Admitted Students Day - Worth It?

DadTwoGirls
Thu, 05 Apr 2018 23:32:57 +0000

We attended a few admitted students days, but they weren’t all that far away from home. One was for a university which was perhaps 5 hours away but they held an admitted students day within 1/2 hour drive from our house. We felt them worth attending. They did seem more oriented towards the student.

Separately, we attended an orientation for students who had decided to attend the university. This allowed for example signing up for classes and talking to professors, and was on campus. I thought that this was enormously valuable. The event was held in the spring, by coincidence within about a week of one daughter’s high school graduation. The thing that I liked best about this: When a student graduates high school what they have been doing for many years is suddenly over, and their friends are going to scatter to the wind. This can be depressing. However, by attending a well run orientation at the university where they will be attending, they see what they are going to be doing in the fall, and have something solid to look forward to. My daughter enjoyed the orientation quite a bit, and it was worth attending even though we needed to fly in to attend. I think that an admitted students day can be a bit helpful in the same direction. Everything is more “real” when you have been admitted and know that the finances will work.

If the admitted student’s day is on campus, and if you haven’t already seen the campus, then to me it seems like the opportunity to see the campus might be worth the trip (within reason) at least for any school that is in your “top 2 or 3” and is still in contention.