@gertyberty Yes, but not to a great extent. You’ll find that UF’s holistic admissions is 50% based on academics, such as GPA (most important), class rigor, essay and test scores (least important). The other 50% is nonacademic, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, work experience, leadership, etc. In this nonacademic category would fall “level of applicant’s interest”, but it’s given less weight that those other items I mentioned.
If you can, definitely try to do an “official” tour, it may help your chances slightly, but it will go a long ways to helping you make a decision about UF.
In the past we scheduled a standard tour in the morning, followed by an engineering tour in the afternoon. To get the most out of your visit, you may want to schedule two different tours (like the afternoon with honors tour…etc.).
Good Luck!