If you want to see the real school, don’t go to the packaged and polished admitted student days.
Go on a regular day. Walk the campus and surrounds. Stop kids to chat. Make an academic or club appointment.
You won’t necessarily see the real thing on admitted student day. You’ll see a sales pitch.
I note in my circles it was pretty common for revisits to generate different/new impressions. I think if nothing else, visiting knowing they are now the decider, and not the college, can have a powerful effect on what the kid focuses on, scrutinizes, values, and so on.
YMMV. My kids found the admitted students days to be helpful.
I’m going to disagree with you here. While it’s fine to go on a regular day if the admitted students days don’t work with your schedule, schools have different opportunities for admitted students. Especially at a small LAC, that may be the only day that your student can sit in on a class. A class of 16-20 is disrupted when there are extras there, and they don’t allow that every day. Depending on the school, a dorm may not be on the regular tour - and you can’t just stop a random student and ask to see their room (even if they didn’t report you, your daughter would certainly disown you!) In addition, some schools have events in the evening for accepted students to see what college life is like - going to a comedy show, an orchestra recital, etc. They don’t usually allow visitors admission.
In addition, all the LACs we visited had academic fairs on admitted student days. You could talk to professors in almost every department, and some had their premed advisor there as well. Some had club fairs to see what the options were for students. It is very different from a regular visit, and gives kids an idea of the energy of the students and faculty on campus.
At a certain point there are just practical limits. It would be great to do customized overnight visits during the week AND weekend at every college of interest. Realistically, though, busy kids have busy schedules, and if nothing else the admitted students days are mostly (not always) well-organized.
Consistent with my other comment, I also think a lot of kids are in the mood to really kick the tires, so to speak. For sure the college is going to try to promote itself as best it can, but I saw kids (and parents, but I am more interested in the kids) ask some rather pointed questions during admitted student events, and I could hear similar sorts of blunt chatter at lunch, and so on. And even the WAY in which a college promotes itself can raise red flags–like why are you talking so much about X? what concerns do you think need to be addressed about X? sorts of thoughts.
So if that is what works for the kid’s schedule, or they just want to meet a lot of other admitted students (which I also think has some value), I wouldn’t discourage it. It may not be a “pure” experience, but that won’t stop a focused and savvy kid from potentially getting some useful insights.
As one aspect to consider, Bates and Richmond appear to offer notably strong science lab facilities:
Best Colleges for Science Lab Facilities | The Princeton Review
Helpful yes. But not necessarily reflective of day to day life.
@NemesisLead specifically noted they visited at an empty time.
Admitted student days often happen on off days so if you want to see what the campus is truly like on a regular day, it’s not that day. They didn’t state that they were seeking the enrichment an admitted student days often offer. That’s why I suggested a regular day - so they can see the campus in its natural flow.
As I said YMMV. My kids attended mid to small colleges and had opportunities to sit in on classes, eat with a small group of students, etc. All accepted student days I attended with both kids took place when school was in session. There is no way to get a totally accurate representation of student life as every person will have their own unique experience …even when my kids shadowed a student, admissions chooses the student, knows where they will be going, etc.
But we digress from the OPs question.
Admitted students’ days typically take place in April (for RD applicants, at least), which is unlikely to overlap with spring break, and very likely to fall before finals. All of the ones we attended or considered attending were happening when school was in session. (Entirely possible that schools with significant EA, ED, or rolling admissions have an earlier day scheduled for those students, but I have not encountered that personally.)
I went to three - all were off days - or at one which wasn’t - there were such big crowds - there were good activities - but not a good sense of the campus on a normal day….is all I’m saying.
The reality is - with so many extras there - it’s not the “regular” day look. OP can determine on their own - but based on their initial comment, I thought they’re seeking a normal day and that’s why I made the comment. WIth so much going on during admitted student day - various session, big crowds walking, etc - you won’t get the true sense.
We can all move on.
“big crowds” are not what you’ll see at LACs, which is specific to this thread.
Excellent idea. The idea was suggested to OP to visit during accepted students days. They can accept or reject, but no need to users to debate how valuable (or less-than-valuable) past visits were
@NemesisLead - I know all of these schools very well and I am confident that your child will be fully prepared for med school at any of them.
however - they are EXTREMELY different, student-body wise. What’s your child like? What activities do they enjoy? What kind of social life do they want?
Feel free to DM me!
PM sent!
@NemesisLead What did she decide?