<p>I attended yet another presentation by a college rep. yesterday. In the past month, I have listened to reps from NU, Yale, WUSTL, Harvard+UPenn+Georgetown+Stanford+Duke (one of those combined things) and Flagship State U.</p>
<p>To be honest, I don't find these "dog and pony" shows useful at all. There is nothing being presented there that I can't find out on the web, and it can't beat actually visiting the campus. Why are they spending money on all that travel, marketing literature, etc.? Are they trying to drum up the numbers of applicants for USNWR? Are they looking for that URM or an athlete who hasn't heard about Harvard, so he/she applies? This baffles me...</p>
<p>All presentations sound the same - "blah, blah, strong academics, ...., study abroad, blah, blah, diversity, blah, blah, holistic approach to admission.... Look, Stanford campus has palm trees and Harvard is the oldest college while UPenn is the oldest university and Yale has residential colleges"</p>
<p>I actually think that these presentations create unrealistic expectations. After Yale's show, I overheard one kid telling his mom: "It looks like I have a chance to get in, since they are looking at the entire picture and not just stats". And this is after the rep cheerfully told us that out of 20,000 applications they accept less than 10%!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>"I actually think that these presentations create unrealistic expectations. After Yale's show...And this is after the rep cheerfully told us that out of 20,000 applications they accept less than 10%!!!!!!!!!!!"</p>
<p>I don't see how "cheerfully" telling someone the very low odds of being accepted constitutes creating unrealistic expectations.</p>
<p>I know how you feel. We felt the same way. The cookies and donuts were also pretty lame. We never visited for the same reasons. Plain old research by the kid, willowed out the fluff from the seeds.</p>
<p>The dutifulness of attendance has to be put down to sheer anxiety and conformism because, of course, the info and much much more is available on the web, easy peasy.</p>
<p>Let me add that if you hated the d and p shows, you will hate the on-campus regurgitated info sessions and on-campus tours as well. Do your child a favor and let her/him explore the campus with a friend who attends (if he/she knows one). Encourage her/him to arrange to sit in on a single class. Take the wife and sit in the cafeteria with a nice latte while you listen and observe. Will your child find his/her educational potential among that student body?</p>
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There is nothing being presented there that I can't find out on the web
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Come to one of my sessions. :)</p>
<p>I tell people up front that I'm not there to tell them what they can read in the viewbook or on the website. Some people are annoyed and just want me to rattle of stats, but I think most appreciate what I do instead.</p>
<p>I admit we attended a couple of dog and pony shows primarily 'to show interest' in schools located at great distances that we did not expect to be able to visit until acceptances were in hand.</p>
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I appreciate the travel and presentations these people put on
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It's so nice to read this! Maybe I'm getting old or maybe it's the fact that I'm crossing more time zones more frequently this year, but this travel season is wearing on me. </p>
<p>Sometimes, we aren't "on" for one reason or another...we're flustered after getting lost, our equipment isn't working, our materials didn't arrive on time, we're jet lagged, have altitude sickness (this will apply to me in Denver on Sunday), or are just exhausted and missing home. We try so hard, but sometimes things don't come together as we would hope.</p>
<p>As I have no vested interests in this topic anymore, I beg to differ that your sessions will be substantially different, Dean J.</p>
<p>In those misnamed 'info' sessions, you and the admissions staff are selling your very expensive school. That precludes entertainment, in my opinion. The main mission is to sell the school and by all accounts--mission accomplished. Well done to everyone. </p>
<p>Having attended an expensive private high school and university, having sent two sons to expensive primary, secondary and private universities, I sincerely doubt you could entertain me in a public sales session for UVA. I know the drill too well.</p>
<p>That's not to say I wouldn't be delighted to meet you. I am sure you are highly entertaining. Most deans are. </p>
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Well, if you walk into my session with that attitude, I imagine that's all you'll get out of it.</p>
<p>My mission is to make students understand our process. If they show up, I assume they're already convinced that UVa is a good school that might be the right place for them.</p>
<p>I think these events can be really important for kids whose parents are less involved in the college hunt, or who lack the time or money to travel. I've attended only the on-campus info sessions, and I will say that it drives me crazy when the rep spends the whole time answering questions to which we all should already know the answers. There were a few sessions where the audience truly seemed to have just stopped in on a whim, without ever looking at the school's website or publications. Dean J, if the college reps all took your approach, it would be great!</p>
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if you walk into my session with that attitude
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</p>
<p>Yes sir. Sorry sir. Should I cyber salute?</p>
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[quote] make students understand OUR process
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</p>
<p>Your process? Is it really so special? Again, doesn't sound like I, the rather well-educated, kinda old and experienced parent, will hear anything new or entertaining--which goes to my point that the schools would do everyone a favor if they separated students from parents.</p>
<p>Also, you might want to quit while you are ahead because that second statement is disingenuous at best. The admissions staff do not advise students of all the vagaries of a 'holistic' process. If UVA truly wanted to make them understand the process, they would show them an accurate scattergram of their chances of admissions. </p>
<p>Whoops--that would reduce the number of admissions by 75%.</p>
<p>On with the weird dog and pony shows instead!</p>
<p>Adults may recognize it as a dog and pony show, but for kids, it may be the first time they have heard some of this stuff -- especially if the student is not the type to browse college web sites and thumb through college guides.</p>
<p>The requisite DVD will give some sense of what the campus is like, and most give a speaking opportunity for a few products of the institution.</p>
<p>I see it as a good first filter, certainly less time consuming and expensive than visiting campuses.</p>
<p>Edited to add -- The info sessions we have attended have been for lesser known institutions -- if we were shopping Ivy League, I doubt we would go.</p>
<p>I'll add to the thread that for me one of the most important things I can observe at a regional information session that I can't observe on a college website is who the other interested families in my state are. I recognize some attendees at some sessions from ECs that my son has done. Knowing where the peer group is looking is helpful as a reality check on where he is looking.</p>
<p>We only attended one info session, & wish we had gone to a few more. Listening to the alumni was interesting, as some veered from their initial degrees and found interesting careers.</p>
<p>Also, seeing the other students who attended the meeting was a reality check. Many students attended a magnet school in that city, and seemed so advanced. They had research opportunities not available to S. It brought home the concept of a "reach" school. </p>
<p>S went to this meeting in his jr. year. I felt like I was pushing him to make the long drive. I think it made the college selection real to him.</p>
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Is U of Virginia going to have a session in the Twin Cities this fall?
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Not this year. I was supposed to be in Minneapolis next week with UNC, Emory, and Northwestern, but I seem to remember the organizer for that trip saying there was a problem with scheduling the event there. </p>
<p>I'll be in Denver, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle with those schools next week, then will head out to Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Louisville, and Lexington on my own the week after that.</p>
<p>I've visited some great schools in the Twin Cities area and have a college roommate who I haven't seen in about 10 years in Minnatonka, so I'd love to get there! Maybe next year. Our budget doesn't let us get to every major city each year.</p>
<p>We didn't attend any regional traveling shows, so I can't comment there. We did, however, attend every single info session at every single college we visited and maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment but I really benefitted from them.</p>
<p>In most cases the top person in the admissions department spoke and in most cases these are very smart people. They care a lot about the quality of education at their institutions and were able to articulate the college's academic goals clearly and eloquently. I'm still thinking about what the dean of admissions at Wesleyan said about the way the canon of knowledge has evolved over the past 50 years to include a global and diverse perspective. At Williams the info session was structured around common stereotypes of the school vs reality.</p>
<p>They also get some very articulate students to talk about their experiences which again I found illuminating. At Brown a young woman spoke about how she was so dissillusioned by physics that she almost dropped out, but with support from her advisor she moved over to art history and flourished. At Williams the Captain of the Women's rugby team talked about the mentoring she received from poet Louise Gluck.</p>
<p>I found all of these personal glimpses into the schools' characters revealing in a far deeper way than the factoids on the website. Sure there's an element of "sell" but I think that's putting a negative spin on a sincere intention to help prospectives decide if they would fit.</p>
<p>One of my kids convinced me to take tag along to the Duke regional presentation. This was just Duke - alone. The rep was amazing, the slide show terrific - the rep was very clear that Duke couldn't care less about demonstrated interest. My kid left the presentation ready to apply - and had not gone in particularly interested. After an early acceptance elsewhere applying didn't happen - but it would have if it had been a deferral.</p>
<p>Also, Oberlin had several alumni attend their presentation and speak about their lives as students there and where their paths took them. That presentation also gave a great feel for the school. Also, the food provided by the private school that hosted the presentation was amazing! :)</p>
<p>We thought the Wash U presentation was canned with nothing learned.</p>
<p>Those were the only three regional presentations we attended.</p>