<p>collegemom16 I strongly disagree with you. While it is nice for your sake to visit a school you can much more infor online for essay purposes than on tour or at info session. For example on line you can read the the course selection getting an in depth description. All profs are listed online, clubs are listed there as well. The history of the schools are given online, food service is described in detail there as well. need I go on? If you want to know about a school you will find online</p>
<p>collegemom16 i forgot to mention that many schools dont show dorm rooms and cafeterias on tours anymore but if you take the virtual tours on the college websites you get to see it all. also every single program is described online. from academics to leadership. look up one of your childs college choices online you will be pleasantly surprised!</p>
<p>I am in the process of helping my second child (of three) with the whole process. I have taken tours of many schools and looked on line at web sites. IMO there is NO replacement for being able to see the real deal. I just object to making it a very important criteria in the admissions process because there are so many who simply cannot afford to visit.</p>
<p>“Stealth applicant” is an interesting concept. My S applied to several schools he’s never visited, but has more than enough info on which to base his interest, including websites, conversations - sometimes virtual ones - with graduates of his high school who have gone to these schools, and a mother who researches things to death. I am guessing the only risk to the no visit til accepted strategy is that a school will sense that he is using it as a safety. We don’t want him to be hurt by that!</p>
<p>So here’s a case where I could use some advice: the one college where this “perceived as safety” risk is the highest says nothing on the common data set about interest as a factor in admissions (weird how that category falls off the chart on a bunch of the schools I looked at); this school also says it doesn’t count an interview. Given that my son has not had an interview, and does not want to visit right now, what’s a good way to show interest? When he writes a letter to update on his advancement to National Merit Finalist? Should he call and ask if an alumni interview is available, even though we now know it doesn’t count? What really counts as showing interest?</p>
<p>INTERESTED1 you make a very good point I have read some of your posts and u and I think alike, we must be twins! College visits are somewhat limiting but you can get a pretty good feel for what the schools offer however virtual online tours are quit good and provide lots of info.</p>
<p>spsdd its amazing how sometimes you really do see eye with somone. judging from your posts we are likeTwins. youre doing a great job good luck</p>
<p>I think that the campus visit is more important for the kid to determine if he or she likes the school than it is for the kid to show interest. I do agree that the meetings with the admissions staff as part of their “road shows” can help, but those are much more accessible to a lot of students, particularly with those schools that try to attract lower-income students.</p>
<p>I think there are a lot of ways to show interest without setting foot on campus.</p>
<p>I wonder about the same questions being asked in post #64 </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1059753205-post64.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1059753205-post64.html</a> </p>
<p>and I hope we’ll get some ideas here from other participants.</p>
<p>Daughter and I visited several LACs, and I felt that the women’s colleges were the most concerned with the “shown interest” concept. I can totally understand why - a women’s college may not be the right choice for some college-bound females. This is where a visit and an overnight stay play a significant role.</p>
<p>Colleges don’t announce that your interest is important, anymore than a hot babe announces the same; it’s tacky, pedestrian, or crass. But here’s the deal: interest at smaller colleges IS important, but not so important at the larger schools. There are exceptions of course, but this is a good rule of thumb. And how do you express interest? The student (NEVER the parent)should be on the phone to someone in the admissions office and nurturing a relationship with intelligent questions over a long period of time (6-12 months). It’s easy to reject a pile of paper than someone you know.</p>
<p>Hemp, I’m not saying I disagree with you, but I’m always amazed when I read things like this. My son would rather have had his head nailed to the floor (stole that line from Chevy Chase) than get on the phone and bother a busy admissions officer. He said several times that he couldn’t believe it when he heard that other students “annoy” admissions offices with stupid questions.</p>
<p>He didn’t have any problem at all with meeting with academic program officers and professors in fields that were of interest to him, but he would never have considered making small talk with the admissions offices. Is it really done?</p>
<p>A lot of phone calls to the admission office over a period of months sounds crazy to me, although I think the idea of the student doing the contacts rather than the parent is the right idea.</p>
<p>There’s a right way and a wrong way to do everything. First of all, ask any admission officer who they would rather hear from. Duh. If Johnny calls to inquire about how hot the babes are, it’s a stupid move. If he calls once every 3-4 weeks with a question whose answer cannot be found on a website, such as, “Is interest-level a factor in determining a student’s admission?”, the admissions person is (1) impressed that a parent isn’t calling - Thank God!, and (2) impressed that a student is calling with an intelligent question. The technique is to have the student interview the colleges, not to have the colleges interview the student. Once the admission person figures out what the student is doing (“This kid’s got initiative and is thorough and deliberate - kinda like the students our professors die for!”) then there’s a time the student makes his next move, and that’s requesting face-time on campus “as part of his/her continuing research.” The admissions person will be very anxious to meet this intelligent student “who’s been calling with such great questions,” and s/he will not even have seen the student’s grades or test scores yet.</p>
<p>I think Reed seemed to notice demonstrated interest. Certainly, any time we talked to a rep, son was very clear that they were one of his top three choices, and that his decision was largely going to be financial. The more time he spent at Reed or at Reed events, the more he felt the love, and they seem to feel him, too. (I am sorry to sound so mushy about this, but it was like that.) </p>
<p>Demonstrating interest on a budget? <em>Any</em> time a rep was at a local event we could attend – college fair, open house, etc – we were there, and made sure say hi, chat for a while, all that. By the time applications were due, the admissions reps for our area were pretty familar with son and may have known his name on sight. (I never asked, but he’s sort of unique looking and that helps.) It didn’t cost us money to do that – we even took public transit to a couple of events. Another way to demonstrate interest in this way would be to contact the school and ask if their rep will put your high school on their visit list, if it’s not already there. </p>
<p>Oh, and one more inexpensive way to show interest – participate in online forums for that school. Livejournal, prospective student facebook – some schools now have their own blogs (like UChicago). Be a regular there, ask questions, do the whole hangin’ out online thing. Admissions reps knew our family from those places, too. Again, it doesn’t take a trip to campus to become a familar face that way.</p>
<p>Those are good ideas, TrinSF. We’re off the beaten track, but my son’s school did get some visits from a few schools in which he was interested. The online forums would be a particularly good option for students in rural areas.</p>
<p>Each year the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) puts out a report on admissions. I found this reference regarding the 2007 State of College Admission report: “The percent of colleges rating a student’s demonstrated interest in attending as “considerably important” increased from seven to 21 percent over the last four years.” The summary of the report is found here: <a href=“http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20070927.115739&time=13%2015%20PDT&year=2007&public=1[/url]”>http://www.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20070927.115739&time=13%2015%20PDT&year=2007&public=1</a></p>
<p>The great thing about asking a college to visit your school is that even if they can’t, the fact that you’ve asked them to is …demonstrating interest. <em>bing bing bing</em> :-)</p>
<p>We live in a beautiful area, so your post got me thinking that a request to visit with an accompanying photo of our views would be a good idea. It would be memorable, and up the odds they would actually come.</p>
<p>TrinSF,
Those are some great suggestions. DS had one particular school locked on his radar and attended every dog-and-pony show and in-school presentation that came into town for two years before he applied. (We are from an area that doesn’t yield many students to this college, so he figured out early on that he needed to show them his serious interest in the place.) We hope that come April 1st, it will mean good news.</p>
<p>Jeez, I never knew Emory asked for so much. Although you can tell when you look at their common application supplement and it was gushing to have you fill in blanks regarding your interest in Emory. :p. Hard to miss with 12 lines asking for things that could tell you that you had researched Emory. I don’t remember HYPSC asking for so much.</p>
<p>Hi, TrinSF, thanks for the reminder about regional college information sessions. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/389153-where-students-can-meet-college-admission-officers.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/389153-where-students-can-meet-college-admission-officers.html</a> </p>
<p>I will be sure to post a thread about those again when the spring 2008 travel schedules are announced. As you mentioned, some students can even take a city bus to such meetings, and they are a good opportunity to meet and get to know college admission officers, demonstrating interest in a concrete and inexpensive way.</p>