<p>My guidance counselor and my parents told me that if you do not visit a school you will automatically be rejected.</p>
<p>Can anyone tell me if the this is true?</p>
<p>Also are the visits used as a factor in admissions ie you will not be automatically rejected but it makes you application look worse then someone else's who did visit.</p>
<p>I am asking because it is difficult for me to visit some schools as they are very far away (over 4 hrs each way by car).</p>
<p>1) Not for any school I know of.
2) Some schools do consider "demonstrated interest" in admissions decisions. A personal visit is a great way to show demonstrated interest. However, schools understand that students who live far away can't always visit.</p>
<p>There are other ways to show that you are interested in the school. One way is to attend any sessions they have at your high school. Another is to see if they have regional sessions/interviews in your area; many schools do. And you can ask for an alumni interview in your area. My d did these things; she's now attending a school she didn't visit until after acceptance.</p>
<p>Contact the schools and let them know of your dilemma. They'll tell you want else is available for you.</p>
<p>Some schools (seems to be LACs) are actively hunting for qualified and interested kids. If you show both, they'll actively court you.</p>
<p>The ultra selectives -- their cache is so great that they don't bother. You can live on their doorstep and they won't give you any extra consideration.</p>
<p>I was able to visit only one school (and not in the East) before applying. I was accepted at all including several ultra selectives. My not visiting didn't hurt me one bit.</p>
<p>Your guidance counselor is incorrect. My son did not visit, or even attend an out of town information session for, several of the universities to which he was accepted, including some highly selective ones.</p>
<p>We did not visit any colleges (except local ones) until my D knew she was accepted to them, because they were so far away. You can show interest by going to their receptions when they come to your town or county. Make sure to fill out card when you do go to one. You can find out when their receptions are on the college you like site.</p>
<p>Sam, time is short but there is one thing you must do. Buy a book on college admissions.</p>
<p>Assuming you are correctly reporting what you heard, both your parents and GC have shown they know nothing of the college admission process and that nothing they say can be relied upon. So it's on your shoulders to get the job done right. Otherwise you're going to be steered hither and yonder by wild assumptions, half-truths, "what everyone knows", etc.</p>
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it is difficult for me to visit some schools as they are very far away (over 4 hrs each way by car)
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<p>that really isnt that far away. im driving 35+ hours each way to visit grinnell and kenyon. do you have your license? maybe if your parents dont want to take you, you could drive yourself.</p>
<p>but anyway, what your gc said was wrong. i agree with chedva about seeing if there is an alumni interviewer in your area that you could get an interview with. but if the school is only four hours away, they might expect you to come to the campus to interview.</p>
<p>Your parents and guidance counselor are wrong- it can totally depend on the college you are applying to. Some care very much, some not at all, and most are in between. For most colleges they do want to know you are "really" interested in going there, and there are many ways of showing that, other than visits. If you like I can email you a chart produced by the NY Times a few years ago showing the importance of different factors in the admissions decisions of 50 top colleges. Just PM me with your email address and I will send it to you. I also suggest you post your question on the parents forum, where you will be able to get feedback/advice from dozens of experienced parents whose kids have already been through the admissions process. You will find a virtual gold mine of accurate information about colleges there.</p>
<p>I have looked at some college books, The Fiske Guide and some other book one of my mom's friends gave to me since her kids have already gone off to college, but I will defiantly check that one out.</p>
<p>My guidance counselor has been working at my school for about 10 years and I'm not sure why she would say something that is wrong but my mom heard it from some of her friends whose children have already applied and went to college too. </p>
<p>I live in an NYC suburb and go to a medium competitive public school. Does that makes any difference?</p>
<p>And what would you say is the cutoff for where you have to visit for me personally its been the 4hrs as I said before.</p>
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My guidance counselor has been working at my school for about 10 years and I'm not sure why she would say something that is wrong
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<p>she probably didnt mean to mislead you, but a lot of guidance counselors really just dont know very much. my gc has accidentally told me inaccurate information before, such as "ap grades and sat scores are weighted equally in college admissions". but luckily i found this site, it has helped so much. i guess my guidance counselor is not very knowledgable because in his mind, there are 6 colleges: university of washington, washington state university, western washington university, eastern washington university, central washington university, and the local CC. he knows basically nothing about the admissions process of schools other than the ones listed above, just because 95%+ of my school chooses those schools. maybe your situation is similar.</p>
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35 hours each way...
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<p>yeah, its too bad that i live on the west coast. and my mom hates flying, so we are most likely going to drive.</p>
<p>Perhaps your GC's remarks were referring to local colleges only? If you were applying to U of Chicago , or Wash. St Louis they would not hold it against you if you did not visit. But it is very possible that colleges within driving distance, who do track "student interest", would consider a lack of a visit an indication that you weren't really interested.</p>
<p>If I may suggest, take a look at the following CC link to a comprehensive listing of information published by colleges know as the Common Data Set , which is a virtual gold mine of information about the makeup of the incoming Freshman classes, the relative importance of different factors in admissions decisions- race, GPA, geographic location, etc, etc. You can get an very good idea of whether or not the state you live in is a factor to a college, how important an interview is, etc, etc. </p>