<p>How important is visiting a college campus in the college admission process? </p>
<p>Should you accept going to a school without personally going to it first. </p>
<p>Especially schools that are WAY out of state.</p>
<p>I go to school 1200 miles away from home, so I know it can often be difficult to visit, but before you make your final decision, I would recommend it if at all possible. Some schools I visited and didn’t like their atmosphere; I knew right away when I was at the right one.</p>
<p>If visiting is difficult, don’t bother until you’re accepted. Then, maybe visit your first choice to make sure. I do think you can make the decision without visiting, based on all other factors, but you get a more complete picture when you do visit, and don’t run the risk of hating the campus/atmosphere when you get there.</p>
<p>No. Do not accept going to a school without personally going to it first. It’s just a terrible mistake that can cost you a lot. As Manorite suggested, if it’s difficult, don’t visit until you’re accepted. But do not deposit at a school before you’ve visited.</p>
<p>I am going to echo what everyone else has posted. I did have a friend at U of Michigan whom applied because it ‘sounded good,’ and attended and ended up loving it, but her experience is probably very rare.
I have a teenager that will be applying to schools soon, and our goal is to try to visit every school that’s on her list. We did 1/2 last summer and will finish up this summer.</p>
<p>For a different perspective. Long ago (in the 80’s) I attended a magnet high school where everyone applied to top colleges and universities on a national level. We didn’t have the internet, just the little Fisk guide sent to us because of our PSAT scores. I can’t remember a single person visiting a college before deciding. Some had been to different colleges locally but never on in a campus visit situation you have today. We all applied and went off to whatever college we decided on without having visited any of them. </p>
<p>I’m not saying that it was a better option–I think visiting is great if you can do it. But think about how much of visits, especially during the summer, don’t give a real sense of the campus community. All I’m saying that with all the information available today (class schedules online, access to campus newspapers, calendars of campus activities) it’s easier to make a decision without visiting than it was before. If you can visit, do it. Otherwise, you can probably make a pretty good decision with the information available.</p>