Visit, sure. But, eg, early on, mine decided with absolute certainty that a large U was not her place, after visiting BU and our flagship. Our solution would have been to expand her list of LACs. You know, a 10% admit rate is tough, but so is a 20%.
I don’t believe in the mania. But I do know many top students are capable of both the hard work and living their lives. What they need is a realistic atitude about chances.