Your kid will need to do online tours and info sessions at the schools you can’t get to. Otherwise, they will not be able to write the required “Why X school” supplemental essay they will see pretty much everywhere.

I think the write ups in Fiske and Princeton review can be pretty helpful in getting a bit of the vibe of a school + reading comments in Unigo. I wouldn't make a final selection just from that but DD was able to say no-way to schools I suggested based on that info to start with.

Anonymous wrote:OP, it's so different now. I showed up move-in day Freshmen year without ever having stepped foot on the campus prior. It's pretty similar to old folks my age .

We did a few summer and spring break tours Junior year, but the admit events are so much better at seeing what it's like.

My kid (and us) changed our minds about a few schools/programs after the more in-depth visits. We have two more admitted events to attend--and my kid will decide after participating in all of them.

I'm actually glad we didn't visit some of the schools that are far away prior to finding out if he got in or not--it would have been a waste of time/$. The one he did get in on the West Coast we are visiting--but some of the ones very far remote NE---I'm glad we didn't waste the time/$ (they didn't use demonstrated interest).

I visited all seven of the schools I applied to. I only visited schools that were safety/targets/close reaches. I didn’t visit or apply to any schools I didn’t have a shot at. This was in 1995, and of the colleges were within a 6 hour drive so it wasn’t a burden to visit.

Anonymous wrote:Do not discount that value of the virtual sessions (information sessions, tours, panels, interviews)
My DC knocked off 2 schools that were in the category that "need to find out more" from these.
A school that was in the maybe category moved much higher up.

My son used live webinars to decide what college to apply to within two universities.

I read that outside of competitive-parenting land, it's more normal to only go to admitted students day.

My son felt admitted students day was a rehash of the campus prospectives tour at the school he is going to.

Anonymous wrote:I actually think there is way too much emphasis on visits before applying. You simply cannot gauge "fit" from a 1 hour tour. What ends up happening is the tour guide makes or breaks it. And that's ridiculous. Things like rain or snow or heat on that one day or in those few hours.

Good research is more important - friends, guidance counselor, neighbors. Sign up for the campus newspaper, google news alerts, follow them on insta/snap, reddit, college confidential.

This

Also fit is a very overblown thing

I think you need to be strategic about it.
Visit the ED1 and ED2 choices.
Visit a handful of the remaining.
Then Whittle the list based on desired school attributes, majors, etc - apply, and then do admitted students days if ED1 and ED2 didn't work out. FWIW we visited 5 of 11. DC is at a school she did not visit until after the acceptance, very happy there.

We toured the ones local to us, DD visited the hometown state school in 9th grade for the first time and like others, also incorporated college visits into road trips to see family. I think we used junior spring break to see a bunch in Philly and NYC. We visited Cornell and Ithaca while taking a short vacation to the Finger Lakes. We wrapped in Bowdoin and Colby and U Maine while visiting cousins over the summer. We probably should have looked at Boston schools too, but didn't. My DD did apply to a bunch she hadn't visited before but had some idea about from other similar schools.

I actually think there is way too much emphasis on visits before applying. You simply cannot gauge "fit" from a 1 hour tour. What ends up happening is the tour guide makes or breaks it. And that's ridiculous. Things like rain or snow or heat on that one day or in those few hours.

Good research is more important - friends, guidance counselor, neighbors. Sign up for the campus newspaper, google news alerts, follow them on insta/snap, reddit, college confidential.

My kid did not enjoy college visits so we did about 5, then she was done. She used the Fiske Guide, Naviance, College Vine and her list of what was important to her to narrow her list to 9 schools.
We made it very clear that she could not attend a school she had not stepped foot onto. After her acceptances she looked at them all, picked the ones she wanted to visit (of those she had not yet seen) and we went. That’s where she found which one was the fit for her.

It horrified my mother, who was a high school guidance counselor for 20 years, that we were not visiting every school my kid applied to, but my mom has been out of the game for 20-something years and it’s a different world. I applied to 3 schools, not 9.

I think seeing some schools so your student gets the idea of what a college can offer and what the differences can be is important but it’s not necessary to see everyone before applying. It is necessary to see it before choosing it and attending.

My DC and I visited 21 schools , spread over a couple of years. And I work full time, but only have one kid.

So, you could do it with planning but may choose not to.

I suggest your child read student comments ( on websites like UNIGO or NICHE. You will get a feel for the place by reading their responses to questions like:

What is the best thing about your school?
What is the worst thing?
How would you describe a typical student at your school?
What kind of person would not fit in at your school?

Your kid may also put more thought into things like:
How much Greek presence (if any) do they like?
Do they want most of their social life to be on campus or in the off campus environment?
Do they want a very structured curriculum?
Are all of their possible majors well covered?

Good luck

The only school you NEED to visit is the ED one.

There's this new thing called social media, people. The vibe/fit/ambiance of a campus is quite evident by looking at these. You can also view the campus newspapers online for most schools. There are dozens of guidebooks that provide info about the social scenes on almost any college. You can also use this thing called Google and go down the rabbit hole on any college.

I think you should definitely visit the ED school, unless it’s a school you visit regularly and the knows. (Alma mater for parents and you go to football or other games regularly or your child has done programs there.)

After that look at your list and really figure out what makes sense time and financial wise to visit. For us, we used junior year spring break and summer to do college themed trips and drove, since my dd’s interests were within driving distance. An example, we did Salisbury, Delaware, Penn State and Pitt over spring break. Then on a weekend we did the Philly area schools, did 2 official events but then a walk around with the others.

If west coast is on the list, then wait until acceptance unless demonstrated interest is involved.

Just my opinion.

If not applying ED, then do not visit until accepted.

You can look at school's website, YouTube and college related forums to get a sense. Think some people completely overestimate "fit". Student doesn't want to be miserable, but it's 4 years. No matter where you end up, the experience won't be perfect.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hasn’t there some reporting that fit is best determined by talking to recent alumni, not by visiting?

Real recent alumni or DCUM self described "recent alumni"?

I met your kid should call a kid who went to their high school and who went/goes to the college under consideration. Talk to people in the real world!