It's hard to explain the complexities of graduate school admissions to people who have gone to for-profit institutions (or only know people who have). I don't know how many times I've had the "No, you don't just 'sign-up' to grad school" talk with people. Sigh.....
I have similar fears about visiting a school and then deciding not to go. Is it pretty common to visit a few schools before deciding? Or will they be annoyed that they put you up to come visit the school and then you decide to go somewhere else?