Visiting the Business School: can it help???

You have actually answered your own question: depends on the school and on your interaction with the admissions team. Some schools will be appalled that you would apply without visiting the campus in person, others will find it unimpressive, since most students do so and some will be completely indifferent. I always tell clients to visit if they possibly can. Know why? It can't hurt. Noboby has ever been dinged for visiting, and there is no better way to try a school on for size than to see it up close and personal. Having said all that, I don't know of any schools who would dismiss an application solely based on no visit, so I don't think there is any real risk in not visiting if you can't pull it off. But you would certainly feel better about applying there if you were to visit.
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Sure, some schools like Tuck really like you to visit them but for the most part, the visit is mostly for you. The value is that you can assess fit in person and use your experience at the school to make your essays that much more targeted and personal.

Hey guys, thanks for the reply.

I guess I could rephrase my question: to what extent do most schools take into consideration whether you visited or not when reviewing your application?

Well most of the schools have a question about whether or not you've visited the school on their application. As to how much this is weighted in the adcoms' minds, we can only speculate. I would guess that those schools that place a greater emphasis on "fit" would probably consider visits more heavily. Two schools that are particularly unique and that come immediately to mind are MIT Sloan and Dartmouth Tuck.

I think that visiting and application to bschool shows that the PHYSICALLY fits you in additions to other factors, which is a plus to the adcom.

However, this fact is less considered among others.

My speculation would also be that schools with lower yield rates (for example, Duke) like to see applicants visit campus, because it shows that they are actually interested in the school and therefore more likely to come if they are admitted. Fuqua knocks your application fee down to $50 if you visit campus!

Wow, had no idea.

Would it be safe to assume that visiting the school would only be one of those factors they would take into consideration if my application is too comparable to others? i.e. there are a lot of applicants who have a profile very similar to mine, however visiting the school and demonstrating the "fit" would give me the edge? Or am I wrong on this one?

Yeah I probably wouldn't count on it making a huge difference except that by visiting you'll also have a better and clearer picture of the school's culture and your fit, which will help you write better essays. And like someone just said above, it definitely won't hurt you.

I really truly believe it helps across the board. Sometimes you gain formal points from admissions committee. Sometimes if just helps you know where you want to go and why and better articulate it. I can honestly say that I believe it helped me.

I would also like to add the importance of making the most of visits. My advice would be to not just simply take the tour, see the class, ask a few questions and go home. Reach out to students much before your visit who have similar backgrounds and career goals or are part of a club you thought was interesting. The time I spent with students allowed me to whittle my tough decision list from 6 to 2 and that alone is worth the price of airfare.

Becky

From what I read, applicants should visit while class is still in session in order to get the full picture of the program, right? So what to do, now that school is out for summer??

enkie,

Try to wait a bit and go when the classes resume. Yes, it would be close to the deadlines but you can visit even one week before. Leave your application ready and just add some comments about your visit.






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I want to make another comment: at Tuck, visiting or not visiting is like day and night ! Trust me

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Thank you that is a great idea! There are a few overseas schools I wouldnt be able to visit (due to time constraint, budget etc) but I think I will visit the US schools.

Thanks again!