<p>Maybe I'm totally mistaken, but isn't spring break of junior year the prime time to visit colleges? </p>
<p>I'm not sure what to do; my parents aren't going to take me. They've decided that we should all go on a family vacation for the entire 10 days. </p>
<p>I've tried to explain to them that it's important that I visit schools before I apply, but they don't understand (I'm the oldest child, so they don't have any other experiences with colleges). They say that when they were my age, they applied to two or three colleges, mostly in-state, and that I should just apply to the schools I like and visit the ones that accept me. After a lot of begging, they finally agreed to drive out over a long weekend to see some colleges in the next state over, but none of them are my top choices (right now). </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I have very few long weekends in my school calendar, and they're usually taken up by choir trips and plays/musicals. My summer is entirely packed with mission trip and camp. We live in the midwest, and almost all of my favorite schools are in the east. I don't feel comfortable applying Early Decision to a school I haven't even visited!</p>
<p>i think it makes more sense only to visit schools after you are accepted. you end up saving more money in the long run. (depends on where you live though...)</p>
<p>Newjack88, that's exactly what I was going to say. </p>
<p>The chances are that you're going to apply to the colleges on your list anyway, likely because the curriculum, demographics, area, prestige, etc. Why not then just apply and visit the colleges next April, when you have to decide between the ons to which you're admitted. It would make more sense. Otherwise you're going to go to Yale, fall in love with the campus, and be completely distraught if you aren't accepted. That, and you won't spend a ton of money on a school which you're not attending.</p>
<p>If you are interested in small LAC's, having an interview at those schools is important. However, if you are absolutely not able to go, be sure and ask to have either a local alum or the college's regional admissions rep interview you. If you are looking at larger schools, a personal interview is not important--but if there are schools that you are really interested in, it's easy to get the email address of professors/ department heads in your areas of academic interest and correspond with them.</p>
<p>You can also correspond with the regional admissions representatives; find out when they are coming to your town and go to whatever presentations you can.</p>
<p>There are pros and cons to visiting vs. not visiting. If you visit, you have a lot of stuff to write for the "Why School?" essay, and if it's a safety, a visit will help you decide if you actually want to apply there. However, if you don't visit a reach until accepted students day or whatever, you'll save yourself a lot of heartbreak in the off chance that you're rejected.</p>
<p>I would probably only visit safeties if it's financially feasible.</p>
<p>Yeah, I live in St. Louis, and there's nothing really, really close by except WashU. My biggest problem is that the colleges I'm interested in are concentrated in different areas--Minnesota (Carleton, Macalester), Ohio (Oberlin, Kenyon), and Out East (Brown, Wesleyan, Connecticut College).</p>
<p>In my case, I visited two colleges over the summer break and one of them I'm applying to, the other I'm not. The latter college I would've hated going to, but I never would've known that without visiting. Now, come application season, I'm not wasting my $45 on them.</p>
<p>So, visit if you can. Just make sure you visit before enrolling if you're kind of "on the fence."</p>