<p>How can one find out whether a college/u. is a "must visit" - in other words, whether a visit is required to "indicate interest" and is therefore a factor in an admissions decision? We are getting ready to take rising senior daughter on a college tour, but because my husband is self employed, we can only take a week for this tour before school starts. We're not looking at any schools we have to fly to, but several are two states/10 hour drive away. I offered to take DD myself, but DH wants to be in on all the tours, so he wants to visit some during the school year on long weekends. I see THAT as a problem because DD has a schedule full of AP courses, plus doing college essays and applications, even with days allowed by the school for college visits. Ultimately, there will be some we just can't get to before it's time to file the applications.</p>
<p>Google each school’s “common data set”. (Not all schools publish these, but most do.) The CDS is a standardized report with great details helpful to evaluate a school. In section C there is a table detailing the relative importance of academic and nonacademic factors in admission decisions. One item in the table is “Level of applicants interest”. If this item is in the Very Important or Important category, a school visit can be very helpful to an application. </p>
<p>Even those schools who list applicant’s interest in a high category understand the limits of budget and time. Unless you live within a 3-4 hour drive of a school, a campus visit is never truly required. There are other ways to show interest than an in person visit. Most schools send admissions counselors around the country to college fairs and high school visits. Showing a high degree of interest at one of these events is a good alternative if a campus visit isn’t an option.</p>
<p>Adding that it was important for us to divide the college visits between parents. It was more realistic for one parent to go on visits where greater expense (flight) was involved. I seemed to go on the long drives and H seemed to fly more. In fact, I did not see either campus until freshman move in. Both kids made great choices. :)</p>
<p>Wishing you the best!</p>