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" &amp;quot;I never seem to have time to visit schools. Is it really important to visit the schools before you apply?&amp;quot; Kristyn, 18, Philadelphia, PA I think it&amp;#039;s a really good idea to visit colleges before you apply because brochures and Websites can all start to look and sound the same. Nothing will give you the sense of what it will actually be like to live on a college campus like visiting and seeing for yourself the dorms and classrooms and athletic facilities and, of course, the students. I know it gets a little crazy once senior year hits to find the time to visit college campuses, and it can also be pricey if the schools you are applying to happen to be more than a car ride away. But keep in mind that you&amp;#039;re making a decision about the next four years of your life, and don&amp;#039;t you want to do all the research you can to make sure you&amp;#039;re making the right one? There&amp;#039;s no excuse not to visit the schools in your local area. In fact, a lot of college applications even ask if you have visited campus, so make sure you can answer that question in the affirmative! Obviously, if you live across the country that won&amp;#039;t be as much of a possibility, but if you live in New York City and you&amp;#039;re applying to Barnard, go check it out! If campus visits aren&amp;#039;t going to happen before you apply, at the very least you should find some time between applying and getting your acceptance letters to visit the schools where you&amp;#039;d like to attend. It can save you a lot of heartache come freshman year if you rule out now the things that you don&amp;#039;t like about certain campuses, things that you wouldn&amp;#039;t know unless you actually visit. Now, if time and money are making it impossible for you to visit any college campuses, then check out the online college fairs at CollegeWeekLive. On March 25 and 26, CollegeWeekLive will host its second online college fair, connecting thousands of students with more than 200 colleges and universities. It&amp;#039;s an opportunity to chat online with admissions officers, current students, and college counselors, and it won&amp;#039;t cost you a penny! You can register for CollegeWeekLive&amp;#039;s virtual college fair at collegeweeklive.com. While visiting an online college fair can&amp;#039;t take the place of an actual campus visit, it can be a very useful tool that along with all your other research will help you make an informed decision about which colleges or universities you&amp;#039;d like to attend. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/school/advice/a27543/visting-college-cqa-031408/>