Hey so I just got into Mich last month and feel like its basically the top of my final 2 or 3 schools that I’m considering. As someone who lives down in Florida, I wanted to get a feel for whether or not accepted students day, campus day if you will, is really a must do in the decision process. I’ve already been up to see Michigan once a year ago, in February to be sure I am ok enough with the cold, and really liked it but I’m not sure if going up again for Accepted students day is worth the cost and travel and whatnot. Any opinions would help!
If you are a full pay OOS student you will be spending over $200,000 on your education. A trip to Michigan will cost you about $750 with $400 airfare, 2 nights hotel, and transfers. If you visit 3 schools you will be spending 1% of the cost of your education to assure you will make a good decision. I think it is money well spent.
On the contrary, $750 isn’t chump change either. All the information you get on Campus Day are things you can find online. In addition it’s hard for campus day anywhere to mimic what actual student life is like. I feel like as an OOS student you should just do your research very well about the university when weighting your options.
If you do decide to do it, then I hope you enjoy it cause Ann Arbor at around this time is in its prime in terms of weather.
My son attended one and part of it was a repeat of a college visit, but he did a general and not a program specific session on a Saturday. To make it worth your time I would arrange to sit in on classes (don’t do a weekend visit) , and perhaps stay with a friend to get a feel for the campus. I’d also talk with some potential professors in your department, but you would need to arrange those in advance in a semi-custom fashion. When he visited the first time, the engineering school said that if we admit you, we will do everything we can to make sure you come. I’d take them up on it.
I do think it would be valuable to go back and visit umich again. That being said, I attended campus day this monday (for LSA), and it was not that great. I fully believe they could have done the whole day in half as much time. The presentations got really repetitive, and I already knew most of the information. I wish I was able to explore the campus on my own more, but that’s a personal opinion I guess.
Thank about what are the primary factors for your decision and whether another campus visit may help or not. We are local, so we have no cost for campus visit. Indeed, we went 3 times with my D. One for a general campus visit with tour, one for the Tech Day for engineering, and one for Spring Welcome Day after admitted. Most of the information from the 3 visits are redundant. We even see the same dorm twice and eat in the same dinning hall twice. If you have more specific questions, perhaps you can seek advise from alumni and current students, or on the internet.