We get this question all the time: how many schools should I visit? The TL;DR, unfortunately, is there isn’t actually a set number, but it’s probably less than you think. If you held our feet to the fire we would probably say, 5-10, but that isn’t the whole story. Students often think they have to visit every school they are at all interested in before putting it on the final application list, but that really isn’t true and often isn’t even helpful. We try to recontextualize this question. It isn’t “how many schools should I visit?” rather it’s “what schools should I visit?” and “which should I visit first?”
But why shouldn’t I just visit them all?
Haven’t you heard we are in a global panini? Since 2020, it hasn’t been the easiest to visit campuses. In 2020, our students did not see schools IRL at all before applying. We have seen a lot of tours, prospective student programing, etc. get canceled. Often because of these cancelations, it is hard to see the campus. Even if you can go to campus, you might leave with the wrong idea. If there is a lockdown or strict rules for visitors, you aren’t going to see what the school is like and a bad experience might cloud your judgment.
But even if the pandemic was over tomorrow, seeing every school still isn’t what we advise. It takes a lot of time and money to see every school that you are remotely interested in and it might not actually help you craft a list if you aren’t going in with a plan.
So what’s the plan?
When you start to look into schools, start local. Even if you want to end up at a school far from home, visiting local schools will help you make some big decisions. Let’s say you live in Philadelphia. You might think, I don’t want to stay in PA so why would I visit Swarthmore? Well, if you visit Swarthmore, you will probably figure out if you like a small school. If you get on campus and feel suffocated, you can probably take off all the super small colleges on your list. By visiting colleges around you, you will probably be able to make some generalizations about what you want when it comes to things like size.
Starting local will save you time and money when it comes to getting some parameters of the types of school you want to be at. Let’s say our Philly student looks at Temple, UPenn, and Swarthmore. Maybe they realized that they want a midsized school because Swarthmore felt small and Temple felt big. Maybe they realized that they want a school that does research and also they preferred something in the suburbs rather than in the middle of the city. This is great information to have when looking at schools nationwide. Having some metrics on what you want will help you cross off a lot of schools in advance.
Okay, figured out the size? What’s next?
Once you have some basic barometers, it’s time to do some research. Sometimes students think that going to a school is “doing research,” but you should have already looked into the school before visiting. If you want to study something specific, make sure all schools you are considering have a good program in it. Wanting to study business and touring schools that don’t have a business school, won’t help you. It seems simple, but it’s important. Before you visit a school make sure it has at least the basics of what you need.
More isn’t always more
Visiting a million schools isn’t a great idea. You might think that the more places you see, the clearer the choice becomes, but we have found that it can cloud students’ preferences. Seeing a school in person creates a bigger emotional reaction to the college. This reaction can be positive or negative, but it is always more pronounced than a school a student hasn’t been to. For example, you might think Boston College is your dream school because you have been there, but wouldn’t even consider Northeastern because you haven’t been there. If you see a lot of schools, that means you will have a lot of big emotions to consider. At some point, you will probably have to take a step back and think more about programs and viability rather than which school had the coolest tour guide.
Take visits with a grain of salt
Most visits center around a college tour. We kind of hate college tours. A lot of time students base their whole conception of the school around what one 19-year-old says for one hour. One of our staff members used to be an Ivy League tour guide and she will tell you, there is a script and that script is really sanitized. Tour guides are trying to show not only you but also your parents a very specific and admissions office-approved version of the school. Trust us, showing you and your parents the new 24 million dollar gym shouldn't sway your decision about applying.
We always say, try to talk to students who aren’t getting paid $17 an hour from the admissions office to tell you what the school is really like.
Making a list of colleges that you want to apply to isn’t done in a day. If you are already thinking about it now, you have a lot of time. Start local and use those visits to think of what you really want from a school. And please, if you got nothing else from this blog, don’t feel like you need to visit every school you are interested in before you apply.
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