We attended accepted student day this weekend. We are still talking about it - they are absolute professionals and really know how to put together a program that is worth your time, informational, and also balanced with enough entertainment to make it engaging as well as school spirit to get you excited. It was a first rate event as far as I am concerned. This is my youngest and I have been to far too many open houses and accepted student days over the years and this by far is set apart from the rest.
I was a little skeptical at first, but even my husband left really interested in the school and we said so many times during the program we wish we knew about this place for my son who is a current senior in college because he would really have benefited from the program and structure.
When you visit a college and take a tour, the majority of the info is the same - they all have libraries and gyms and rock climbing walls and career centers and puppies to pet on exam week- it’s really mostly the same. But as a parent, we participate in these activities looking under a microscope looking for subtle differences and red flags - is the temperature too hot in the buildings, are there any smells to indicate they don’t clean enough or is there mold problem, do the kids look stressed or happy, or is it a suitcase school and you don’t see very many kids at all, what does the food look like, did the speakers do a good job, etc? I honestly could not find fault with anything we experienced. In fact, they did things differently and really thought about what works for the students and parents and not the same old structure that everyone else follows.
For example - the program started at 1pm, finished with dinner and a basketball game. As a parent who has to take the kids to these events, I cannot tell you how happy I was to see that instead of the typical 8am start times which either requires me to get a hotel room the night before or leave my house at 5am to get there in time. Thank you HPU for thinking outside of the box!!! Also, what could be better than ending the day at a basketball game where the kids could really see first hand the student body and what life is like living on campus.
The life skills theme is really loud and clear throughout the program and it is demonstrated as well. I was so impressed with the student panel. Now we all know they take the best and brightest for this job, but what they did at HPU was incredible. They left those kids on stage and the kids ran the panel themselves. No one asked them prepared questions, no faculty jumped in at the hard questions, no lame questions about where was the best place on campus to eat or study etc. These kids commanded the room, sought questions from the audience and answered even the most difficult questions with grace and professionalism. That was the best demonstration of how their life skills approach is put into practice. I went to other schools and was sometimes was NOT impressed by the kids they put up on the panel and thought that if they were actually putting their best foot forward, they have an issue.
Anyway, my DD has not decided on a school yet, but wanted to share this experience because to me it was worthy of the praise and worth it to attend an event if possible.