Believable that Lewis & Gilbert would enroll at Adams...

Yeah, it's believable. I went to Cornell University without a tour. The movie set up the premise that Adams College had the top program for the academic interest that Lewis and Gilbert had. If you are that sold why take a chance that somebody might reject you? All I did when I applied to Cornell was fill out the application, do the essay as to why I wanted to go there, and interviewed with somebody from admissions. The negatives for Cornell were right out in the open as well as the positives. I talked to upper classmen from my home area and they layed out the scenario. Lots of walking, most classes are graded on a curve which means if you are taking something outside of your field you had better be darn well excellent to pull a good grade against the majors in that curriculum, and professors that could care less that you make the cut and/or hate underclassmen. Some negatives to be sure but you are shooting for a Cornell degree which should open some doors later on. Not true for everyone as Cornell offers as many liberal art degrees that will not get you onto Wall St as your local community college has.

It is believable. The film takes place in 1984, American was a much different place at the time. Family trips to visit numerous colleges was not as common as they are today. It is very likely that Lewis and Gilbert spoke with their high school college guidance councelor about what they were interested in majoring and Adams College was the top recommendation. So they listened, applied, got in and attended without a visit. It appears to me that Lewis and Gilbert come from middle class families so there is a very good chance their families did not have the means to take college visit road trip, also in the 80s only a small percent of American had college degrees so there is a good chance their parents knew little about the college application process.