Visit Colleges Before or After Acceptance?

compmom
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 11:10:26 +0000

I think visiting beforehand is important in ending up with a reasonable list of schools. I am old-fashioned but think that applying scattershot to many schools is misguided. We visited and did the research and kept the number of schools down to 2-4 for two of my kids, and for one, it was 4 conservatories, 2 colleges. I would go so far as to say we felt it was rude not to visit before applying: we called one of my youngest’s two desired schools to apologize because we had to cancel a visit for health reasons and didn’t get there for a visit until after the application was in.

It also helps with admission to show interest by visiting. Colleges know that in this day and age, with the common application, and 20+ applications, that most applicants are not seriously committed to going to their school.

Every time you apply to a school that you do not know for sure you want to attend, you may be taking a spot from someone who really does want to go to that school. I have seen this happen even at the local level.