Does School Visit affect admissions chance?

Question

Quote from the GMATClub MBA Admission Guide page 87, by Admissionado "Many adcom
members (especially those in Europe) revealed they would NEVER admit someone who
didn’t visit the campus."

Is this true? Or less extremely, does foregoing a school visit affect admission chance at all, if you are a domestic applicant?

bb · Answer

Interesting quote - I think it would be good to get an input from JonAdmissionado about it (it may be dated information).
Meanwhile a lot of good thoughts and wisdom about school visits here: b-school-visit-superthread-156405.html

PersonalMBACoach · Answer

Visiting a school is always recommended, but most schools are not that strict. I work with applicants every year who apply to schools without visiting and get in. One thing to consider is how close you are to the school. If you live in Boston you should definitely visit MIT and HBS but you don't need to visit Berkeley or Stanford. International trips are certainly not required and most applicants will not travel internationally to visit a school before applying.

Good luck!

Best,
Scott

Good luck!

Best,
Scott

kilbourne · Answer

Making a school visit can more than double the cost of applying to a school. 
Assuming base application cost = $200 to $300 fee + 20 to 30 hours spent on application
Optional school visit cost = $200 to $600 hotel and flight costs + ~24 hours between travel and visiting

If admissions chances are not significantly affected by whether an applicant visits, the cost effective strategy for the applicant would be to apply to more schools instead of visiting each school he/she applies to. Making official school visits a significant factor in admissions chances would allow admissions committees to raise the cost of applying, undermining this "diversification" strategy of applying to numerous schools. That would likely raise schools' yields without relying on the extensive essays of the past which empowered the admissions consulting industry, and also without consuming committee resources through reading all those essays.

I hope schools don't count school visits because I didn't invest in them, but it would be in many schools' interest to consider whether each domestic applicant visited.

FortunaAdmissionsMJ · Answer

On another note, visiting a school could potentially help your application as when I used to work for the admissions team at INSEAD, if someone made a strong impression on me, I would add a note to their profile and attach it to their application when it came in. Also, it's very beneficial for the candidate to visit a campus as you really get a sense if it's the right school for you - do you like the feel, the vibe, do you connect with students, etc. I've often worked with people that were so set on a school and then when they went to visit it, they felt it wasn't for them and went for a school they visited that they had a connection with. Something to think about...

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Just to chime in I see it as one of those things that can really potentially help you but won't necessarily directly hurt you. Visiting schools is a great opportunity to do some primary research and some context and fodder for your application that should improve the package you eventually submit. It is also an opportunity to connect directly with decision makers, I know many examples of students who have made strong impression with admissions that notations were added that probably pushed them into the admit pile. This still remains a very human process so if possible to visit campus it is something I suggest. Now every circumstance is certainly not the same. Distance certainly factors in so applicants certainly will need to do what makes sense but a visit can have a positive impact on your chances

kilbourne · Answer

There are a limited number of seats available at each school. Admissions is essentially a zero-sum game. If, for example, Jose is a Hispanic Teach for America applicant, and he visits, makes a favorable impression, and is admitted, he has just taken up a slot that another Hispanic, non-traditional candidate will lose the opportunity to gain. Similar to political lobbying, it is likely not worthwhile for any individual competitor to invest in obstructing another candidate's lobbying activity, but aggregated lobbying activities significantly diminish the chances of everyone else.

Using the example, if a school targets 20 seats for Hispanic candidates, and 
100 Hispanic candidates apply so baseline admission chance is 20%
However, 10 of these 100 Hispanic applicants visit
5 of these 10 applicants make a strong impression and are admitted
There are now 15 seats remaining for 90 non-visiting candidates. Their average admission chance just dropped to 16.6% They were hurt since they did not visit.

There are 2 questions:
The first question is, are MBA applications evaluated by the admissions committee in such a way that whether an applicant visits a school makes a difference in whether an applicant is interviewed or admitted? Does the school visit checkbox overtly affect application scoring?

If the answer is yes, then applications are clearly more complicated than face value, with the school visit another way for applicants to distinguish themselves. School visits would be another way for applicants to gain a competitive edge, like retaining the services of an admissions consultant.

The second question is, whether adcoms are sufficiently influenced by impressions made by visitors that they admit those who, had they not visited, would have been denied without an interview.

If the answer is yes, that would affect every other applicant's admission chance and be a game-changer, even if the first question's answer is no.

I think it's relevant that most strong(on paper) applicants would eventually visit to interview. All applicants invited to interview would have the opportunity to make their personal impression. The school visitor only makes an impression at an earlier stage of the game, whereas non-visitors may catch up when they visit to interview. As long as the answers to both above questions are No, then making an in-person visit to make an impression would have no effect on admission outcomes.

dLo · Answer

kilbourne, you're taking waaaaay to calculated of an approach at this. It also seems that you're trying hard to justify not visiting, since you didn't. But the adcoms are human, and each school is different. I definitely made an effort to visit and keep in contact with the adcom at Anderson throughout the process; it turns out the admissions director I initially met, continued to ask questions to, and had help me during application issues, was the same one who called me when I was admitted. Some schools also specifically ask whether or not you've visited, when, how, and who you talked to (i.e. NYU Stern), while others do not. Countless sites, consultants and past experienced students/admits have commented on the varying importance per school on a campus visit, if it is at all feasible, and the overall opinion is that yes, you should if you can. While it may not necessarily help you (although I have heard that, for example, Haas expects you to visit if you live in the area), it can't hurt you at all. If you're worried about the costs, then considering you're about to drop $100K+ and two years of lost salary, you may need to evaluate your dedication and priorities.

ARINGO · Answer

Although a number of schools declare that a campus visit won’t have any impact on the applicant’s candidacy or admission chances, other schools are likely to view such visit as an indication of seriousness and commitment on the part of the applicant. A visit may reinforce the impression that the candidate views the school as his or her first choice, especially if he or she doesn’t live in the U.S. and has made a special effort to visit the campus. For example, the head of the Admissions Committee at Stern said, “I always advise people who are applying to Stern to spend the time and money visiting New York to interview because it indicates a seriousness of purpose.”
Some of the applicants schedule their visits for the time they are invited for an interview. In the event you are invited for an interview (after you have submitted your application) and you are given the choice of having it over the phone or face-to-face on campus, keep in mind that face-to-face inteviews are usually more effective and you can take advantage of the trip to visit various campuses. However, if you feel that you will be more impressive over the phone, it’s probably a good idea to pass on the face-to-face interview and interview by phone instead.

For more tips and guidelines regarding MBA campus visit: https://aringo.com/top-mba-campus-visit/

Does School Visit affect admissions chance?

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