Are campus visits/interviews scheduled by the student or offered by the school?

[jaaaayciee]

I've seen different comments about graduate students scheduling their own campus visits or interviews, but also other comments that say their visits/interviews have been accepted by the school. I think it would be nice to tour the campuses I'm considering before I apply and maybe meet some of the faculty, but I'm not sure if I have to wait until application season to try and schedule a meeting or visit. 

[Texan_Air]

13 minutes ago, jaaaayciee said:

I've seen different comments about graduate students scheduling their own campus visits or interviews, but also other comments that say their visits/interviews have been accepted by the school. I think it would be nice to tour the campuses I'm considering before I apply and maybe meet some of the faculty, but I'm not sure if I have to wait until application season to try and schedule a meeting or visit. 

All campus usually have offered free campus tours during the 1-2 weekdays during the school semesters (summer too for most universities). But honestly you should also try searching for campus virtual tours of your interested university, where it is like walking in a google map around campus with a guide talking to you along the way. I had to use virtual tours for my out-of-state schools I applied too...and ended up loving the one I am at now from it.

[fuzzylogician]

Many departments will invite admitted students out for a visit, or alternatively they might invite finalists for an interview + visit. This kind of visit will obviously happen after you submit your application, and will usually be something the school will schedule and pay for (at least partly). On the other hand, what you are asking about is a pre-application visit; this is not something that a school will pay for, but if you wanted to fund yourself and wrote to the department, most likely they will help arrange a schedule and allow you to meet with professors and sit in on classes. They might even be able to arrange for you to stay with a student, if you ask, to save on accommodation costs.