Is it true that before marriage....

my mother has suggested for me a wife who lives abroad, but it is in its early stages right now. i am not yet to meet her, but rather my mother is friends with her mother and knows the girl, and believes she would be a good match. she says i must get a job to pay for my college and i believe i should do it to get some job experience before my internship. (after college i plan on working as a non riba based actuary or non financial economics job like in computers with data, and then building up capital and either becoming a full time investor or starting a business). i also will then meet her, and possibly marry, but it is all just speculation. i read somewhere that before getting married a man can look at his spouse to be's legs and hair, to see if he is attracted to her. i am not trolling, i heard this on an islamic site. i need sources, cause my parents and culture are a bit less based on daleel. i did hear a man has the right to look athis spouse, but isn't this the case if he is talking to her? or does this mean he has the right to talk to her? i find this idea strange because i don't know what my rights are, and i need evidence against my mother's "common sense" which is usually just saying no to everything unless she sees you as suffering unjustly or overburdering yourself. i also thought the awrah was awrah even to a fiancee until the wedding night. could someone please clarify?