<p>Yeah, visits are just not an option for me in terms of both time and money. I narrowed my selection of colleges to pretty similar sizes and academics. I've begun reading through posts relating to the schools that I'm planning on applying to on CC. At this point, where/how could I learn more about schools to "feel them out?" As in, how can I differentiate between these schools besides class sizes, diversity, etc. etc.</p>
<p>BTW - intended major: civil engineering (female, whoop whoop?) and schools I'm looking into: Stanford (#1 choice eek), CMU, UIUC, Berkeley, GTech, UT-Austin, Cornell, UMichigan, Princeton, Columbia, Northwestern, Duke, MIT, Purdue, VT, Rice</p>
<p>A lot of schools hold information sessions around the country, so it would probably be worthwhile to see if there are any within a reasonable drive of where you live. You can also see if the school does alumni interviews (I know CMU does) to talk with someone that went to school there. It might give you a better perspective than just seeing what’s on the website and whatever miscellaneous things are posted online.</p>
<p>I know that after I was accepted at Purdue that I had gotten a call to see if I had any questions. I know that if you called the FYE office or SWE or some other organization that they could answer any questions and/or put you into contact with a student. I’m pretty sure those other schools would be willing to do this as well.</p>