To gauge what effect certain aspects of the campus visit had on students interest in a particular school, StudentPoll read respondents a list of various experiences and activities students in which they might have participated during a campus visit and then asked them whether each had made them more interested, had no effect, or made them less interested in their first choice school. Seeing facilities on campus of interest to them (90 percent), talking to professors (83 percent), and attending classes (81 percent) were aspects of the campus visit that made a high proportion of these students more interested in their first-choice school.

A higher proportion of female respondents told us that having a formal campus tour led by a student guide and meeting with members of the admissions staff made them more interested in their first choice college compared to male respondents.