natmicstef

Unless money is no object the cost of traveling to visit your choices can be quite prohibitive and each college is not likely to be down the road from the other.

As others on this board have suggested, even for in country students, give points for most important to not so important aspects..cost could be 10 points, diversity 5 points, proximity to airport 1 point, your major 10 points, breadth of other majors in case you don't like your major 4 points etc. etc. do this for each college and see which one gets the highest marks...

Also how will you reach the colleges from the airport...is there transportation, can you get home for Christmas, if not can you stay on campus? If it's a suitcase school will you be happy to stay when everyone goes home at the weekends? give points for all of these things too as well as to climate.

There is no fool proof way to select the best for you even if you visited so try not worry too much...easier said than done I know.

starbright

Yeah my assumption is money is not an object. If one can afford to outlay 20-50k a year in a US college education (typically funding is not readily available to int'l students and they are obviously not getting in-state tuition), its not clear to me why they can't afford a few flights. That is the part I am not following yet.

S33D

More than affordability, it's a question of necessity. If someone can get by with choosing schools on the net, he will obviously prefer that rather than spending money going to visit them, regardless of whether he/she can afford it or not.

shruthibaskaran

@S33D: Yeah.. Considering that flight tickets are pretty expensive, and the schools are all spaced out..... And mostly internationals do get financial aid, and that becomes a major source of funding. Its more like, we dont know about how the situation is in the States, and if we can save some amount of money, by not visiting these places, then it could be an additional source of funds

natmicstef

I know it seems to some that if you can afford $25,000 and up for tuition etc., that money is no object but actually it is. By the time you factor in airline tickets, hotel, car, food etc., for student and one parent usually, that could be +/- $5,000 which believe it or not is not peanuts.

starbright

No it's not peanuts. But if you are trying to decide where best to spend your $25-50k a year...you'd think it a small investment.

amazon

Let's not be elitest and talk about how trivial flying internationally to visit colleges is. Maybe the poster is hoping to get financial aid for some of his/her expenses. Any way, the expense of visits is nothing to sneeze at and I don't think it's totally necessary.

We used videos - look online - you can get somewhat objective tours of many major colleges. One school looked so dreary with city buses driving by in the middle of the campus. Also you can find out a lot about the intangibles - feel, atmosphere, etc. from guides like Fiske and from asking people and from sites like this one.

Maybe academics and prestige are the most important thing. Or financial aid. Then go with that. Otherwise you can find out a lot about a school without visiting - is it nurturing? If you're in a different country than your family, you don't want a cold, bureaucratic school if you can avoid it. Are the kids big partyers? Do they get drunk all the time because there's nothing else to do? Are many people depressed? Is it competitive or cooperative? Is Greek life, sports, all important? What's the ratio of girls to boys? I was able to get this information without visiting.

usmominuk

It sounds a little odd, but one of the biggest issues for my D was that there should be an international airport nearby with transport always available. She's been at university three years now and still thinks that proximity to an airport should be a major consideration for anyone having to travel internationally, but this would only apply if you plan to go home for holidays when time is limited.

amazon

Good point. I don't know if the poster is in Europe or Asia but lots of kids in Europe only want to go to schools in the Northeast but some do go to even the West Coast. On a week vacation, if you go to NYU you could come home to Europe but probably if you go to a school in Washington State you couldn't.

aerableparable

call admission offices and ask to speak to current students too

Alexandre

For international students, one thing to consider is international reputation, particularly in your part of the world. Some universities in the US are excellent but they are unknown outside the US. That's primarily true of LACs and smaller private universities with few international students and minor research activity. Since internationally students often return home after they graduate, it helps if their university is known in their home country.

MattsMomFL

Consider location convenient to an international airport and ease of getting there. Trips home will be long - you might not want to add the expense of one more connecting flight from a small airport or a long drive on icy roads to get to an international airport.

S33D

That would be if it had a guaranteed return. You may just spend a load of cash visiting a few schools and not like any of them, and come back feeling like you've just wasted a whole lot of money.

clee

just choose the school you like. That's the most important thing when you choose school. I'm also worrying about which college I have to go(I'm international-student too). But I guess you have to ask the people whose surrounding you.

da_mad_cow

Bumpbumpbump

I can tell you one thing: consider location carefully. If you got no plans of getting a car, unless you dont mind getting stuck at school the whole year then avoid rural campuses. Find yourself a place that isnt too far from the city, so you'll have things to do when everyone else left, like during breaks.

Also never underestimate the power of weather. If you're like me, coming from a tropical country looking for a little snow :P then schools down south are obviously not for you. Northeast states on the other hand gets loads of snow, too much so for me. And sunny days are lacking there.

Just my 2 cents...