My kid is a junior. A number of colleges visit her high school for one period during the school day. If she has already visited the college (virtually or in person with actual registration), is it still important for her to attend these sessions? She is reluctant to miss class. Also, is it more important that she attends her senior year to demonstrate interest or should she go both junior and senior years. Or are they not necessary? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
They’re really helpful in terms of providing information, and students should attend these sessions because they’d get to learn more about the school. Now, knowing more about the school/being on the registration list may help with admissions, but I wouldn’t really rely on it.
It’s one way to demonstrate interest (at the schools that care about that), but I wouldn’t miss an academic course for the visit.
Visiting the school in-person, doing online admissions sessions, subscribing to the email list and opening the emails, applying ED, and engaging with the AO via email are some of the many other ways one can demonstrate interest.
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There is probably a sign in sheet at these sessions. If it is a college that tracks demonstrated interest, she can always sign in and say she is very interested but needs to be in class at that time. Or she can email that rep and say she was unable to attend but is interested.
It doesn’t matter if it is senior year or junior year. And the reps also know that not all interested students can attend these sessions. Don’t sweat it.
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My D could not attend a session in her HS for a LAC that was one of her top choices and that cared about demonstrated interest. She emailed the admissions officer to let them know she was sorry she was unable to attend the info session at the HS and said that she already visited the college and was excited to apply.
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It’s amazing who great these sessions can be especially if you really want to go to a school. Often the rep is the rep for the area and one who will be reading your app. Each of my three kids had one on one sessions with schools they wanted to attend just because a more popular school was at the same time. They had follow up emails and connected. Worst case is that it’s great practice just informally chatting.
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I agree…but there can be an instance when the student’s schedule does not permit attending the in-school session (ex. conflict with a major exam, field trip, important AP science lab, etc.). Admission officers understsnd this and it should not hurt an application.
I thought my D was smart to write this brief email when she had such a conflict and it was well recieved – D got a lovely reply from the admissions officer. And D did have an interview with the admissions officer at a later date.
Absolutely attend anything possible for a college of interest – but if one event is missed, there is no cause for concern.
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Our HS had a couple of college fairs that started at the end of the school day and went into the early evening. My older kid went to one of these. In his case, he found that the college folks were more interested in handing out their materials than in actually talking to him. He had a resume with him and zero wanted or took it. And this included the university he eventually attended…
My younger kid was interested in colleges way out of the region. None of the colleges to which she applied ever came to a college fair at her college. And in fact, she is still the only grad from her HS to attend this college (she graduated from HS in 2006). So, these college fairs didn’t benefit her either.
So…as you can see YMMV.
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I don’t think it’s necessary for every college that visits a high school but for the top 1 or 2 that your child is very interested in, it can be beneficial to make an in-person contact (especially for those that track interest) and to possibly get a business card/contact information where the student can follow up via email, with any questions.
I think there’s a difference in environments at “fairs” vs an individual college rep coming to a high school for a few hours. Harder to make an impression at a fair where reps are distracted and busy with numerous students at one time.
My kids’ high school never penalized students who had signed up to see a visiting college rep. It wouldn’t look good for the high school if no one came to see the rep.
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I agree they can be nice to do, multiple times in fact, if you can make that work.
But if not, I agree you can just send a polite email.
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DS was advised by his CC to write a note to the rep explaining that he had a conflict and was sorry not to be able to attend as he’d visited and was very excited about everything he’d learned about the school.
I will add that at many of the schools he was considering, there would not be a lot of kids attending the on-campus visits, so they were a great chance to connect with an AO and get info that was relevant. He recognized the value in attending when possible.
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Possibly contrarian opinion here.
My kids found the info sessions almost universally boring and not helpful. The vast majority said the same things even when saying they were unique about it. Very few had true insights. And certainly nothing any student couldn’t get off the internet pretty quickly. Most of them seemed more geared toward students and parents who had no clue about the process at all, which anyone hanging out on this site would not fit the definition of.
As for whether there is still value in attending for the purpose of admissions edge, that depends on the school. For any given school your student may apply to, you can easily Google “Does [COLLEGE X] considered demonstrated interest.” If they do, there’s a chance they do consider who sat in their info sessions. If they don’t, I personally wouldn’t bother with the info sessions unless your student really wants to attend it and it’s not s burden. And even for the schools that do track interest, attending the session is a minor point, usually not make or break. My third kid absolutely refused to do any tours, attend any sessions or show any demonstrated interest in any way at all, for any school. And still got into a bunch that tracked interest.
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My D felt there was typically more time to ask questions at these smaller sessions at the HS. YMMV.
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Agree with your view though we’re likely both in the minority.
The same is true for college fairs and even most campus presentations and tours. There are on occasion a few interesting takeaways or some statistic you could not get online but in general, most of the information is online and the questions people both parents and students asked at these sessions are often easily provided online as well which is just a waste of time for everyone attending. The biggest annoyances are the silly questions people ask such as how competitive is the school as my child is looking for a collaborative environment - or a question along these lines. Does anyone really believe a school is going to say oh yes the kids are very competitive and/or we don’t foster a collaborative environment or is this just a way for the person to think they will appear appealing to the school by asking a soft ball question? Not sure but that specific question is one you can predict will be asked at many of these events.
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