Visiting and Touring Schools

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AcreWoods

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Hi guys! I'm new here, so excuse me if this has already been posted on (even though I can't find it by searching anywhere). But what time is the best to start visiting and touring prospective schools? I finally took a look at application fees through VMCAS and was shocked at how expensive they are. Therefore, I don't want to apply to any school that I would not wish to go to in some way or another. I'm currently an undergrad sophomore and I've gathered that students start applying to vet school at the end of their junior year.

Sooooo long story short, when should I start visiting or touring vet schools? Do students tour them before they apply? When did some of you guys tour schools? I don't want to be that awkward person who is too excited and tours too early, but I really want to save what extra money I can. Thanks y'all!

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Just as a side note. You apply the summer between junior and senior year. I understand that's minor semantics, but it is a good thing to keep in mind for your timing for visits.

I personally have only toured 3 of the schools I have applied to the last two application cycles. I toured CSU a while ago b/c it is my instate and simply just an hour drive, so not a big convenience. I visited Missouri with my pre-vet club when we drove to Raleigh for the symposium. I visited Kansas at my interview (so after the application process).

I am one of those people who can live pretty much anywhere. The only thing I can't really handle is downtown Denver. lol. So visiting the schools before I applied to them was not a huge deal for me. It was either spend the money to visit 5-6 schools and only be able to afford to apply to 2-3, or simply apply to 5-6 schools. I went for the later.

I do have to say that my tour at Kansas totally sold me on the school, so it motivated me to reapply there this year (unlike Missouri even though I had toured there).

I don't think there is a huge difference between visiting now compared to a year out except you can spread the money out and not feel such pinch.
 
I only visited schools when they interviewed me because I didn't have the money to tour before then and couldn't afford to take the time off from work and school to visit during the year. For the most part, I just got an idea of what the school might be like be a ton of Google Searches and looking at what was in the surrounding area and reading about the student life on the schools' websites. Then when I toured on interview day, I got to see a little more in person.
 
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I think most people visit and tour when they interview. It's just too cost prohibitive to visit every school you are interested in otherwise. Even if you end up only getting accepted by a school in an area you don't care for, you will likely just suck it up for 4 years. Figure out the basics of the area by looking online and just take it from there, though if you live near a school, by all means go visit! Even better, see if they have a summer program for aspiring vets. UPenn has one that I went to last year, and it was a lot of fun and really just confirmed that I want to go to vet school, specifically Penn, but I'll take what I can get!
 
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The cost of traveling to visit a school is a lot more than applying to an unknown, unless there are a bunch that are within relatively close driving distance.

If you want to visit, a good time is often during schools' open houses. I know I went to VA Tech's open house one year pre-application and I know most other schools have something similar. They usually have some specific lectures/events for people interested in applying at some point. Maybe google the vet school + open house and see what you get?
 
I happened to tour three schools, but only because I attended one for undergrad, attended one for a masters, and worked for a governors school program at the third for a summer which happened to involve being around the vet school a good bit. So sure, if you happen to be at a vet campus take advantage and set up a tour or attend an open house (those are always great), but I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to specifically tour schools because it's simply just too expensive to travel for that sole reason. Also the tours are usually not as comprehensive when you're just a random person visiting the school. For example, my school doesn't show certain areas to our generic tours, but then during interviews they do longer and far more detailed tours that were much more useful in terms of attendance decision making. So I'd second what orca said. Get a general idea of which schools you might be interested in (either based on location, program specialties, personal ties, whatever), then thoroughly research it online to try to figure out if you think you could be happy there. Then if you apply and get interviewed, you'll get to tour and you can really decide whether or not you want to attend the school.
 
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I agree with the general consensus that visiting many schools will cost you more in the long-run since the visit is essentially what you'd pay to go there and interview.

But that said, my answer to your actual question is: I would personally go either early in the school year (Sept) or late in the school year (April). The people most likely to work with you on setting up a tour and whatnot are the admissions folks, and from October to late March or so they're pretty busy.

That said, you could probably do it any time and they'd make it work. I'd definitely do it during the school year when you can check out all the activity.
 
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Thank you guys for the perspective. I definitely wasn't set on like flying out and visiting many schools but 3 of them are within (if long) driving distance for me, so that was more what I was thinking. But I'm glad to know that I'll get tours during interviews, so I don't have to worry about the farther schools. I only live 30 minutes from UPenn, so I guess now I'm wondering what time I should visit. Maybe I'll look into the open houses like that redhead suggested. Thanks for the input. Now I'll go worry about application fees :dead:
 
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Thank you guys for the perspective. I definitely wasn't set on like flying out and visiting many schools but 3 of them are within (if long) driving distance for me, so that was more what I was thinking. But I'm glad to know that I'll get tours during interviews, so I don't have to worry about the farther schools. I only live 30 minutes from UPenn, so I guess now I'm wondering what time I should visit. Maybe I'll look into the open houses like that redhead suggested. Thanks for the input. Now I'll go worry about application fees :dead:

I don't think Penn really has an open house per se, but I have seen people in admissions give private tours, so definitely contact them. I've also heard from a classmate (I think) that they'll do pre-application meetings and go over some stuff before you apply. I never personally did that, so I can't speak from experience if this is true.

I know it's early in the process for you, but feel free to PM me if you end up having any Penn questions later on.
 
Just want to point out that you can come tour Mizzou at any point during the year- even if you show up unannounced ( although an appt is always better!!) we have Ambassadors that are emailed anytime someone wants a tour and you are pretty much guaranteed a student lead tour of the school and hospital. You can also sit down with admissions and chat about what the school is looking for in candidates etc ( for that Id recc. An appointment)
 
I don't think Penn really has an open house per se, but I have seen people in admissions give private tours, so definitely contact them. I've also heard from a classmate (I think) that they'll do pre-application meetings and go over some stuff before you apply. I never personally did that, so I can't speak from experience if this is true.

I know it's early in the process for you, but feel free to PM me if you end up having any Penn questions later on.
I did this for UPenn so can confirm for you :)
 
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