<p>You really have to find out about the particular school, as others have mentioned. </p>
<p>More interesting to me is that some schools take account of visits, interviews and basically any indication of interest in the school as part of the metric for computing scholarship amounts.</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, the Common Data Set is the place to go for this information. If student interest is “considered” or “important” or something like that, then a visit is a very good way to show interest and could make a difference. Many of the most selective schools do NOT consider student interest at in. In that case, it will not make a difference. They say so in the Common Data Set, which is available on almost every college website if you search for it. People can guess and tell stories about their experience, but I personally take the schools at their word.</p>
<p>intparent - I agree with your point about looking at the Common Data Set, but I take issue with your statement “it will not make a difference.” You have no idea, personally, whether it will make a positive difference or not. </p>
<p>As mathmom points out, it was easier for her younger son to write his essays about the schools he visited. Did stronger essays, written with confidence, help his overall ‘package’? Who knows. But it probably didn’t hurt anything. </p>
<p>At one school we visited with Step-D, her admissions counselor made contact with her and they began an ‘email contact’ that continues. She even received an email ‘likely letter’ from the school (via this counselor) and this school is not known for sending out ‘likely’ emails or letters. We were quite surprised. </p>
<p>My advice - if you have the funds and the interest, and the school is not in the ‘lottery’ category - it can’t hurt, and just might help.</p>
<p>Yes, the Common Data Set information is a good guide. But as a general rule, smaller and less well known schools are more likely to care about this. Any school that dominates its applicant pool is much less likely to care.</p>
<p>Most of the schools we visited were very clear that the ability to visit would not help and the inability to visit would not hurt.</p>
<p>Some schools do and some don’t. I know of one which states in its admissions blog that it does, but only as part of a tiebreaker when it comes down to the last considerations.</p>
<p>If a school states in their common data set that it does consider demonstrated interest and you are more then several hours away, there are ways to do this without setting foot on campus. Get on their mailing list, attend the information session when the rep visits the high school, look for local info or alumni sponsored nights in your area, contact your regional rep to see if they do local interviews, see if there are departmental mailing lists for your area of interest, etc. There are schools that use holistic admissions where this doesn’t matter an iota. There are schools that track visits where this doesn’t matter (they are following their marketing $'s). There are schools that are notorious for WL’ing students that live within 3-4hrs drive that never bothered to visit. There are schools that are notorious for ‘show us the love’! Start with the common data set, and ask on the schools forum here on cc. If you search this forum there are even previous threads discussing this. There are ways to find out.</p>
<p>Here are some previous threads:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/944214-schools-care-about-demonstrated-interest.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/944214-schools-care-about-demonstrated-interest.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/457783-demonstrated-interest-what-colleges-really-want-you-show-them-love.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/457783-demonstrated-interest-what-colleges-really-want-you-show-them-love.html</a></p>
<p>*note the dates on these threads so it’s always good to check, schools can change somewhat, but the discussions are still valid for guidelines.</p>