I think if it’s financially viable, a student might attend every Admitted Students Day they can. There is so much to learn, and it’s a different perspective than a normal college visit. My S17 son attended three of these events, two in state and one OOS. After these visits, he ruled one out totally. The other two were both so amazing, with opportunities to visit labs where students were working on their projects, and who were happy to answer questions such as “how approachable are the professors” to rigor of courses, to real opportunities for internships and study abroad programs, and campus life.
Of course there are the planned slide presentations and speeches and tours. But still, the student is seeing everything from the perspective of “Do I see myself succeeding here?” Versus when they were “just” an applicant.
My kid got into every school she applied to (8). It would have been a nightmare to attend all of them. The ones she narrowed it down to were very valuable visits in making her decision. But it is time consuming to go to a lot (they aren’t usually on weekends) and potentially expensive to book a lot of late travel in a one month window. Bite the bullet and narrow it down once the acceptances and FA packets are in hand.
Re: attending accepted student days for all schools extending offers. I can see an argument for going to all or many. But we made a very different decision. And many people will disagree with our decision but it worked well for us. My STEM son went to exactly one campus preview weekend. Had he hated it, he’d have gone to others. But he only went to the university he ended up attending.
Many students are fortunate to get offers from many great schools. And it is flattering to be invited to the campus for a preview. But there are some downsides. For us, it made sense to consider this on the front end. My STEM son had a certain school on his radar from 7th grade onward. I pretty much knew that if he got in, he’d end up there. For his intended major, there was really only one rival, and it was off the table due to distance (2800 miles). Because his record was very unusual, the prediction calculators were worthless. So he applied to a slew and got in to most. yet his resolve to attend the original one never wavered. It wouldn’t have been my choice but it was, for him, the best choice.
While I knew little about the school at the time, the one thing I did know was that it lacked the creature comforts some schools prioritize-those features designed expressly to appeal to 18 year olds from wealthy backgrounds used to certain luxuries and who’d be wowed by climbing walls, “lazy rivers”, fine dining, posh living quarters, etc. The school this kid wanted had none of that. Students wouldn’t “well up with pride” when asked about their dorms and he’d not find “mouth watering food, bowling, billards and more” at camp…I mean campus. (not an aside, but all those wonderful camp like accoutrements represent the administration’s priorities-money spent to attract students wanting a posh living situation is taken from…).
In the end, I knew he’d not prioritize the climbing wall and posh dorms over outstanding academics. Yet, if he spent much time on those campuses he might be left with the impression that every other school on the planet had creature comforts lacking at his school. Not true of course. But what good would have been gained by seeing "posh’ when he’d end up at a university? Had he been conflicted, he’d have gone to another school he viewed as close. But visiting loads of schools would have added noise that could have derailed his decision making. Naturally he wanted to make sure that he felt a good fit with whatever school he attended. But, he was not going to base his decision on a vibe he gets during an overnight stay. He had made his decision based on important differences across schools-things that may not be as salient during a night’s stay but that make a difference in the long term. If it were a decision about attending camp, that overnight vibe would be telling. But for a decision about college, the most important factors may not be discernable during an over night visit. Instead, superficial differences may take on too much meaning.
@homerdog Based on our experience, we had a very limited window of opportunity for accepted students visits for my D17 because of demanding and inflexible performing arts rehearsal and performance commitments. We were very glad that we reserved my daughter’s Spring Break for college visits. In her case, it happened in mid March and there were only so many she could visit because we had to fly in from a distance to do a circuit of midwestern schools. Her schedule did not match up with any formally scheduled weekends for admitted students. What she was able to do was to coordinate with admissions for a tour and to visit classes, the last element being the most crucial. She is a life of the mind type (IIRC, your son may be similar?) and while class visits can be idiosyncratic, by visiting two or three different classes per campus, she got a sense of professor-student and student-student interaction that was vital in making her decision. One of the schools surprised us by becoming a lead contender when it had been middle-of-the-pack previously. Another fell off the list completely. One of the schools had not yet released its admissions decisions my mid March but she visited nonetheless and was glad that she had. Her acceptance came a week or two afterwards. Given time constraints and the randomness of host experiences, she did not do overnights. That Spring Break trip was very important to her decision making process.
For students who have a clear first choice, Admitted Student Days/Weekend can only serve to confirm his/her choice. For those who don’t, these events can be very helpful, but they are only useful if the student has done his/her homework beforehand about all the colleges and can separate all the marketing hypes from a student’s realistic experiences at the colleges.
went to 2 open house/ admitted student type events. both were great and had many experiences to get more connected with your specific major and college! the only downside I have to these events is that they are usually on weekends. although this is easier to attend, I liked being able to see college students walking to classes and being in school as i saw when visiting campuses on weekdays
Or visit during April, after admissions, on days other than the special Admit days. Then the hotels should have normal prices. That visit will be just as good as visiting before admission, better because you’ll know it’s a possibility and may have specific questions, and you won’t waste time visiting schools that aren’t possible in the end.
We went to 4 Admitted Student events with S2. 3 of them were back-to-back (Sat-Tue) and included schools in VA, PA, and ME. Even though we had been on earlier visits to each of these schools, the admitted student experience was good and allowed us to look at the schools with fresh eyes and a bit more investment.
We went on the tours, attended faculty panels, student life discussions, etc. Skipped almost all of the financial aid, team-building, and get-acquainted sessions in lieu of one-on-one meetings with profs in his major (scheduled in advance) or independent rambles across campus. The one event on a Sunday had very little faculty or student interaction outside of a big free-for all with 20+ tables in a big hall so we went back on a class day and had a much better experience.
My advice is to decide ahead of time for each visit: what information do you want to know, with whom would you like to meet, what facilities would you like to see, in what activities are you interested, etc and plan your time around those interests. We found profs and advisors very accessible at each school even when they were not part of the planned program.
Don’t feel like you must follow the entire published schedule but rather do things that will make the visit meaningful to you. There is much to be said for sitting under a tree on the campus lawn (or in the student center, etc) observing and talking with students. Or wandering through academic and activity buildings. I valued that time with my S2 and some of the most fun times we had was when we decided to go exploring on our own. (The 5-story atrium of Tormondsen Great Hall is a wonderful place to fly paper airplanes and we were obviously not the only ones to attempt it).
My son who is sophomore in college texted me a few weeks ago to say that it was Admitted Student Day and he was looking forward to lunch in the dining hall. After his ASD we raved about the food in the dining hall. His experience as a student has been that it’s pretty good most days, but nothing compares to the quality during scholarship weekends, ASDs or other special events.
Most students know that during Admitted Students days, cafeteria foods are suddenly upgraded to actually be tasty. Then it goes back to the bearable level.
