p>
<p>If any of your schools have rolling admission or early action, you may want to apply to them early; if you get an early acceptance and an affordable financial aid offer, the school becomes a safety (which can allow you to drop any schools which you consider less desirable than that school).</p>
Just a word of warning. April can be a very busy month for seniors. In addition to your regular extracurricular activities, Prom often falls in April, as well as end-of-year banquets, awards ceremonies, AP test reviews, and various pre-graduation events that you won’t want to miss. If you’re accepted to several schools, you may not have time to visit them all. And even if time allows, money can be an issue. If your visits require a flight, hotel and rental car, that’s a lot of money to fork out in a short time if you’re visiting multiple schools. This happened to my daughter. She got lucky and was accepted to all her regular decision schools, and it was impossible to visit them all by May 1. There were three wonderful schools she never got to see, and I still feel terrible about that!</p>
<p>First, you need to have a budget and decide on how many schools you are going to apply. Each school would cost you ~$100 to apply (application fee, score reports, transcript, CSS profile submission, etc).
Second, you need to set up a list of schools to apply starting from matching schools. After you have at least 1 safety and several matching schools, you can add as many reach schools as your want within your budget.
Third, applying to a school is way more than filling up a form and send the score/transcript. You need to write killer essays. If you are applying to too many reach schools, the quality of essays may suffer. Also, don’t send generic essays to schools. For the “why this school” essay, make sure you know the specific details of that school. If an essay can simply replace the name of a school and submit to another one, it is not a good one.
Last, you should only apply to a school that you will attend if financially feasible. Don’t waste your time and money to apply to a school that you will not never attend if admitted, may it be a safety or reach.</p>
<p>You should do more research on the schools this Summer even if cannot visit them. You will get some idea by visiting similar schools in size and setting. Also, prioritize the application. For EA/ED schools, you may hear back before Christmas and you will have a lot of time to plan for visit.</p>
<p>Remember, reach schools have low acceptance rate, you should focus more on the match schools first or you may regret.</p>