Of the seven OOS schools that my son was accepted to, we visited not a single one prior to the admission. Of those schools that my son wasn’t admitted to or placed on WL, would visiting (demonstrated interest) have made a difference? I strongly doubt it since there are other ways of demonstrating one’s interest. In my opinion, the importance of college visits is overblown especially not knowing whether one would be admitted or not. One or two visits to one’s top “match” choices is quite reasonable.
The author handled the issue in a way that worked for her family.
The Washington Post seemed to believe it was worth a read.
As with everything else in life, “your mileage may vary.”
For us, demonstrated interest was only a factor at one college (CMU), but my son’s goal was to have everything done before starting senior year of HS. To him that meant all applications in, and a list in priority order of admission. So in order to have a true priority list he had to have toured the schools - which is what he did. So, by the end of August he was done. He enjoyed his Sr year with no stress or need to miss school for further campus tours. It worked for him, but in the end it’s a personal choice.
Count me in as a parent who took their student to visit two dozen schools all over the Northeast. She did not visit only two of the 19 schools where she applied, one in NYC and one further south. We did our visits over about 5 trips…easy to see Colby, Bowdoin and Bates in one shot with one hotel night. She was most interested in Bates but hey, if you’re going to drive that far… I believe it was a two-night trip to see UMA, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Williams, Trinity, Conn, and Wesleyan. We also flew into Scranton for UScranton, rented a car and worked our way down to BWI and flew home from there. We saw Bucknell, Gettysburg, Susquenha and another. This was more of a mother/daughter vacation and we visited Amish Country during that time and some other sites. Another one-nighter took us to Skidmore, UVT, St. Michaels. She also saw Cornell, Union and Ithaca at a trip to see her aunt in that part of NY. Lots of schools (and I know a missed a couple) but we had fun doing it! All in all, I estimate our costs for visits, applications, and testing, etc. to be around $5K. She was chasing merit and recouped that easily in her first semester.
I thought the article had a lot of useful info for new-to-college-search parents, honestly.
Sounds like they took 3 visits-with-vacations (for 2 kids), and that doesn’t seem excessive to me at all. My two kids went at different times, one is 3 years older. Did I see 23 colleges? Probably not, but I probably saw 15, and we saved some of D’s for after acceptance (so in a couple of cases never saw). We also combined with other travel. When visiting family in NYC we saw Barnard, Columbia and NYU-Poly, etc.
^agreed. I thought there was much to be gained from the article.
The Mom wrote the articles to pay for her kid’s colleges. No doubt she is earning a healthy income as a college consultant. That’s smarter than tapping retirement funds.
This poor author was harshly judged in the article’s comments. She’s not much different than most of us here at College Confidential. However, I think it would have been better if she didn’t mention her kid’s names in the article or post their picture.
We visited lots of schools with our kids. It’s not for everyone, but we had a blast. We joked and laughed and had lots of time for reflection about schools and what it would mean to attend this one or that one. We got to see parts of the country we had not previously seen. We visited a Frank Lloyd Wright house near one campus, we crossed the Mississippi and saw the St. Louis arch. We spent a nice summer weekend evening in downtown Nashville. We went to Maine for the first time. We got to explore the Berkshires and spend some time in Burlington, VT, now one of our favorite towns. It can be a journey about so much more than seeing dorms and libraries.
Agree totally with @TTG Those college tours combined with vacations were a time to remember. Watching the bats fly out from the Congress Ave bridge in Austin after touring UT Austin campus, taking a segway tour of Pittsburgh after visiting Carnegie Mellon, and taking a whale watching tour after visiting Harvard and MIT.
Again, may not be for everyone, but for many it might be work it. Will we do this again in 2 years? You bet.
The writer seems like a typical CC parent but the commenters sure had a lot to say.
Nice article. Surprised they hit so many schools in 9 months. Our family was more leisurely and only saw schools when class was in session so we started Fall of Junior year with a couple of visits, then a couple over long weekends in the winter and a 2-3 during spring break. I think a total of 10 visits. We liked it.
The only thing I thought was crazy is the comment that the kids start their homework usually after 10:30. Crazy! I’m the sleep gestapo at my house for the teens. Teens need sleep to function well- 7 hours minimum.
@suzyQ7 Starting homework after 10:30 stood out to me too. We’re like you in requiring normal sleep hours.
@Lindagaf “But I do not regret for one second the fun we had on our college visits. We spent many hours talking and laughing. We both saw cities and towns we would have never seen otherwise.”
Totally agree with you Lindagaf, we didn’t go on as many but the ones we went on were great to spend time together and explore cities together. Except of course when my son said “dad, stop embarrassing me in public”, 
However, it’s not easy to do on the west coast where the colleges are spread out. I grew up in upstate NY and I recall being able to hit 10 colleges in 3-4 hours, covering NY, NJ, Mass, Penn and maybe Vermont/NH as well. In the west coast, the only thing you can cover in 4 hours is ten wineries (or coffee shops if you prefer them)!