<p>Do some colleges record your name when you visit them, increasing your chances of getting accepted there?</p>
<p>Yes, they record your name. It depends on the school, but in my case, it was one of the major things that got me into my #1 choice.</p>
<p>Many colleges, generally small ones, care about "demonstrated interest". Your interest can be demonstrated in a variety of ways, but visiting campus is often the best way to do this, especially when accompanied by an interview (this will give them your name even if they didn't record it elsewhere). Visiting a campus far away indicates that you are seriously considering their school, enough to spend money and time to travel there, and thus can be a plus. On the other hand, <em>not</em> visiting a nearby school can look bad, because...why didn't you visit, if you're really interested, and it's so convenient?
That said, many colleges don't care. Also, there are other ways to demonstrate interest even if you cannot visit schools that do want you to.</p>
<p>when you visit some schools they will ask you to fill out a "visit card." many of them will consider it when reviewing your application as "demonstrated interest" and thus a higher likely yield for you - increasing your chances of admission.</p>
<p>at the top schools this will be very negligible if not irrelevant, methinks</p>
<p>^^ yes, the extent to which this actually helps... is unknown. most top universities simply list "level of applicant interest" as "considered" on their common data sets.</p>
<p>a lot of the "second-teir" schools put a lot of weight on it though, especially to make sure they're not used as safeties.</p>
<p>Some top schools do take it into consideration. I think Emory and Washington University in St. Louis both take it into consideration.</p>
<p>yeah - Wash U waitlisted me with the primary concern being "you didn't want to go to our school" - partially because I had some problems with parts of my application, and I didn't visit.</p>
<p>meanwhile I got into JHU's biomedical engineering program despite turning in my application late - and I didn't visit either. but I did do CTY and SET and stuff, so maybe that counted. it all depends...</p>
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Wash U waitlisted me with the primary concern being "you didn't want to go to our school"
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<p>you're not the only one, washu is the only university that doesn't make its waitlist figures publicly available, they use it as a manipulation technique to improve their ranking and perceived selectivity (at the students' expense)</p>
<p>I got in off the waitlist although I visited and had an interview. ugen64, I hope you are coming to Hopkins.</p>
<p>I doubt there is a college that does not record the names of students who visit. What they do with this information is a mystery.</p>
<p>Wow I can't visit the colleges I want to go to because it would cost an ass load to fly everywhere...am I screwed?</p>
<p>When visiting colleges, are you expected to bring your parent with you if you are a minor, or are parentless visits okay?</p>
<p>Parentless visits are okay.</p>
<p>And in answer to the OP, most top colleges don't keep track of who visits.</p>
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I doubt there is a college that does not record the names of students who visit.
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<p>Cornell told my son and me that they do not keep track, that they have too many visitors to keep track of. I was kinda put off.</p>
<p>Well they will certainly tell you if they track, if you call and ask. We could do a public service and list those who don't keep track (and are in the top 50 Univ or LAC's). Does any one know of other examples in additon to Cornell? Kyledavid, do you have some examples?</p>
<p>Care to make a list of colleges that track interest? (Please!!!)</p>
<p>^^^^ Boston University :)</p>
<p>It depends on the school but I think Brown's CDS lists level of applicant's interest as "very important" to admission decisions.</p>