<p>Bringing my daughter to Boston from Chicago this weekend for an admitted students visit at another university which shall remain nameless. Because it isn’t easy for us to travel back and forth, I encouraged my D to contact admissions at BU and see if there was any chance of them arranging for us to spend some time with a student to get a perspective on campus life at BU. Yes she’s only in the RD queue, though I imagine it wouldn’t have been difficult to find out her status. </p>
<p>Anyway, the response was basically, “oh, sorry, it’s a long weekend and there’s no one around to meet with you.” This is SO not what we have experienced from pretty much every other school she has applied at, all having bent over backwards to make a positive impression. EVERY student on campus is gone this weekend? Really? Not one person in admissions can spare an hour to talk to someone very likely to be accepted? Just bummed that we have all day Saturday to hang out and will end up wandering aimlessly instead of being productive.</p>
<p>I can definitely see both sides of this problem however most students who are available to talk to prospective students are only those who work for admissions. Many of these students are local and do indeed go home for the long weekends. </p>
<p>I can make no guarantees; however, what school did your daughter apply to within BU? Would she mind a student from another school? I may be able to contact someone who is willing to talk with her for an hour. Are you visiting this Saturday? Please let me know via a PM.</p>
<p>Is the admissions office open on Saturday? Can you sign up for a tour? That would give your D a chance to meet a student. I think that a lot of students are leaving for the weekend. Monday is the only day without classes this semester other than spring break. My D is coming home.</p>
<p>This is bad luck, but I wouldn’t give up on BU because of it. My D is a freshman and is having a great experience academically and socially.</p>
<p>I know why they said no. I’m actually an admissions ambassador. This weekend is a huge (I mean huge) weekend for campus visits. We are expecting over 2000 visitors, and all tour and visit sign ups have been closed for two weeks to accommodate this. There are only so many ambassadors to tour these students. Since BU is such a big school, there’s no way that they can simply just stick you in. It’s how it works, unfortunately. However, I do know that tours on Saturdays usually take place at 10:30 and 12 respectively, so you could probably jump on a tour then and no one would be the wiser. </p>
<p>BU isn’t trying to snub you, I promise! It’s just not really protocol to arrange something for one student without signing up in advance. There are only so many ambassadors that can talk to students! If your daughter does have any questions, she can feel free to PM me and I will be happy to answer them!</p>
<p>Thanks for your response shiningstar. Must be an invitation-only weekend because we tried weeks ago to get into a tour and there’s none even on the schedule. :(. Will be staying right near BU so I’m sure we’ll wander the campus a bit.</p>
<p>There is a huge indoor rowing championship at BU this weekend, with athletes coming in from all over the country. And a lot of students do go home this weekend. For my daughter, it is the only chance she will have to come home before the semester ends because her team trains through spring break. Most of her friends are either going home or going away for the weekend. </p>
<p>Last year, my daughter tried to schedule a tour for this weekend and it was booked solid also, I think it was before winter break, and ended up going up the weekend before. This is a very busy visit weekend for most schools.</p>
<p>Also, Mass public grammar and secondary schools begin February vacation this week. We don’t have a traditional “spring break” we have February and April vacations. So it’s a very traditional time for families with younger kids to head on vacation to warmer locations, so it’s very possible that their staffing is low this week. </p>
<p>That said, if you head to the admissions area on Saturday you are more than likely to meet up with a tour group walking around if there are any going on at all. You’ll see them, they’re large! Just follow them. I doubt anyone will question you. You’ll be walking in all public streets so it’s not like you’re “on” a closed campus where people will question you. :)</p>
<p>Shining Star would know better, but perhaps she meant a huge weekend for admitted students - just like at your other school? Perhaps that’s why no tours? I believe that is how they did it last year.</p>
<p>When we toured, after our “formal” tour with someone paid by admissions to be positive about their school, we always went to the student union (in BU’s case, the GSU). Wander around. Sit down at a booth. Talk to the student’s next to you - what do you think? Do you like it? What are the best parts? I have found that if you ask one student, you get a skewed view, but if you ask five (easy to do if you wander around) you get a pretty solid feeling. For our part, we had a 100% “I love this school” feeling from the random students we approached. It was very sincere. (Side note: when we did this at another school, one student looked at his feet. Another said “My dad teaches here, so I got a good scholarship.” and those were the AMBASSADORS!) </p>
<p>I join the chorus of parents/students who could not be happier with BU. My DD is a freshman, and is ecstatic about every aspect of campus life.</p>
Because it isn’t easy for us to travel back and forth, I encouraged my D to contact admissions at BU and see if there was any chance of them arranging for us to spend some time with a student to get a perspective on campus life at BU. Yes she’s only in the RD queue, though I imagine it wouldn’t have been difficult to find out her status. </p>