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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"Visiting before making a short-list of college was essential for my child, otherwise he might have ended up stuck with schools he would not have liked to attend. He needed to see the places to decide where to apply."

How does visiting before applying solve this problem??

If you are choosing schools based on substantive things like whether it has robust Greek life, whether they require everyone to take the same classes first year as part of their curriculum, whether it is one where you have a shot a joining its D3 sports teams, then silly things like not liking the dorm bathroom set up or the personality of your tour guide won't matter. [/quote]

New poster and not the person to whom you're replying but if you don't "get" this it's not easy to explain to you. Visiting is not merely about what you label "silly things like not liking the dorm bathroom setup." And most intelligent college-bound high schoolers can adequately separate a bad tour guide's personality from their choices about the school itself.

Schools that appear perfect on paper, and ideal with all the information about (your choices here) Greek life or course structure or sports teams etc. etc, can turn out to be the wrong schools when you are physically on their campuses.

DC visited one college that claimed to be a short distance from a major city when it...just wasn't, in a real sense of logistics and transportation realities. Also, the campus looked run-down and uncared for in ways that spoke to the overall attentiveness to detail at the college.

Another college that looked like a simply terrific option on paper etc. was struck off the list very quickly after a day-long visit and not because of bathrooms or tour guides but because DC felt there was an overall vibe, from the buildings to the layout to the classes DC observed to the things on display in the academic building hallways, that made DC say it seemed more like a high school than a prestigious small college. .

But at another place DC visited, seeing inside the classroom buidlings really sold DC on that college's facilities for DC's major in a way that looking at pictures online couldn't.

DC didn't waste time and energy applying to the two schools where visiting turned her off.

But if you don't understand the idea of visiting as adding key information about day to day "fit" that websites, brochures and pictures can't add -- what I just said won't move you. I just hope that if you have a kid who wants to do visits before applying, you'll consider facilitiating that even if you don't get it, because for some people, and at some colleges, visits really do make a difference. [/quote]

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