I’ve enjoyed reading this and wonder if we will need to consider this for S19. He has not seen 4 of his choices yet. At this point, I have played the “if you get into x and y, which would you choose” game with him. It will depend on acceptances plus packages. If he gets into his favorite, it will be interesting to see if any others will compete.
I recommend attending admitted students days even if you were admitted ED. It is a great way to acclimate further to the idea of going to the college as well as to meet your future classmates and start forming friendships.
So, by the way, is the admitted students’ GroupMe if you or your classmates set one up— by the time you arrive on campus in August, you may have been communicating with some people since April or even December! It is nice to have some people with whom you already are a little familiar.
For some of his friends whom he met that day, the admitted students day visit was important to their decision to attend. It helped them choose among their top few choices. For me, back in ancient times, the admitted student day sealed the deal as well. And one of the people I had met that weekend ended up being my roommate, just by coincidence!
The Good—Ohio State Fisher College of Business had several Admitted Student Days starting around February. We attended one of the early ones and it sealed the deal for us. First they had friendly greeters as we arrived and hosted a catered lunch in hotel ballroom in a nice upscale hotel—the Blackwell, which is University-owned and the only one on campus, it is a relatively new hotel. (For a state university, this was impressive). Great speakers—director of college placement services; admissions representative; good power point presentation and 3 students who talked about their experiences and answered questions. Then a tour of the business school was conducted. Impressed with the school’s resources and the numerous majors/specialties within the business school that one could choose to major in.
My D has not seen 4 of the colleges she is applying to - with 2 in one east coast state and the other 2 in the same mid-western state. We live on the west coast so there is cost and time involved in travelling. I’m hoping it all falls into place with 1 or 2 of those being acceptances with some financial aid. Logistically, I don’t see how we could visit all 4 over the span of 10 days. She would be missing more than a week of school since the admitted student days fall after our spring break. This is making my head spin and I’m developing all these scenarios that probably aren’t likely to happen. I’m focussing now on getting back to the 2 colleges nearby she has been admitted to before April so she can get a better idea of what it would be like to attend there.
We had S17 narrow his choice list down to 3 schools. He then did some serious thinking and narrowed to 2. We attended both Admitted Students Days and it was well worth it. 2nd visit for both schools. First Admitted Day he liked (didn’t love - was about a 6 or 7 out of 10). He just didn’t feel like his type of place. 2nd Admitted Day was a 10/10. He knew instantly - was leaning that way anyway - and used the day to take it all in. He posted a “Proud to be a member of…” on twitter on the ride home. He still is!
We attended 2 accepted student days with D17. I think they were very helpful in making a decision. She had been accepted EA to Villanova and went to their accepted student day in February. The school did an excellent job in all areas. My husband and I were very impressed, but my daughter said it wasn’t for her. The second accepted day was at UVA in late March (that was the earliest date, even though she had been accepted in late Jan.). It had been her top choice at that point, so I think it pretty much sealed the deal.
Then, UC decisions came out and we were pleasantly surprised that she was accepted to UCLA and UCB (she had not visited either of them before applying). But, given the late March acceptance and mid/late-April accepted student days, she decided it was too short a turnaround and just too far–and pricey–for a visit (we live in MD). We had just been away for spring break and did not really think about the possibility of traveling for these schools. Lesson learned.
S19 has visited all but one of the schools to which he has applied. We are planning to visit that one, Tulane, as it is now a serious contender. After EA decisions are released mid-January and Feb. 1, he will hopefully have some other acceptances and then we will have to decide which are in the running and then make plans to attend events.
Carnegie Mellon’s Accepted Students weekend for the School of Computer Science really made the difference for us. My son missed the deadline for overnighting with someone, but they told us he should bring a sleeping bag because they would probably work something out which they did. All the kids who didn’t yet have someone to stay with found accommodations. They had tours of each of the schools in addition to more general tour of Carnegie Mellon. I really got the sense that they were a scrappy place that tried harder and provided more than some of the bigger names. Parents were welcome on the tours which I liked because I had not been on campus before.
Harvard was very different. They gave the parents a map of Boston and told them to go away. There was one Q and A section which I thought was pretty funny. I particularly like the guy who was in charge of food services who when asked what sort of healthy options there were for athletes on Sunday mornings suggested bagels and Danishes. Um no. The computer science department had no special activities. My son did enjoy the weekend, hanging out with a bunch of board game playing kids, but CMU won hands down.
Younger son had weekends at U of Chicago and Tufts. He was really impressed with the class he sat in on at U of C and really impressed with learning about the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts. He had a hard decision with two very different choices that he liked for different reasons.
Ok here’s a question. Anyone out there who went to more than two or three admitted students days? Has anyone had reasons to make to more like four or five of these events?
My D2 went to admitted student visits at her top 3 choices (#4 was close to home, and she probably would have done that as well if none of the top 3 impressed her). She had done day visits at all 3 before.
24 hours on campus was VERY revealing for her. Her 1 & 2 choices going in made pretty poor showings, and #3 sparkled. Types of things that happened at the #1 & 2 schools:
- Very obnoxious group of accepted students at a presentation by the dean of admissions. They were talking, goofing around, showing off, came across as really arrogant. Also talking about how they were accepting their offers because it was the highest ranked school they got into. D did not like them at all. Dean of admissions high fived the group on the way out.
- At one school her host did not show up to pick her up (last student left waiting for a host). Then that evening (a weeknight), host wanted to go clubbing - D wanted to check out the club meetings set up around campus, so did that instead, but ended up locked out of the dorm later in the evening.
- She could see photos of the profs in her major at one school, and only 2% of the profs were women. Turnoff. She attended a school with a much higher percentage.
- No profs in her major available to talk with students at one school. The school that she attended had a tour of dept labs and a panel of profs from the dept.
- Panel conversation at one school where asked whether school was looking to diversify sources of research funding in her major area, given changes in federal funding horizon. Blank stares, no plans at one school & clearly no thought that they’d need to. School #3 had an excellent answer.
- Asked where she could speak to someone from disabilities office — 1 school didn’t HAVE a contact for learning disabilities. By end of full day they scrounged up name of a part time person who was out of town for 2 weeks.
- One school had a panel of grads who’d come back, and 1 of the 7 had what I’d consider a “real” job. I can see a mixture, but this wasn’t…
- Encounters with administrative staff were cold and unfriendly at one school (more than one person).
- Bed bugs acquired. Yes, could happen anywhere, but icing on the cake of a bad visit.
Thanks for sharing these experiences. It makes me see that it is important to attend these events if possible. One of my S’s top choices we visited twice and he knows he loves it, but there are a couple we will definitely check out for admitted student days.
Accepted student days seem to be very helpful, especially if looking at LAC, because your child can meet his/her prospective classmates and determine fit. S18 decided against what had been his top choice at what I thought was a fabulous 2 day accepted student event. He decided on the school he chose at an accepted student event, though he might have had a similar reaction if we’d been able to visit before that. I see no “bad” or “ugly” in the accepted student days, you learn a lot about the school and kids, though at a larger uni that has already been visited it may not be necessary.
Both my kids went to admitted student days, even though one had already accepted offer at public flagship and the other had been admitted ED as an athletic recruit – so both were committed. At flagship, it helped the kid – our first to college – get more comfortable with logistics of college life, where are buildings, dining halls, dorms. It made it real and more accessible. The LAC kid found it reassuring to see the kinds of kids who could be his classmates, and again, to feel more comfortable on campus.
While these kind of events can be fairly tightly controlled in terms of messaging, I found it interesting to see how the schools talked about themselves, what values etc. were emphasized. Looking back on our experiences with each school, we can see the consistency between the messaging to prospective families and the experience of the students once on campus.
For families who may try to juggle a handful of admitted student days, I agree with the suggestion above about starting to think about which schools might “knock out” others, to simplify the process – taking into account finances as well as other factors.
Older son went to four since he hadn’t visited any of the colleges that accepted him. He probably shouldn’t have bothered with two of them, but they came with merit scholarships and I think sometimes you get a better idea of what to look for the more different colleges you really think about.
Younger son went to four as well. In addition to Chicago and Tufts he went back to look at Vassar which was the first place he’d toured. He confirmed he wanted something larger. He also went to American on a tour for students accepted to the honors program. It was scheduled for before he’d heard from any of the other colleges. (Well he’d heard from Chicago, but had already decided to wait to visit until April so he wouldn’t be prejudiced by Chicago winters!)
Thanks @mathmom I think four is likely for S19 as well. Maybe five if one of them is driveable. Depending on how things work out, we may be able to see more than one on a trip.
I remember that it was hard to find out when some of the schools had accepted days scheduled. D got into one of her top 3 EA, and they had 2 accepted weekends to pick from. But which one to pick, since other acceptances were not known yet and their dates not known? I think we asked ED students on CC about the dates at her other top choices, then planned with that in hand. She did get in everywhere, and one of the EA weekends did overlap, so it was prudent that we figured it out and had a plan.
So… DS went to 7. I know it sounds crazy, but he got WL at his top 2 choices and a bunch of others had factors that made them compelling and worthy of another look. And 4 of them were on back to back days within an hour of each other so not as crazy as it sounds.
He had not gone the recruiting route for his sport but was “notable” (i.e., awards beyond school) so 3 coaches reached out and invited him to come practice with the team (which ended in roster spots if he wanted them). He had substantial merit at a few and they flew him out for an overnight to take an extended look.
Although he had visited every school he had applied to, these days were really informative and helpful in the decision process. Everyone assembled and available in one place, plenty of current students, a chance to talk to other admits. All super helpful and two that he’d been ho-hum about rose substantially while another dropped a lot.
I realize these are “managed” events, but they are efficient and the true character tends to emerge. And if a school can’t organize itself to do this well, that may be telling too!
@gardenstategal so how much school did he miss? I worry about that too. I looked at a few dates that are already posted and some are Fri/Sat but some are two days during the week.
I really agree with this. A lot.
The 3 my kid did were all over the country (each required a flight - one east coast, one Midwest not near our home, and one west coast). My kid definitely missed school AND some EC activities. But we considered this decision far more important than any class attendance or senior year EC activities. Making the right choice for this level of expenditure and making a really informed choice was far more important to us.
Now… I’d have limited my kid to 3 with flights max, although 1-2 in driving distance could have been added. I’d start sorting out the list of accepted student dates while you wait for acceptances (ask on the forums out here for students who’ve gotten in EA or ED when they are scheduled). Start building a calendar so you have some sense of which ones conflict. Not getting in or bad FA can knock some out, but having an idea of the landscape makes it easier to react once you have full info. At least it did for us.
This can all repeat itself in a few years. My kid got into 7 PhD programs, and visited 5 of them spring of senior year. All accepted student visits were on weekdays. She combined two on one trip, and did one other over spring break that was near our home, but it still was a lot of traveling.
Did you all send a parent with your student for each of these visits? I think we want to see where our $70k per year is going to go and it would be good for us to have both our S19 and one of us gathering info and vibes while we are there. More flights though! And a hotel room for whichever parent goes along. I would love to be the one who goes but I think it will be more important to send my husband who will need convincing.
My daughter did an overnight visit before she applied to her preferred school. It was an expensive choice as it required a plane ticket and athletic camp registration. It was well worth the time and money. She had the opportunity to get a real feel for the school, dorm life, coach and the athletic team that she would be joining. She experienced a fall weekend that wasn’t focused on events and hoopla. She loved everything about the experience and is very confident in her choice of school. Luckily she was accepted!