<p>We are in the Roller coaster ride of decision days for our senior son. He's been accepted at several schools and has just a few more to hear from, including his (we think) favorite. The financial aid packages are trickling in but but he's also getting invites for different events and visits. I honestly don't remember this much attention when my older kids were at this point, and they have all been B students applying to mostly private, mostly LAC's.</p>
<p>So far son has had invitations to a concert on campus (student bands), regional meet and greet dinner's, accepted students days, overnights with classes the next day, Dinner with the dean, and a Scholarship luncheon. NONE of them are over his (very short) spring break, and a few of them are week days.</p>
<p>If only these darn High School classes didn't get in the way, it would be almost enjoyable to take advantage of these offerings. We're trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff here and figure out what Colleges he's mostly like to attend that we can afford. I can't decide if these invitations are making that harder or easier! </p>
<p>Any suggestions on what the best re-visit options are?</p>
<p>You are approaching this the way we did. Is the scholarship luncheon for those who have been awarded a scholarship, or is this for people invited to compete? I assume it is for the scholarship recipients, in which case you have room to breathe. </p>
<p>We really took notes and pics as we toured schools. We had our son review those for the schools that we were able to swing financially. He revisited only his first choice school in March. He was able to decide without attending last minute overnight visits, and luncheons. If he wanted to attend a few, we would have done so.</p>
<p>Our older son attended a luncheon for students and parents within his college at one university. This was very helpful because parents and students were able to meet the professors within that college. Study abroad was discussed by students in depth. Social aspects of the school were HONESTLY discussed by students as well. One professor at this school was very candid with me about the lack of public transit options (I guessed this and he confirmed it for me). Positive aspects, such as an amazing study abroad program were brough to light. It really helped to get a picture because this school was toward the top of the list. Even though we attended, we could not swing it financially, but the isolation made it drop down on the list anyway.</p>
<p>kathiep, I can only speak from my own experience, but here are some thoughts: My daughter chose not to do the local meet and greet events, because at that point in her decision-making, it was more important to be on campus—to get that elusive “feel” about whether or not she could live in that place for the next four years. </p>
<p>She did go to a scholarship event because it included an interview that determined merit money. If the scholarship luncheon you refer has an effect on your son’s financial aid, then it would be worthwhile for him to go; if it is just congratulatory, then you could probably cross it off the list.</p>
<p>She went to the Accepted Student Day only for the school which she had decided was her favorite. She wanted to confirm that all the positive feelings she had a year earlier during Junior Visit Day were genuine. They were (thank goodness!) and she didn’t feel the need to make a final visit to any of her other schools. </p>
<p>If your son has a few finalists on his list that he wants to re-visit, it might be a good idea to attend a class rather than go to a concert or a sporting event. It won’t be as much fun, but he’ll get a better sense of the students (and professors) with whom he’ll be spending a great deal of his time.</p>
<p>My daughter went to accepted student days (or overnights) on campus and found them immensely helpful in her decision making process, not so much the “local” gatherings. Being on campus allowed her to really see what the school had to offer her and the attitude of current students. She eliminated two schools based on these days and pained over the last three choices, again, based on her admitted student days.</p>
<p>D had already made the decision when she went to her Admitted Students weekend, which was actually a Sunday-Monday, but it was nonetheless helpful since she was a “stealth” applicant (hadn’t visited before). There were 3 things that especially stood out for her: Overnighting in a dorm (she got to see what dorm life was like, and ask all kinds of questions of her host); attending classes (she went to 3 classes, and was relieved to find that she could probably handle college work); and going to a practice session of the dance group she hoped to join (she was definitely going to be able to keep up, and it seemed fun).</p>
<p>D’s high school allowed, I think, 5 days’ worth of excused absences for college visits. She just had to produce proof that she’d gone.</p>
<p>Our Ds culled their list of acceptances down to 2 or 3 and then did overnight visits/admitted student days only to those. After the decision was made, they attended Alumni Meet and Greets that were held later in the summer.</p>
<p>D did overnights, scholarship weekends and accepted student days at her top 3 choices. Her top choice remained her top choice throughout and her second and third choices were reversed after the overnights. We really didn’t find the accepted student days any different from the open houses we attended, but it put her on the campus again. That is always a good thing.</p>
<p>S did the same three events at schools, one the same as D, but others were different. He had more trouble making his decision than she did, due to a variety of factors, including some of those events. Turned out he made the wrong decision for himself, but it was easily fixed by a transfer.</p>
<p>However, your mileage may vary due to your own circumstances.</p>
<p>DD went to two accepted student overnights which luckily were across the country…the same week (different days) during her April vacation. She went to another accepted student event on a weekend. Since she was going SO far from home, we actually insisted she do this. The visit that was done separately was actually done in lieu of attending the scholarship weekend at the school (which was the same weekend as the All State Music Festival here). That school was wonderful about setting up a “private” accepted student event for our kid…and they also hung onto her scholarship weekend “souvenirs”. This ended up being her second choice school.</p>
<p>If the schools are your kiddo’s top choice, I would try to get to something especially if it’s for a school you haven’t visited. Otherwise, your day/weekend trips would be fine. The accepted student events are nice but you can certainly visit campuses as an accepted student at other times. Contact admissions and ask!!</p>
<p>It varies considerably and even the invitation process can be hit & miss. Our S only was invited & attended one accepted students event in our city (which he said was a waste of time, “Rah Rah Rah college family” event (his words). They offered soft drinks, no food and not much substantive info. There was another accepted students event for another school he had been considering but we only learned about it after the event had taken place because other students/families mentioned it to us.</p>
<p>AFTER he made his choice, we also attended an orientation & an event for the families & students to get to know each other before the kids flew off to their campus. S felt the orientation was somewhat helpful in that it allowed all the kids to take placement tests & register for their courses. I was happy because it allowed us to open checking accounts with S, so he’d be all set when he started in the fall. It was conveniently located at his HS campus (they came down & held it in HI–I think a reward for the hardworking folks at the campus to celebrate having gotten through the admissions & acceptances.</p>
<p>S never stepped foot onto the campus until we flew over to help him move in that August. He said he didn’t see the point and it would be a waste of $$; many other students did visit various campuses (heck, we visited many campuses before S started applying to Us). It worked out OK for him. D first stepped foot on that campus at the same time. It turned out to be the only U she applied to & she’s a happy transfer student there.</p>
<p>kathiep-pardon my blasphemous statement ;), but if your son is a second semester senior, isn’t it more important that he get to some of the on-campus events, at least of his two or three favorites to get a better feel for the campuses, high school classes be d*mned? I wouldn’t want my kids to “tank” their second semester grades, of course, but it seems more important to me to have the student get some help making the big decision here.</p>
<p>I have freshman twins. One knew exactly what his first choice was, had done a summer program there, and so only attended a couple of local events for incoming students. He thought those were great as it gave him an opportunity to meet a large group of his classmates and at least know some faces before school started.</p>
<p>His twin wasn’t absolutely positive so did the overnight route, even if it wasn’t on the specific “admitted students visiting day.” The overnight visit clinched it for him.</p>
<p>My D is going to attend accepted students day for her major at three of her top choices. All three are very different from each other so I will be interested in which one she chooses. One is a huge D1, one is medium urban and one is smaller urban. All three have great programs for what she wants to do but offer very different experiences.</p>
<p>We’re not planning on doing any regional events, or concerts/sporting events. I just mentioned them as some of the things that son has been invited to. I feel that the best of all worlds would be an overnight with a couple of classes, but so far only a couple have offered that. Getting excused from school is not an issue. Son’s HS is generous with college visits, it’s my son that hates missing school. </p>
<p>The luncheons and dinner invitations are on campus and I’m thinking they might be good because there would be other students there too. That seems like a good use of time too. Instead of getting one more student tour and general information, we would get a real feel for the professors and students. At least I think we would. Two of the meal invites are for students like him that have already been given merit awards, not competing. One is just a dinner with the dean for the school within the University where son has been accepted.</p>
<p>You can always call admissions and ask if they could arrange that for your son. Some colleges don’t have formal programs for it, but will arrange it if asked. We did that at 2 different schools. The others did have formal programs or combined it with the scholarship weekend.</p>
<p>My S determined he didn’t need to attend the Admitted Students day at the university he’s now attending, Northwestern. What he did find useful was attending the local “meet and greet” event after the decisions were in, as through this he was able to meet a number of his incoming classmates. Since Northwestern is on a quarter system and thus starts around mid-September, he and his classmates had their own gatherings at various beach locales to get to know each other better. It turns out one of the students he met this way even lives on the same residence hall floor as he does. One almost ended up as his roommate but, for some reason no one knows why, the university changed assignments, so his roommate this year is from Great Neck (Long Island), NY.</p>
<p>We wanted our son to visit each campus he had been accepted to before he chose. Three of the schools were in state and he had already done the official tours so he didn’t attend any accepted student events. Two of the schools were on the opposite coast so he had applied without visiting. We went back during his spring break to visit both. One of them happened to have an accepted student day - actually for his scholarship - during that week so he attended that. On the other campus we just attended the normal campus tour and info session, but there were quite a few other accepted students there at the time too.</p>
<p>We found the overnights with class visits and presentations aimed at accepted students were immensely useful. Even students on official panels were pretty honest about the flaws of their universities. It was the presentation that Carnegie Mellon’s school of Computer Science put on compared to the equivalent at Harvard that made my oldest decide to attend CMU. And he’s had no reason at all to regret that decision. Amusingly, as it happened the four colleges that accepted him were the four colleges he hadn’t visited so he did visit all the places that accepted him in April.</p>
<p>Similarly our youngest hadn’t yet seen Chicago and really wanted to compare it to his other choices. It ended up being a very close call between Chicago and Tufts. He also revisited his safety (American) and liked it just as much as he had the first time. My kids found that visiting the school they were pretty sure they wouldn’t attend helped them think about what they liked about the other schools.</p>
<p>^^
I agree about the student panels. On the Monday morning of our visit, while our accepted students were attending classes, we parents got to meet with current students. They were indeed forthcoming, including info that we parents didn’t necessarily want to hear (there IS drinking on campus, and hooking up :eek:), but also a ton of good info (don’t bring a TV, campus security services, how they dealt with roommate problems). We also got to attend a faculty panel where a couple of professors answered our academic-related questions. Good stuff, the panels; I highly recommend them if you have the chance.</p>
<p>Is it better to attend the “admitted student” events or maybe just to arrange a visit, sit in on classes, etc. without the “dog and pony show” of an admissions-sponsored event? We’ve been to the “dog and pony shows” at all but 2 of the schools S has applied to. (Both are reaches, one fairly far from home and the other a last-minute addition to the list, and at this point we figure it’s not worth visiting unless he gets in and the financial package is workable.) But I’m feeling at this point that we’re kind of “done” with the “dog and pony show” events. I’m feeling like we might be better off with some custom-designed visits (and re-visits). Arrange to attend a class, maybe meet with a current freshman in his program, meet with the co-op coordinator for his department (where relevant) etc. The campus tours and such don’t really seem to tell you that much, he doesn’t care about the dorms (he figures he’ll deal with whatever, and won’t allow it to be a factor in his decision). Has anyone tried making their own custom “admitted student events”? (One advantage of course would be being able to arrange the visits over his April break.)</p>