<p>Also we have found that there is nothing like a campus visit to rule a college in or out–the brochures and web tours don’t show the surrounding neighborhood or let your kid check out the level of discourse in classes, the weekend party scene and so on. OTOH, I found the student guides on the tours to be pretty honest. But it is very tough for us to justify a plane ticket without a good idea that one of these distant colleges would be a good bet for merit money.</p>