Middle kid really had no idea about college. All he knew is he wanted to swim, play water polo, and study mechanical engineering with swimming and ME being the two most important. He had official visits to five schools. He was not interested in going places just for the visit, which is totally his personality. He went to the last school he visited, a small midwestern school in the snow belt. It was 13 degrees and snowing. He loved it and enjoyed every minute he was there and got all three things he wanted. #3 had a wide array of schools recruiting her to swim, and she narrowed it down to about 6. Due to covid, a number of the visits were us taking her to campus and looking around and virtual tours. Only one school had a real on-campus tour. That coach also gave a virtual tour that was him walking around the facilities on a Zoom call. That school was where she eventually went to, and we almost didn't even go on the visit. That said, he ultimately chose the school that he felt had his academic success most important. You need to get out and see the different schools to get a feel for them. I believe that more than 5 or 6 is excessive and just creates more noise in the decision and is also not cost effective. I know people whose kids applied to 14 schools. That in itself is excessively expensive.