<p>It was very beneficial for my son, as he eliminated a few schools based on his lack of interest in the campus (and saved some application fees). This is a personal decision. Some will say save the money, and visit only if you are accepted. The problem is that if you don’t find out till April 1 and have 30 days to make a decision and have a handful of schools you’ve never seen, you may have a tough time arranging visits (in regards to much higher airfares with little planning).</p>
<p>Our DS visited four colleges he was considering within a three hour driving distance from our home. There were also a couple other campuses he saw while attending functions like a wedding and a graduation. He’s the type that would never go somewhere without seeing it first and getting a feel for it. He definitely had his own idea about what he was looking for. </p>
<p>If I had it to do over again, I think I would have had him start his visits with the smaller colleges then see bigger ones. We started out with the biggest, and it was great, but then we went to a mid sized one that seemed dull in comparison. I always wonder what he might have thought of it had he seen it first, because it seemed nice to me. But it was hard not to compare the two. He ended up choosing neither of them and seems happy where he’s at.</p>
<p>My advice has always been to limit your pre-admission visits to colleges where you are likely to get in or at least to non-reach schools. I have seen too many people waste money flying to Cal to see Stanford and to Boston to visit MIT and Harvard. None of these students were admitted - even the ones that I thought had a good chance. Of course, if you live close to a reach school or are nearby for a different reason, then I think it would be fun to visit.
However, my advice came back to bite me when DS2 was admitted to an Ivy League school. He thought he wanted to go there until his visit in April. Hated it and wished he had applied somewhere else. Ended up at our State U, which was probably the best school for him anyway.</p>
<p>stemfam-
Our thinking was different. Visit a few potential safeties because you should have at least one likely at which you can picture yourself; visit a couple of potential ED/stretch schools if ED is a possibility because if you can fall in love with a reasonable stretch and get in ED you don’t have to worry about all the rest; visit the schools within driving distance that fit within your sweet spot (e.g., LAC matches for a 3.3, 1800 SAT kid or universities with good pre-med programs), but don’t worry about the similar schools at a distance.</p>
<p>Well, other than a visit to my alma mater, for other reasons, or what D1 already knew about the local colleges, we started with Harvard. Because Dad had a reason to be there, that day. </p>
<p>Then a large U. Between the two, she knew she wanted and needed an LAC. The safety was a large U. You get all sorts of new input from any school you visit. But, by senior year, it was only the right targets, for us. And that included, where her major was strong enough. Her strength in that was what did the trick, imo. Not really her overall stats.</p>
<p>Personally I would say visit the ones you can before you apply. </p>
<p>1) It shows the college that you have an interest in them, not that you are just applying to many Common App colleges.
2) It helps your junior in high school get a feel for colleges and makes it more <em>real</em>.
3) It may help them narrow down the type of college they like. Maybe they think UPenn would be great but never really realized it was in a city and what that is really like. Then they can cross other urban colleges off the list. Maybe they thought UMass was awesome until they saw how big it was. Etc. etc.</p>
<p>That being said, if there is a college that will cost $1000 to visit, maybe that one you apply to sight unseen.</p>
<p>Barnard, lots of ways to show interest! </p>
<p>Go to each college’s website and have kid sign up to receive more information. This gets you on the mailing list, which means you likely will be informed when the schools are coming to your area. Then attend, making sure to sign in so you get “credit.” When the schools go to your kid’s school during the day, make sure he/she attends and signs in. One thing I noticed with ds2 is that he was often invited – and sometimes parents separately – to online chats. They sign up, get a log-in and then at the appropriate time sign in to the chat, where adcoms and students are available to answer questions. He/she can log on and never ask a question and get credit for being there. Heck, the kid can log on and leave, and I don’t think they are the wiser, though there may be some mechanism for seeing whether the viewer scrolls or something. But, hey, while you’re there why NOT ask a question? The people are happy to help.</p>
<p>In general, the REAL value visiting colleges is probably lower than expected. For instance, the “demonstration” of interest is waaaaaay overrated … when the objective is to gain an advantage in admissions. There are 99 ways to accomplish more with less! </p>
<p>This said, it appears that the rite of passage is something that parents enjoy a lot more than the applicants. And, perhaps, as this might be one of the last real “collaborations” it might not be a bad idea, especially if one can afford it. Just realize that selecting the usual uber-selective schools might backfire, as it might increase the pressure on the students. Let’s face it … those schools most everyone has heard about do look impressive. The fact that the admission percentage has falled to a single digit range should not be overlooked. The odds are not very good.</p>
<p>Remember to have fun and keep it as lighthearted as possible!</p>
<p>As I’m an international student from the UK I won’t be able to visit any of the universities I apply to in the US. But if you can, of course you should visit as many as you can!</p>
<p>Sue, good points about early decision. I cannot imagine applying ED without seeing the school first. </p>
<p>Visiting schools within driving distance is always a good idea. I agree with bopper that spending $1000 to visit (especially a reach) is maybe the school you visit after you are accepted, UNLESS you might apply ED.</p>
<p>I guess I was pointing out that I followed my own advice and it turned out to be wrong. There are no right answers. So just visit when you can, where you can, without spending a fortune and have fun.</p>
<p>We are doing both. We started visiting schools spring of 10th grade. It helped tremendously what she did and didn’t like. Of the 9 schools she’s now applying, she’s visited about half of them. The other half we filled in with a “twin” school, in selectivity, feel, etc. For instance she loves Univ of S Carolina and Va Tech, so we added Auburn and NC State. Should she get in all 4, she really only needs to see the 2 she didn’t see. </p>
<p>The key for me is the safety. She really likes her safety, so I made sure to find another one very similar so should she only get into those 2, she has a choice. </p>
<p>My kids have surprised me each time when visiting. But both gave me enough clues about the qualities they liked that it got easier to narrow down.</p>
<p>D visited local and regional schools before applying plus any schools who were recruiting her as an athlete and willing to pay for an official visit. I did not attend any of her official visits with D. D crossed off several schools before applying - started with a list of 20+ schools and only applied to 8 - all RD. </p>
<p>There was only one school that D had not visited - and went in mid-April for a visit. She fell in love with this school and it is the school she is attending.</p>
<p>I think it should be split. I would love to have been able to jump on a plane and visit every school of interest. My parents could not afford it. I did run in to people who did that though. </p>
<p>In my case, my parents took me to a variety of schools in a couple different parts of the country. After that, they said use internet and books to figure out whatever else I would like to know about schools. Later, once admitted, they are willing to take me to visit a college before I make the final decision. They are also willing to take me to visit any college in reasonable driving distance, meaning, no more than 7 hrs. It seems as if everything is 7 or less hours away, or more than 14. Kind of odd, I know, but true. </p>
<p>I have a small handful of colleges that I am researching as possibilities. If I apply, and then get accepted and the finances are workable, my parents will take me to visit the top pick before I actually say yes.</p>
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<p>I think that’s a good way to do it. Even better if top two picks are close and you can visit both on one trip (e.g., Brandeis v Tufts, GWU v American). But otherwise, visit your top pick to confirm yes or no; if you’re not quite sure, then it might come down to going with #1 anyway or going with #2 sight unseen. I would have no problem presenting it that way to my DD.</p>
<p>Ideal is to do a multi school trip or partial trips(but limit to 4-5 or they all start getting jumbled, and get visit fatigue) sometime before application time. Ideally in pre 11th-early 12th grade. Then once acceptances are in, or even in the spring of Senior year, just because it might fit better, visit 1-2 for longer time, ideally time to go to classes, really meet students etc. Our DD only had very short visits due to parent and student time constraints, distance and $ until Spring break sr. year, then did an overnight at her top 2 choices. Interestingly, her original number one did not thrill her after that and number 2 did. So when she got into number 2 and 3 and not number one, it felt right.</p>
<p>In retrospect we visited way too many (19) and two of those twice. But we did eliminate some because of the visits. We added one that he did not expect to like because of a visit. (U of Pittsburgh) I think visiting a couple of different types of schools ahead of time is a good idea. The one we did not visit until after acceptance because of the distance was the one he ultimately accepted.</p>
<p>Depends on the interests and qualifications of the student. </p>
<p>For me, I was looking for an excellent b-school with excellent sports preferably in a college town atmosphere. That limited the search to IU-Kelley, UIUC, UVA, UMich, Cal, Northwestern (Econ), Duke, Stanford (no chance of acceptance lol), UNC, Notre Dame and UT-Austin. Maybe a couple others that I can’t remember off the top of my head. I still ended up applying to several of those schools, and the decision was made for me - I was only accepted to 4. </p>
<p>Some students don’t know what they plan on pursuing. Some students value campus feel/beauty a lot more than others. Personally, campus attractiveness was pretty low on important factors. After visiting a few schools, I wasn’t really ‘crazy’ about any of them. Sure some were nicer than others, not that I really cared…</p>
<p>I think part of it depends on the expense, both of time and money. If the schools are going to be expensive or time-consuming to visit, it may make sense ot wait until an acceptance has been offered and see how much, if any, scholarship funds are offered. If money is not an issue, then it just comes down to how many visits you may have to take time off of work and school to fit in. Most colleges have special days for accepted students, and those are a lot more informative than random visits in my opinion.</p>
<p>Definitely after. All of these answers seem like upper-middle class answers. Not everyone has the resources to visit their schools before applying and personally, I don’t see it as an integral part of deciding where to APPLY. In deciding where to go, yes, but let’s see you get in first before you plunk down money for a plane ticket or a tank of gas.</p>
<p>Every college visit is the same. Your tour guide’s job is to paint you the rosiest picture of the school as possible. It’s basically a real-time experience of the junk brochures they send in the mail.</p>
<p>@STheart - you have to balance the cost of that plane ticket or tank of gas with the cost of applying. We started spring break of sophomore year, and visited schools in clusters to make it economical. We have family in one area where D was applying, so spring break Junior year we put her on a plane and she stayed with family who drove her around to visit. We’re fortunate we have those resources, but as someone earlier said, if it’s that hard to get to the school, how will you get back and forth once you’re in? We couldn’t afford to send out a dozen applications, and visiting first allowed us to make intelligent choices. Some schools that looked great in the brochures and on the websites she HATED once she got there. While I agree you don’t learn much from the tour guide, you can learn a lot from wandering around campus and stopping to chat with random people. What ended up being her first choice school wasn’t high on the radar at all, and had we not visited probably would have been knocked off the list to apply. But then again, she only applied to one reach school. We knew all the other schools she applied to she would get in, it would be a matter of financial aid to decide where to go. I guess if you have lots of money to spend on reach applications, then it’s a different story.</p>