<p>It really depends. Older son didn’t get into the four schools he visited and did get into the four he didn’t. But none of those schools cared about “demonstrated interest.” When we are talking about the lottery schools it makes no difference per se. That said, my younger son felt that it was much easier to write the “Why ___ College” essays for the schools he had visited, though he got into one school he hadn’t visited. (His Why ___ College essay for that school was all about the reasons he thought his parents were crazy for suggesting it, and then the reasons he was wrong - sometimes tongue in cheek - i.e. Lake Michigan is practically a coast.) So sometimes just getting a better feel for what a school is looking for may mean that you target your essays better for that school, even if it’s not the visit that actually made a difference from the admission’s office point of view.</p>