Yes my friend, if it is at all possible you SHOULD try to coordinate a campus visit. Yes it will cost $1,000 USD or so, but compared to the $150K that you are going to spend, that isn’t a very large amount of course. J Also, how can you prove to a school that you KNOW that they are the best school for you, if you have never even visited? It is possible of course, but if you have ANY shot at visiting, you should do so. Adcoms will be impressed, and you will also experience cool things and meet cool people that you can reference in your applications as well…
Jon, is it possible at all to meet the adcom staff while visiting schools? AS sportmann said, most of the time the adcom staff will not host the visit. How can we impress the adcom by visiting school, except for integrating it into the essay? (I believe a lot of ppl will do so if this is a way to 'impress' the recruiter).