Muggle wrote:
We found visiting uni options to be really useful. DD did a lot of research, but there was no substitute for going and getting a feel for the place. One uni in particular was her absolute favourite based on research, but when we visited it failed to meet expectations and completely dropped off her list.
Plus is was a fun time, uni visiting took us to a few beautiful areas of the country and we arranged a weekend break around each visit.
Ditto

. It took a few trips for DD to decide good and proper that what she wanted was a campus university, for a start.
DS2 came along on 3 of the trips. He loved two of the universities, UEA and Sussex (applicant day and campus tour respectively, rather than open day) but probably didn't really have a chance to form an opinion re Exeter, other than on the quality of the breakfast at our B&B (excellent) and the hills (pretty relentless). The weather was hot and muggy and he and I spent most of our day sitting on a wall, while DD pottered from talk to talk.
Campus tours are a good way just to get a feel for the university and its surroundings, btw, but how much of the inside you get to see does vary.