<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I currently have a list of about 10-15 schools that I want to apply. Of course, it is to my and my family's current best interest to cut that list down to healthy 6-9 by the end of this summer, but enough about my indecisiveness.</p>
<p>My family and I are planning to make a trip to make some college visits to help with my decision and to get a better feel for what the schools are like. Currently, if I were to visit all the schools that I was interested in, that would probably result in a pretty long trip to the East coast to see 6-8 schools, a closer, shorter trip to Midwestern schools to see 4-5 schools, plus some safeties with campuses that I am very familiar with. The thing is, however, I've already "seen" some of the schools out east in my freshman year due to my older siblings, and I am not sure if it's worth the gas to make the trip again to the East just to see 3 more schools and refresh my memory on others. I'm having a relatively busy summer with couple courses at local college, and I really do not want to make any unnecessary trips; so, my question is, how helpful are college visits actually and would I be penalized in the future for "not demonstrating interest" or being familiar with the campus during an interview or such? Or does the internet age provide for all that with their extensive college websites? </p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>If you have already seen those schools when you were younger, you might already have a good sense of whether you’d be a good fit for the college and whether you were impressed or not on them. So there’s no use in going again. For instance, I went to see BU a part of my freshman year for a journalism conference, I didn’t really like the campus or its layout that much. I decided to visit again senior year to see if my perspective changed. Not by much, I still had the same feelings about the campus besides sitting through some formal presentations and some more in depth tours.</p>
<p>You might be able to just talk to your siblings about their impressions as well or go through online tours to refresh. In addition, you could prioritize, visiting the ones again you are highly interested in or simply visiting if it becomes very likely you’d attend after being accepted. So yeah, no need to do double visits.</p>
<p>College interest is kinda important. Some schools take it into account. Others don’t. Check their website policy to make sure. To show interest you could also email admissions, order brochures online, become a part of their mailing list, and signing up for alumni interviews in your area. I got waitlisted by the schools where I didn’t show a whole lot of interest even though I was in the range of competitive applicants. (These were mostly midwest schools that I didn’t have time to visit). Eventually I realized it was probably a good thing that they helped me recognize that I did not have a strong fit and would not really attend anyway. (free application was calling)</p>
<p>So my point is show interest, visit what you can, but if they don’t make you preregister and sign your name, it is likely that they don’t record you for interest purposes. College visits are definitely important, but I wouldn’t reccomend visiting colleges you already did unless you have extra time. Good luck.</p>
<p>Before setting foot in the car, make sure you run the net price calculators for each school on your agenda to make sure your family and you can afford to go there. Carbon footprint and all that.</p>