<p>Son's friend is applying to a college which "strongly suggests" an interview...apparently they conduct interviews with alumni reps in many cities around the country. He isn't going to see the school before the interview. </p>
<p>Since my S was also considering doing this (not sure if he is going to apply to the school yet or not) I was wondering how common this is, how admissions folks feel about it, and most of all, what do the kids say when asked if they have visited (besides, no, that is!)?</p>
<p>I do alumni interviewing for a school that is 3,000 miles away. It almost never happens that the kid has visited the school. Most of them tell me that they plan to visit if they get accepted.</p>
<p>I suppose that how the admissions folks feel about it depends on whether the school considers “demonstrated interest” as an admissions factor. I’d sure hope that they don’t penalize kids who, due to time or cost, can’t visit before applying.</p>
<p>Many kids don’t visit a campus before applying. There are time and $$ factors involved and admission folks realize that. Sometimes the first time that a kid visits a college will be after they have an acceptance in hand and are trying to decide which college to attend. That is one way to save money. But you should definitely have read up on the college–that will be expected. </p>
<p>Also, more is expected of applicants who live close to the campus. At Pomona, local kids were expected to interview on campus. If you lived in Alaska, you can bet it wasn’t expected of them.</p>
<p>If interviews are strongly suggested, that pretty much means “you better do it.” If demonstrated interest in a school is tracked, there are other ways to demonstrate interest than visiting, if you can’t visit. </p>
<p>If I were asked the question of whether I had visited the campus in that interview, I’d answer that I hadn’t visited but had gone on the “virtual tour” on the college website and was the college as beautiful as it’s depicted on the website. Then the interviewer will go on and on about the beautiful campus and move on to his or her ugly dorm room–you get the picture.</p>
<p>So, in summary, it won’t be weird if you haven’t visited the campus unless you live close by and could have visited without much trouble on your part.</p>
<p>Interviewing shows interest. My middle S had a regional interview prior to a campus visit. We had a trip planned but the rep was going to be in our area at an earlier date. It worked out great as the rep was able to give my S tips for things to check out on campus that were tailored to S’s interests but not necessarily covered on the standard tour. He also suggested area hangouts the students frequent. Just be sure the student does his homework beforehand and studies up on the school. He can answer the question by saying he hopes to visit later this year. BTW-S just graduated from that school.:)</p>
<p>My D had several interviews in our region by alumni - because of cost and distance we couldn’t visit the far-away schools she applied to, but she did extensive research online. Last week we took her for the first time to her school - on move-in day. We asked her if visiting the school ahead of time would have made any difference and she said nope. FYI, she was accepted off the waitlist in June and only had three and a half days to make a decision (one day by the time she got the financial aid offer). She did attend several regional Alumni events over the past few years - so she showed interest.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a problem not to have visited the campus. You can always say you want to visit, but haven’t had a chance yet. When the interviewer asks if you have any questions, it gives you a perfect response. You can ask what you should visit that’s not on the tour or in the website. I agree though, if an online tour is available, it wouldn’t hurt to take it.</p>
<p>In this day & age, there are many, many kids who don’t visit campuses before interviews for a myriad of reasons. If they are penalized for that, do you really want your kid to attend that school? To me, it makes very little sense to visit a school if you don’t even know you’ll be accepted–that was our son’s feeling as well. He also got tired of visiting schools after a while & sometimes we toured the campus without ever signing in (so they wouldn’t have record we were even there).</p>
<p>We will never know if it hurt S’s chances at some schools, but are happy enough with where he was accpeted & matriculated. He did interview with the dean of engineering (where he eventually attended) in HS. I’m pretty sure we hadn’t even driven by the campus at the time of the interview but don’t believe it hert S at all.</p>