Thanks!!! Very useful!!!
My thread question should have been worded as “Does visiting factor into admission decision.”
And the answer is “sometimes”, but often not for the Ivies. As was posted above, the common data set for each school will tell you whether or not the school considers demonstrated interest — but that can be done online as well.
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Nice!
Note that the UCs don’t consider test scores unfortunately.
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I’ll also add that even though my S didn’t visit the reach schools before applying, he did other things to show interest and requested interviews at all. The two schools with single digit acceptance rates where he was admitted were schools where he did not get to have an interview, and for all the schools where he was waitlisted, he felt he had good interviews. So much is unpredictable. I know that interviews are different from visiting, but still somewhat relevant to the issue of things that influence acceptance decisions to very selective schools.
Which schools do you consider local safety schools? Are they private schools?
Many of the mid-range private schools are yield sensitive and don’t want to be treated as anyone’s safety school, and consequently put a lot more emphasis on demonstrated interest than the big-name reach schools. This is important to remember if she is counting on this sort of school for admission and scholarship.
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Would she be happy to attend one of these schools? There are often many top students who will shoot for the stars and then have their state flagship or similar as their backup. And then are disappointed when reality sets in and that they will be attending their safety, and often end up on here looking to transfer because they never thought they would require their safety.
If your daughter likes the size of the Ivies, most state flagships are significantly larger. Would she be okay with that?
I also encourage families to visit safeties/likelies in addition to the reaches. So if your family were to visit USC, then think about adding on Chapman. Or if your family is visiting Wellesley, think about adding on Simmons. If your family only focuses on the reaches, and that’s not where your daughter ends up attending, then it could also be damaging to her self-esteem.
Regardless of where your daughter ends up, she will be the determining factor in her success. With her record so far, she has a bright future ahead of her.
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Of course, applying ED is the ultimate demonstrated interest, whether you have visited campus or not. But you should definitely visit any of the schools that you are considering for ED. EA and RD schools can always be visited after admittance. Admitted student days might be more helpful than a visit before applying as admitted students get to experience more than a just walking tour of campus highlights.
Depending on the school, getting on the radar of your area’s admission officer could help.
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With S22 we didn’t visit all the schools he applied to, however, we did look at all the various types of schools - urban, rural, large, small, LAC, public etc - to get an idea of what type of schools appealed to him (this approach helped rule out small, rural schools). Once results were in, he visited the two schools he didn’t see earlier before making his final commitment. He didn’t ED anywhere, but I think it is important to see the ED school before going that route as it is binding.
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About these schools…
- Make sure that they are really safeties. Sometimes, students underestimate their “safeties”; in some cases, they were reaches for the student. In other cases, if the colleges look at level of applicant’s interest, they may reject or waitlist “overqualified” students. In the latter case, visiting and doing all of the other ways of showing interest is important at these schools.
- If a merit scholarship is required to afford the school, the school is only a safety if the needed merit scholarship is a safety (e.g. automatic for stats that the student has).
- A visit may help the student confirm that the safety is a desirable school to attend.
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@tamagotchi The safety school is Indiana University. It’s a public school. We are Indiana residents and with her grades, test scores and many leadership activities, we are confident she will get in there. It is significantly larger but a good option if the Ivies don’t work out. Of course, we will do an official tour for sure.
I certainly do appreciate all the advice here. It’s a very good forum and I look forward to learning more about the process. I wish all the kids well in achieving their goals. They work so hard!
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@AustenNut Thank you for your points. Yes, we are open to visiting any place she desires and do not want her self esteem hurt. We continuously discuss how there are many factors in these applications and not to take it personally if she does not get accepted.
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Make sure you reach out to your school counselor about what the selection process is to be her school’s nominee for the Wells Scholar program. It’s a great full-ride program where many participants have turned down highly rejective schools in order to attend IU. At one time, every high school in Indiana was only able to nominate one student. I don’t know if that’s still the case, but I would certainly investigate.
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Yes, we have talked briefly about it with the counselor. The school can nominate two students and now students can nominate themselves. Will find out more.
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Curious how you feel that Northwestern and Cornell are similar? I felt the opposite. Northwestern is more big city suburban on a large body of water. Cornell is 10x bigger(2300 acres vs. 231 acres), very hilly, with more green space, and rural. I guess the lesson is: different people see things very differently so it is wise to visit as many campuses as you can!
They are peer schools. They both have Greek life. Ithaca is a smaller town, but it is a vibrant college town. They both have multiple colleges within the school, some of them are semi professional schools. Ithaca also has a large body of water.
I’m a Cornellian living in Evanston. What you say is true but these schools have very different vibes and different strengths. I would not assume that a student who liked one would automatically like the other.
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Reading the entire thread but this is fantastic advice.
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Thanks! I think my post kind of sticks out like a sore thumb, at least since it was established that the OP was really wondering how to demonstrate interest. It’s easier than visiting to do that – just click on the email links. Or, at schools like Tulane/Miami/CWRU, really show in your essays that you have bought into them heart and soul. And at any school that offers it, you can’t show more interest than by applying ED. Of course, you only get to choose one of those. (Or two, if you aren’t admitted ED1 and decide to ED2 somewhere.)
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Since she has a good safety (Indiana), and since you are far from the reach schools (Northeast Ivies, Chicago schools, I think that you need to visit only if she is considering an early decision application. In terms of the visit helping her to get admitted, I’d agree that there are other ways to demonstrate interest - a virtual visit, and a reasonable level of email communication with the office of admissions at the targeted schools, conveying her tremendous interest in the school, and the good reasons for that interest.
All that aside, I think that you should definitely plan a visit to the Northeast corridor for the Ivies. It’s not that hard to do - one day Boston (unless she has more than two schools there to look at), half day Providence, half day New Haven, full day NYC, half day Philly, half day Baltimore if she’s interested in Hopkins. If she’s interested in Cornell and Dartmouth, they’re a long drive from the Ivies that are on the Northeast Corridor route, so I’d only go there if she has a very strong reason to ED/restrictive EA to either of them. I’d recommend that you rent a car for the entire trip so that you’re not beholden to train schedules, plus the car will be cheaper than Amtrak.
I can tell you that most students, by the third school of a multi-school trip like that, are having the “If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium” kind of burn out. Also, the quality of the tour guide and the weather that day will make a much larger impression on the student than the school itself, which is too bad - they’re not choosing a tour guide. Mostly, it’s just determining whether they like the campus, could they see themselves happy at that institution for 4 years. If they wanted to really get a feel for a particular ED school, they should arrange a 3 day visit, including at least a full weekday to attend some classes, staying with someone on campus - might be someone from their high school, maybe someone through any organization (religious, activist, whatever) with which they’re already affiliated.
Other than that, I agree, visits come after acceptances, when dealing with high reach schools that aren’t going to be ED/restrictive EA.
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