As part of admitted student events, a lot of colleges seem to offer the opportunity to sit in on an actual class (or attend a mock class). For those that did this, how important was it for your child in helping make their selection?
I think the small liberal arts colleges particularly like to offer sitting in on a real class. D26 has attended several admitted student days now with one more to go and she’s decided that she did NOT want to spend time in the classroom itself. I think her belief is that most small LACs will be similar AND if you get a bad teacher, then what? Do you make your decision on one bad professor or one bad class? Do you have to research the professors on Rate My Professors before hand to see which ones might be good? If so, then what does that mean?
I’m curious how others’ classroom visits went and whether it helped in the decision process. I will say that for D26, she’s not going to any and is very comfortable with that choice. But now I’m thinking about my S29s and wondering if they might want to approach this aspect differently (or if I need to pitch this as a useful way to gain insight).
One of my kids chose to sit in on a class at an LAC. It made no difference, in her opinion. She found it interesting, but was far more interested in seeing people going about their day on campus. She ended up at a different LAC. My other child never sat in on a class and chose a bigger state u.
If your child is interested, they should check it out. It might matter to some kids and not others.
My musician sat in on classes, and ensemble rehearsals. And a master class he was invited to. This all mattered to him…only done at one school.
My other kid sat in on a class but I don’t think that’s how she made up her mind. But she did feel this should be offered to accepted student and worked to have that happen as part of her job in admissions.
My D said the same thing. She also said that she doesn’t always appreciate someone’s teaching style at first, and often has a different impression of both her teacher and classmates (either positive or negative) after she gets to know them after a few weeks of class.
I do think this might be more valuable for a musician, because it’s quite possible that these will be the specific teachers and ensembles they will be working with throughout their years at the school. Sort of like getting a trial lesson.
As a note. In both of my kids’ cases, they were unable to be at a college sponsored accepted student events. And for the same reason (4 years apart). They were at the All State Music Festival and as HS seniors, they were not missing that.
At Boston University, the music department arranged a full day of things for DS to attend. This included meeting with a few current freshman who played his instrument (he knew them anyway from BUTI), attending a theory class, going to a chamber music rehearsal, going to a master class, and attending an orchestra rehearsal. In addition, he was able to meet with his eventual private teacher.
At University of South Carolina, DD wasn’t able to attend the scholarship weekend. The school kept all of her scholarship weekend swag, and arranged a private scholarship weekend the following week. She also spent time with two student ambassadors…one from SC, and one from Massachusetts (which was great as he was from out of region just like she would have been).
Really, colleges want their accepted students to have a positive experience. So…make a phone call to admissions BEFORE your admitted students weekend if there is something special you would like to do…meet a current student in your major, attend a class, speak to a professor…often these thibgs can be arranged…if you ask in advance.
I’d say for my 2025 twins classroom visits were neutral-to-slightly-positive, for the most part.
The one (very positive) exception was that one of them has a particular interest (birds), and she sought out a bird professor at one of the schools and discovered that he was teaching an ornithology class while we were visiting. She reached out, had a great visit, ended up staying in touch with him through the overall application process, ended up going to that school, and (as a freshman) has now had two semesters of research in his lab.
So if there’s a particular interest that a student has, I think it can be helpful for them to do a bit of recon and reach out to a specific professor ahead of time.
Obviously, this will be more successful at some schools than others, but I think that, in itself, carries signal as well.
This is what I was thinking about as well. If she had a particular subject area or research topic in mind, then attending that professor’s class and meeting them could be of interest. But a “general” class may not be as useful. Thanks!
My son attended a calc class at Embry Riddle. It made no difference - as it turns out, he didn’t like the school from seeing it and from when we asked the info desk where to eat and the response was - you have a car, right ? Anywhere else but here.
The danger of class sit in is that it’s one class amongst many different classes, structures and professors you’ll have. So to make a yay or nay off that seems a bit overdone.
My D loved the class she sat in on (and at some point took the actual class with that prof.) – if anything it helped to confirm that the school was her top choice. I wouldn’t worry if it doesn’t work out for the student to sit in on a class.
Honestly, I think the variation between classes (and profs) within a university is so big as to make this pretty useless in most cases unless you know for sure you are getting a very typical/average class experience..
Like, are they giving you the best of the best prof? Or the tiny (or extra huge) section of Chem 101?
This is one case I think stats help… e.g. what is the range and average section size of discussion sections in intro classes?…what is the average class size of upper level courses? etc. I think that is more telling than an N of 1 class… that said, if easy to do, I probably would have my kid go. My kid went to a sample day of 2 classes at one school and got a feel of how chill the kids were and just what it felt like to be in the building during a regular school day, it did make them like one school more, though it didn’t change their ultimate decision.
My kids found the classes they attended VERY helpful.
First, if the admissions office is telling you where (or it’s part of admitted students events) they aren’t setting you up with clunkers. Second, for a HS kid to imagine “I hope college professors are better instructors than HS teachers” and to actually see one of these superstars in action- it’s impactful.
Is that a reason to pick a particular college? No. Too many professors, not everyone is a superstar. Does it help a kid through the process of “is college just HS with dorms?” the answer is a resounding no.
One of my kids- who was hoping for engaged classmates and rigor above everything else (and if your kid has been surrounded by bored, disengaged classmates for many years you’ll recognize the feeling) came back really, really charged up about the whole “college thing”. Didn’t need to be the first choice- there was a list of places with engaged and active and enthusiastic students sitting in a lecture hall taking notes, asking questions, seemingly had done the reading, eager to learn.
So it’s a nice jolt just when many kids get bored with the whole “how many more essays do I need to write?” process.
And some professors honestly and truly make the college experience what it is when you see them in person. Otherwise, just buy their book, watch their online lectures, check your Instagram, and go take a nap.
Yes she did! Some schools had much more student/prof interactions during and after class than others. She also paid attention to how engaged the students were. There were big differences!
We just came from admitted student’s day. D26 met several kids who were still undecided.
Based on her comments, it seemed like a lot of kids were trying to figure out whether they belonged at the school and could see themselves attending - and the big driver of that appeared to be the interaction with the other kids and overall vibe than the actual academics.
My son tried to sit in on a class or two at every college we visited, before applying! This gave me time to walk around or sit in student coffee shops/gathering places.
He checked course catalogs for classes offered the day we were visiting, emailed profs in advance, and then attended the classes. I sometimes found my sitting around/walking around time informative as I saw students living their everyday campus lives.
That’s why both my kids said they got the most out of emailing student project teams before the visit, and arranging to visit project spaces. This way they got to see students working together, and heard students’ perspectives totally unfiltered by official staff. (Complaints and all.)
I think this is a great way to do it, too! In general I think the visit is most effective when the student takes the initiative to find classes or clubs or teams that interest them.