We have visited four schools with my younger D. For us it does make a difference because of what she want’s to major in. The studio’s are quite different at the schools so seeing what she would be working with was important to her and when we did web searches and virtual tours, you don’t get to see those. Also, we did our visits on weekends and since she will be further away we were concerned about the schools having enough to do on weekends. Two of the schools were pretty full of activity even though there wasn’t much going on. The third school however, was a ghost town. We hardly saw any students out and about, the parking lots for the dorms were less than half full. The fourth was low on her list but being in state we wanted to at least check it out. After seeing it it is not even on our radar. Looks nice on the virtual tour but after walking around and seeing it and the surrounding area, I told her I wouldn’t pay a dime to send her there and luckily she agreed.
Before the visits the school she ranked number 1 on her list she has said she actually now doesn’t even want to apply. The school that was at the bottom of her list is now her number 1 target and the school she had as second remained second.
I guess visits and their importance are going to be specific to the student and what they want or need.