<p>Would love to hear others' approaches, especially if one-on-one student hosting isn't offered. Strategies to best get a real feel vs the show?</p>
<p>Well, I kind of liked the show at the three admitted student days I attended with my daughter. I learned plenty about the “feel” of the school by what they chose to highlight, the type of kids on the panels, the stuff the students said at the activities presentations, the types of things that the other admitted students and their parents were interested in knowing, etc.</p>
<p>We are staying after the admitted student day/weekend is over just to get a sense of what it is like when everyone is not all shined up and using their persuasive skills. I also had been in a sorority when I was in college and even though my daughter may not pursue joining, I use my “sorority sister” approach by going to the local chapter officers and asking if we can stop by. I do agree with kiddie that how they welcome you is somewhat indicative of the school culture. In fact, it changed our mind about one school that was a little lower on the list. Still have a month to decide and if she is still not sure, she will call up admissions to see if she can arrange another visit. This probably is not really practical if the school is far from your home, but all of her schools are within a few hours drive. </p>
<p>We signed up for a campus day (admitted student day) that has specific information for a particular major and also has dorm visit this weekend. A month after the registration, my D got another invitation for a different event for major scholarship recipients with some overlapped content plus one night stay in a hotel and one night in a dorm room with current student. Then, there is another event on campus for the Women Engineer that takes another day this weeken. Too bad that we have paid for the campus day already, otherwise, we may just do all the other free events instead. It does not make sense to visit the same school over and over again within a month.</p>
<p>@billcsho Wait, you were required to PAY for a “campus day” visit? or do you mean that you already paid for travel arrangements for that day? (I’ve never heard of a college charging for an admitted-students event. I thought they were trying to woo people!)</p>
<p>Yes, UMich charges for campus day I think it is because of the breakfast and lunch. I believe the lunch would be at one of the dorm to have a taste of dorm food. The other invited visits are free. Even the one with hotel stay and bowling evening.</p>
<p>Some admitted students days have sort of fairs where all the clubs have a few representatives and you can talk one on one with students. I found those pretty enlightening. I always figure if the school comes across badly at their big admissions event they probably won’t do much better in real life. (And CMU’s food at admitted students day tried hard, but like the actual food plan, it wasn’t very good!) Luckily everything else was terrific!</p>
<p>@billcsho, it makes sense they run multiple events because prospective students may have conflicts with other events. </p>
<p>Anyone else find it valuable to stay more than just the time of the event? How helpful is staying on weekend days? Just one event we’ve already signed up for is going to chew up my daughter’s entire budget of days her school allows for college visits and I have to hope they will be willing to turn a blind eye to this.</p>
<p>@mathyone, we’ve scheduled visits to 4 schools during my D’s spring break next month. I guess we lucked out that the accepted student days were during that time frame.</p>
<p>I noticed on my son’s financial aid package from UCR that they are charging him for Highlander Day, an admitted students day, not even an overnight! $270.00 I think! This is an event that he signed up to attend, but I must have missed the small print that there was a charge. It is coming up in mid-April.</p>
<p>@sschickens, yes, you did. Our spring break is not scheduled for the convenience of seniors wanting to visit colleges.</p>
<p>@liveonboca thanks for the heads up!</p>
<p>We were thinking of going since we’ve never actually been to UCR and they offered my sons scholarships. However, I’m having a bit of difficulty getting them back to campuses they went on tours for, because they think it will be the same thing. Working on it, though. I think there is a big difference in THEIR mindsets from when they were ‘just thinking about applying’ to when they are ‘accepted and narrowing down options’, and I really want them to attend.</p>
<p>We attended four - two for each boy and found them useful. Two of the schools held their days on the weekend, which was nice for our schedules and appreciated. Yes, everyone’s on their best behavior but my boys found it useful to meet other prospective students to get an idea of who they might be with if they attended. My younger son combined it with an overnight stay and that really sealed the deal for him at the college he’s now attending. They also liked the fairs that were setup to showcase clubs and departments - they were able to chat with faculty as well as current students. I was surprised as others were to see there were charges at some schools - go figure!</p>
<p>A friend said to me, “visiting before they apply is one thing, visiting after they are accepted is taking the “victory lap””</p>
<p>We love taking the “victory lap”. This is when your S/D has to envision himself being a student on that campus. </p>
<p>S attended two accepted students weekends, both of which involved being hosted by a student one or two nights. The degree of attention the host pays to the prospie seems to vary quite a bit, and at least in his tiny sample of two seemed to reflect the student body/school character to some degree. (Despite the individual not conforming to people’s idea of the stereotypical student at the school in ANY way: S’s host at Dartmouth was an AA conservative Christian, who prided himself that the prospies he hosted always enrolled. S was a liberal atheist. They got along very well, both philosophically inclined individuals. 
) IIRC, there were some info sessions for parents at the start of the event, but after that one was expected to leave. (Which is what I would expect. I think this is supposed to be time for the student, not the parents.) I talked with the FA people at one school because we needed to make an appeal, but that was it.</p>
<p>So, to answer the original question, I guess we didn’t really have any strategy. :)</p>
<p>At the Bates admitted student day we attended, the tours and lunches were divided up for students or parents which I thought was a really good thing. We also took the opportunity to schedule a visit with the disabilities coordinator so that our boys and we could meet with them to be sure they could provide the accommodations the boys require. Consolation - I love your Dartmouth story! :-))</p>
<p>We are flip-flopping between two schools. Next week we are going to accepted student day that is broken down by major. I think this is a great idea for the students to meet with potential professors and students that they will be spending most of their time with.</p>
<p>I attended 3 admitted students days with my daughter last year. I highly recommend attending these if your child has not decided on which school to attend. One thing that helped were question/answer sessions. Really listen to the answers- I know that sounds obvious, but you can obtain a lot on what they say, and what they don’t say. Also, go up to students/faculty after the sessions and ask them more personalized questions. It’s a great way to get some one-on-one time.</p>
<p>This is also the time to get more familiar with the campus, so go on a tour. You might actually be able to get a one-on-one tour with a student. We did for 2 of the schools and it was great! Be sure to ask about things that interest your student, not just schoolwork, but clubs and activities also. </p>
<p>Only one of the schools did we sit in on a class, we found that helpful as well. If you get the chance to do that, don’t sit in on a freshman level class. Sit in on an upper level class to see what the professor is like with students in that given major. We found this really interesting.</p>
<p>Good luck! It’s an exciting time, and a lot to process. For us, we found the admitted students days that we attended were super useful. They really gave her the chance to get a feel for which school would be the best fit for her.</p>
<p>My kids went to the accepted student weekend even though they were admitted early and had already accepted. It was useful for them, because they met people, found out about extracurriculars, and got familiar with the campus. It wasn’t essential, but for us it was worth it.</p>
<p>DD wanted to go to Georgetown since middle school and was admitted EA. But something just didn’t feel right but she was unsure about giving up a "dream. She attended admitted student day and determined that her gut was right. She graduated from a small liberal arts school last year happy as a clam. And that school did not float to the top of her list until she attended admitted student day there. . . </p>