<p>I doubt that the sessions are the same time every different college session. The colleges that visit our school happen at all different times on all different days. Kids get sick unexpectedly and miss class all the time, missing part or all of one day’s class isn’t probably going to make or break most students and by this time college bound students are pretty good at monitoring themselves. If the student is concerned because there is a quiz or something important on the particular day he/she should talk to the teacher involved before the missed class.</p>
<p>'For students who are applying to a half-dozen or more colleges, these sessions can pose a serious threat to academics, especially if the student misses classes for other reasons during the same part of the school year."
I have to disagree here and agree with sybbie and others. If a student is applying to a highly selective colleges, he should do what ever he can do to help the adcom connect him with his application, even if it is for only 5 min. My son had adcoms for many colleges he was applying to visit his school, and he made an effort to try and meet all of them. Teachers KNOW that college adcoms will be visiting- the schedules are often posted weeks in advance, and by the time a student is a Senior, if he hasn’t figured out how to plan ahead, juggle his schedule a bit, successfully ask permission to miss a few minutes of class for what is a very good reason, or get a friend to take class notes for him for 5 min, he has a lot of catching up to do if he wants to be successful in college.</p>
<p>I agree with Menloparkmom, that there is no time like the present to learn how manage time, to pick up notes from another student and explain to a teacher why you will not be in class or be late to class.</p>
<p>When you go to college, on-campus interviews, law school/med school adcom visits, job fairs are all schedules on school days. At some time, a student is going to miss a class(es) because they need to use the time to take advantage of an opportunity.</p>
<p>Since your regional admissions rep is most likely the person who will be “selling” you to the committee then YES - go to the meeting. (I am assuming this is an informal group session with anywhere from 2-10 kids)</p>
<p>Funny, but I see it just the opposite of NewHope33 in post 17.
I would expect a high school student to tell his teacher in advance that he had an important meeting with a college rep and ask if teacher would help scheduling his assignments so he didn’t miss any work. What is teacher going to say- “No! this calc[history, Spanish] class is more important than your college education.”? I doubt that.
If I were college rep, I’d be disappointed a high schooler wouldn’t miss a class to better his chances and his understanding of my college. I would get a strong impression the student cared far more about his high school than his prospective college. He would seem to be putting his high school academics ahead of his college academics.</p>
<p>Similarly, imagine a college student working a part-time job for extra money would not be willing to miss scheduled time at that job and as a result would miss a career job interview. Who would encourage that?
There is clearly a strategy to emailing the visiting rep. Not to explain your absence, but to explain your unusual allegiance to your high school, and to ask to reschedule(not cancel). If the rep isn’t insulted that the student doesn’t feel it is important enough to attend, he may schedule a new time with student, which could lead to better meeting. For the student to only consider what he can learn at the meeting is way too short-sighted.</p>
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<p>No lie–my band teacher once asked me flat-out why I was skipping his class for a college meeting instead of skipping AP Calculus.</p>
<p>The Stanford visit today only had 3 people, because it was scheduled during our MV Calc class and a Calc BC test. Harvard, coming during that same time period (it’s a non-rotating period), once received NO interested students. It doesn’t seem to be particularly detrimental to chances. The GC always explains why.</p>
<p>You are not obliged. </p>
<p>Son applied to and got accepted to all 15 schools he applied to. (2 different majors, one not available at all schools, hence the large number of apps.)</p>
<p>I don’t think he met with any of the college reps that came to his school. They set up the “fairs” during class time, so it is hard to go to them at our school.</p>
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Of course he’s not going to say that, but he might well say, “if your record isn’t strong enough to get into that school without skipping my class to make nice with the admissions officer, that’s not my problem.” In fact I think the majority of teachers at my son’s school would say exactly that…but fortunately, it wouldn’t come up, because all such sessions at my son’s school happen at the end of the day after classes are over. I’m flabbergasted to hear that isn’t the case everywhere.</p>
<p>^ At my school, ALL such sessions are scheduled during class periods. I’ve never heard of a college rep coming to a school-specific visit after classes are over.</p>
<p>^ same with our high school. All college visits have always been scheduled during school hours. I don’t ever recall seeing one scheduled after school hours. (except in the case where a college AdCon conducts interviews at an off school location)</p>
<p>Read posts #13, #15 and #19 very carefully – then attend the meeting.</p>
<p>My daughter did not attend more than one or two of these meetings before she decided they were a waste of time. I did not nag her about this. When she sent in her applications she requested interviews on campus (if nearby) or with alumni (if not) when given the options.</p>
<p>How about a college your kid has already gotten into? Do you think they would expect him or her to show up and say hello?</p>
<p>I think that to some extent it depends on the school. Small liberal arts colleges spend a fair amount ot time and money sending their reps around to various schools and showing up for an information session can make a favorable impression. If you can’t stay the whole time, stop in and ask a question or two and then explain you’ve got to get back to class.It’s a chance for both sides to put a fact with the name.
~Starryskye</p>
<p>Let’s remember too that high schools permit these college reps to visit, on school days, during school hours. They know meetings are likely to occur during class. Knowing that, I can’t really see how a high school teacher could object, particularly if the student has the courtesy and foresight to let the teacher know in advance.</p>
<p>I just love when the parents on this website provide the same advice I give to my S who is a junior. When the first college he was interested in came to his school, he told me there was no way he could miss his class to go to the meeting. I finally convinced him just to go and sign in and then follow up with an email explaining why he could not stay (he had a test). I will definitely show him the comments on this site. Maybe he will realize I know a few things (wishful thinking!).</p>