<p>NYmama - Congrats to your S/D; but those are not schools typically considered concerned about “demonstrated interest” or schools having yield problems. The OP is talking about a low-yield school, expected to be more sensitive to the issue.</p>
<p>oops, sorry. When I saw WU in St. Louis being discussed I didn’t realize you were talking about a low-yield school. I’m assuming WU & Northwestern that were mentioned earlier are not considered low-yield as well. D is waiting to hear from Northwestern. We didn’t visit NW either, but attended a local info session & had a local intereview - so we shall see. I think I shall go over to the US news site to check out some yield info. :)</p>
<p>I think many people overstate the importance of demonstrated interest. You should not expect to be admitted for showing lots of interest. Likewise, don’t expect to be rejected just for not visiting. Ideally, show as much interest as possible, but that doesn’t mean you necessarily have to visit the campus. Today, I found out I was accepted to Wash U and I had never visited the campus (I live in CT so it just wasn’t feasible for my family), but I did attend a couple regional information sessions. Bottom line- show as much interest as you can, but don’t worry about demonstrated interest too much (admissions to competitive colleges is a crapshoot anyways).</p>
<p>My d did an admissions interview at a hotel local to home with a school that seems to track interest. She wasn’t able to meet with the school’s rep when he came to her high school (out sick). No visit (we’re about 6 hours away).</p>
<p>She’s home from that school on spring break now.</p>
<p>If I were to do this (apply to colleges) about 10 more times, I’d eventually get it right. I’m thankful, however, that I can stop after this year! … with only two children.</p>
<p>jasmom - I know what you mean - I have one and I’m done (with the necessary scrapes and bruises that come with the very steep college process learning curve!).</p>
<p>5 hours is not that far away. I know it is too late now, but he could have gone on his own or with a friend.</p>
<p>True, 5 hours is not far away (but then again, it could be an awfully long drive in the dead of winter when you live in New England), and I definitely am not offering excuses. The circumstances that I have PMed other parents have allowed them to fully understand why he could not visit. Unfortunately, it is too private and difficult for me to post.</p>
<p>I am sharing our experience so others could learn from it. I have learned so much from CC and the least I could do is help others with our experience.</p>
<p>Three children, each applied to around nine schools, and my grad student child applied to as many grad schools. We visited about half before applying and there has not been one rejection yet. (knock on wood) We were able to select the schools based on many sources. All different, some years apart, and the youngest is getting acceptances now. They applied to UCs, CSs, Stanford, Cornell, MIT, UIUC, Texas, San Diego, Berkeley, Loyola, Chapman, most recently UCD, the list is very long, but you get the idea. I will admit that we have been very lucky, but we also selected the schools based on desired major and reach vs safety schools, and of course realistic expectations. The final few choices were visited in order to compare, but with our personal story, I have to think that the visit is not that important to the admissions people. Many parents have asked our secret over the years and why my children chose the schools that they chose, and, well, maybe I need to write a book.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about not visiting. It’s not that big of a deal. Just have the applicant email the schools once in a while to show interest. We visited 2 schools–applied to 7 and got into all 7 schools. If his stats, resume, essays, and recommendations prove him to be a good match for the school, don’t worry about the lack of a visit hindering his chances.</p>
<p>Just to give an update - Last week, son sent the email expressing his continued interest and explaining why he could not visit. Last night, he got a likely email. :)</p>
<p>Thanks for all your great suggestions. I can’t possibly know if the email mattered, but I am sure it did not hurt his chances in this yield-worried college.</p>
<p>That is great!!! While the email might not have made any difference, I am sure your son is glad he sent it!</p>
<p>Yes, hsmomstef, he was really glad he sent it. He is excited to visit in April.</p>
<p>NYmama: great to hear it! </p>
<p>OP: I can only add that we also didn’t vist most schools. Actually we went to one, which was about 5 hours away and to two schools that were less than two hours away. And I hope that two local schools understatnd that DD has been there (she didn’y do official visits though). The remaining 7 schools - no formal visits. Even though she is VERY interested in three of them (and she visited two campuses before).
Well, whether it’s 5 or 15 hours, if it did not work out as a one-day visit then she could not just go alone on a random weekend. There were hardly any options that I would consider safe for her to go alone, all very early, and all fully booked even earlier. Everything else was geared to family visits unless parents are OK with the arrangement of a 16-year-old girl staying alone at an unaffiliated hotel off campus. So all this visiting stuff is more about how parents are invoved in the process, what is their position on visiting and how many weekends they can spare.</p>
<p>citymom - I agree. Like with anything else with the college application process, each family has to determine their comfort levels and preferences. What works for one may not necessarily work for another for various reasons.</p>
<p>I know several kids this year who were accepted to WashU without visits or interviews, just the info session. All were above the SAT 50% and all had GPAs of about 4.5 with 10 to 12 APs.</p>
<p>I know somebody who did not set foot at USC but was accepted. But she is a legacy.</p>