When I was applying for schools, I never thought of visiting the schools until AFTER I got accepted. Looking back now I realized that if I had visited each grad school individually before applying, I would have been more informed in my choices of grad school. Don't get me wrong, I am very lucky and satisfied to have landed at Penn GSE, but I felt that I did not give a few grad schools their fair chance to represent themselves. The interviews and visits after acceptance will be hectic and all over the place, so going to a few places before the application is due can also help alleviate some of that pressure.
Several of my cohort members did visit the campuses both before submission of the application AND after acceptance. I think that is the best way to truly gauge at your interest and understand what you really want out of that particular program. Higher Education is very different in many schools, some with one year degrees and some with two year degrees. Having visited each school and understanding why some schools have one or two year programs can be an important factor in your decision making.
We all talk about "fit" but really the phrase just means which university suits you as an individual. It could be from anything as small as food options around campus to bigger reasons like professor's research. Whatever it may be, once you have decided what a complete grad school experience should be like for you, that's when you can seek out the campus visits and figure out the your "fit" with the school.
Happy application season everyone and good luck!
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