In an article full of otherwise good advice, Brian Rosenberg, the president of Macalester College, wrote on The Choice blog yesterday:
“For colleges, a campus visit is the most important sign that an applicant is seriously interested, and there are times when that expression of interest can make the difference between acceptance and rejection. All colleges prefer to admit students who are likely to accept their offers of admission.”
Arun and I unknowingly posted sequential comments disagreeing with that point, both of which I’ll share here.
From Arun:
"All good advice except the point about campus visits being the most important sign of serious interest. That’s not accurate by a long shot for many if not most colleges.
Sure if you’re an LA kid who doesn’t take time to visit and interview at Pomona an hour away, it will be detrimental to your application. It’s a sign you’re not serious enough about the school to bother making the drive. But Syracuse is not going to hold not visiting against an LA kid. Most kids can’t afford it and thankfully the admissions officers understand that.
A student can often do a better job showing interest in a myriad of other ways including attending local information sessions, being in contact with a regional representative or just doing a lot of great research on the Internet and writing a fantastic supplemental essay about why they’re attracted to the school.
No doubt in the margins at some schools a visit might tip a decision, but by and large, it’s more for the student to learn about the school than for the admissions office to divine anything more than the kid’s parents had the means to get him there."
From me:
"C’mon. What if the family can’t afford the travel expenses? What if a student takes care of her little sister after school and can’t be away from home? What if it’s a reach school and the student wants to see if he’s admitted before he takes the time and expense to visit? Yes, students should visit their chosen schools when they can do it without undue stress or financial hardship. And I’m sure there are cases when a student who’s obviously not interested makes that even clearer by electing not to visit. But families have enough anxiety around the college admissions process. Let’s not make it worse by giving them something else to worry about, schedule, and pay for."
Hollie says
I have a question slightly related to this topic of campus visits.
My daughter is interested in attending one of the schools her brother visited twice, once for a general campus tour, and once for an accepted students weekend, and she was along for the ride both times.(These visits were 2 years ago.) My son chose another college for himself.
My daughter does not want to repeat a visit just to fulfill the need of showing interest by visiting. But we wonder if it will look bad to not make the effort, since they obviously know nothing about her previous visits with the brother. The school is only a 3 hour drive away, so we worry it looks bad if she doesn’t make that minimal effort.
Should she call an admissions counselor and explain her interest in the school and that has already visited with her brother 2 years ago? Or do you not want to draw attention to a sibling who was accepted and chose to attend somewhere else?
Kevin McMullin says
I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Hollie. Colleges understand that she is not her brother. They likely won’t even connect the two. And if the college asks if she’s visited, the answer is actually “yes.” Otherwise, she’s better served showing interest in the ways Arun outlined above than she would be by repeating a visit.