Spring 2008 Parent Opportunities to Meet Admission Officers

[fireandrain]

On the issue of what questions to ask:

My kid can be the quiet type who rarely asks questions. We made a list of the activities she did in high school and other interests, and built questions along those lines. For example: "I've been horseback riding since I was 7 and want to know about your equestrian programs." "I started a tutoring service for the local elementary school, are there any programs like that at your college."

It worked. Because her questions revealed something specific about her interests, it gave the college reps something specific to talk to her about -- different from the generic "what SAT score do I need" and "do you have a pre-med program" questions. She got specific information about the colleges.

She also visited colleges that were not overflowing with students, so she had more time to talk to each rep. It ended up being good practice for interviews. She also became interested in colleges that she hadn't considered before.

I think it's a good idea to go prepared. Get a list of the colleges that will be there ahead of time and make note of the ones you want to visit. Focus on ones you may not plan on visiting in person, because this is a way to demonstrate interest.

[mamabear1234]

archiemom, we attended an "Exploring College Options" program. It was very well attended and did not provide any real chance for individual discussion with the college reps. We came away with a folder of information for each college, did have some of our questions answered, and she briefly considered applying to Harvard after it (we had gone mostly because of her interest in Georgetown). So I can't say it was extremely helpful, but since reps from those colleges don't visit our high school, it was her chance to see them locally.

[jmmom]

You can see how important "demonstrated interest" is to some schools from their Common Data Set section C7...

You can also take a look at their application (or Common App supplement). Some have checkboxes for you to indicate whether you have visited campus, gone to an Information Session, been on a Tour, attended a presentation by the college in your area, had contact with a professor, etc. etc. For those schools, not being able to check any boxes is a disadvantage, I'm thinking. Else, why would they be asking?

[archiemom]

Thanks mamabear. We're deciding whether to squeeze this info event into a week filled with conference lax tournament games. Since we're so early in the process, I figure any amount of info is useful as it starts the college exploration rolling. We'll report back, if we attend.

[momreads]

I took my son to the Exploring College Options one, and we're glad we went. He got to meet the Duke rep, and that sealed a trip there last summer. He came in not wanting to see Penn but came out saying he wants to apply there. He also liked Harvard's portion of the program. This year, we're going to see one that involves Cornell. If anything, the program does do a nice job of introducing the students to the schools.

[tokenadult]

From the reply on what is now, I think, an earlier page of the thread:

Spring 2008 Parent Opportunities to Meet Admission Officers

[epiphany]

We found all of them helpful, actually. (Although, they were slightly more helpful for excluding than for including or reinforcing.) One of the aspects I found most illuminating was the presence of alumni: the kind of people the alumni were, their statements about why they chose the school, statements about how they believed that college made a difference in their lives, what it did for them, and even the comments about that college vs. others -- all of those elements were important.

For example, at the rep event for one Elite, an alum compared his alma mater in a condescending way to a very reach public. First of all, the comment showed an ignorance about the other highly visible school, which a well-informed person should know about. Secondly the comment was along the lines of "quality people go to privates; low-lifes go to publics." It revealed a very sheltered understanding of the real world, and i.m.o. my D would have nothing in common with that. A real turn-off. The other members of that same alum panel looked really, really stressed out, and were (therefore) not convincing about what a supposedly Utopian experience they had had there.

A different negative example was at a lovely LAC event, fine school. These alumni were all very, very introverted and dullsville/mousy, while describing the LAC as totally perfect for them. Since my D is quite the opposite of either dull or introverted, this was certainly quite a wake-up call.

A positive example was an Ivy event which described uniquely how the actual decisions are made. Very fascinating, & made me (and I think D) respect the school all the more, for providing the info, and for describing the dignified decision process.

There were 3 other events we went to which didn't persuade so much as provide information not available in other formats. Any organization which selects a rep (especially an adult) tends to choose a person quite reflective of the "message" or the culture of the place, so I did find that the presenter provided nonverbal info about the campus which was important to consider. Again, most often it helped to identify fit vs. non-fit.

EDIT: I just re-read this & realized it may sound as if my Ds' college decisions were overly based on these visits. No, definitely not. But when there was missing info or we couldn't quite grasp the overall atmosphere & attraction of a campus, the rep visits helped to fill in gaps & forestall regrets over decisions (or results). For us, visits were very helpful, even though they were a minor part of the process, compared to other research, personal visits, & all the various stages of the application process.

[nngmm]

We attended a couple of info sessions with child #1, found them completely useless, and never attended any with the other two kids. But I guess ours is the minority opinion...

[PRJ]

Two thoughts on alumni reps at college fairs:

1) when I represented my alma mater, I always reported back to the college those kids who expressed a strong interest in the school, asked informed questions, etc.

2) attended our first college fair with my D recently and was surprised to find that we knew many of the alumni reps for the colleges she is interested in - somehow where they went to college had never come up in conversation one good friend of my H even offered to write our D a letter of recommendation

[mathmom]

We went to a local info session that was only for MIT. It consisted of a video presentation (which included part of a physics lecture with the same silly stuff I remember from my college physics course - professor on a pendulum), a talk with questions by an admissions officer (not Marilee Jones), and a number of alumni in the audience. We're in the NYC area and 9 out of 10 alumni seemed to be in investment banking which was a little depressing, but did give one a heads up that an engineering education doesn't necessarily lead to engineering. Most of the bankers had not majored in economics or business.

Our high school also does a college night, I've been to quite a few of them. Some sessions focus more on how to apply, what courses and ECs look good, (the Ivy league one), while others focus more at selling their schools (nearly everyone else). I do find them useful either way.

[gladmom]

archiemom: My S and I went to the "Exploring College Options" info session in our area last year. It was well organized, and each college (duke, georgetown, harvard, penn and stanford) gave an informative presentation. We were given a folder with all of the viewbooks. I don't think it was necessary to go, though, since these schools have excellent websites that have all of the information you will ever need. Only admissions officers spoke -- no students or alums.

I am a compulsive note taker, and because the above-mentioned info is so complete, I only took 3 at this sesssion: 1) georgetown has a nationally ranked hip hop dance team, 2) harvard requires an interview and 3) stanford has the biggest campus of the 5.

My son ended up only applying to stanford, and he got in! He had spent a week there at a running camp a couple of years ago, though, and was very familiar with all aspects of that school before the info session. I doubt that the "interest" shown by attending this session makes any difference in acceptance at these schools.

[crm86]

I've attended the Exploring College Options event for the past few years. It can be a very informative night. I would suggest noticing the differences between the presentations that the schools give. You really can get a sense of the community and their priorities. During the general Q&A session, you can ask all of the reps to respond to the same question (a broad financial aid question, or a planning what do in the summer question, how do they handle study abroad credits...anything where you can get an idea of how the different schools view the same issue...) Don't ask if you should take AP classes and get a 'B' or regular classes and get an 'A'! [News Flash - for these schools you need to take AP's and get (mostly) A's.]

During the general session, don't ask something that applies only to your student - "Susie has been fencing for eight years. Is your fencing team planning to attend the tournament in the British Virgin Islands?" You can try this in the break out sessions with individual schools at the end, but don't be surprised if the AdCom doesn't know. A better source would be the fencing coach.

During the break out sessions, adults should step back and let the student speak for themselves to the AdCom or alum. It might even be a good idea to go to a separate corner and listen in on the questions at a different school. Even if your student doesn't have a question, they should consider introducing themselves to the AdCom. If your student is a rising senior who will be applying next year, this is a great opportunity to have the admissions officer put a "face" with the paperwork.

Take advantage of the alums who are present and ask about career placement and their ongoing relationship with the University. Many of them are alum interviewers. Ask about the interview process.

In short, like most things, you get out of it what you put into it. They can be fun and informative or they can be just another dog and pony show.

[Consolation]

Re Exploring College Options: we attended one last year. I would say that it was worthwhile, especially if you cannot reasonably visit all of the campuses, since it gave somewhat of the flavor of each school. For my kid, anyway, it did not provide a meaningful opportunity to make contact with an admissions rep, since there is no way he would put himself forward at such an event. Ours was quite convenient. I don't think that I would travel major distances to get to one.

We went to two single-institution presentations, one of which I had to drag my S to. (Ironically that is the school that he has chosen to attend.) He found that to be very worthwhile. The other one was mostly notable for the jockeying for position amongst the students, since the rep was the regional rep in whose hands their fate largely lay.

[tokenadult]

Whitman College is currently traveling to spring information sessions, some of which include representatives of other colleges.

Admission Officer Travel

[ecneics]

Is there ever a situation where it would be appropriate to give the admission's officer your resume? Should you be prepared and have one in case they ask for it?