<p>Reporting on her 2nd overnight stay. This one (the one with the pyrotechnics) was a big success. This is a school with a pretty unique culture, and she had been lukewarm before accepted students weekend. She was a little warmed up to it by the time she went off with her host after a day of presentations and tours, but came back the next day saying she liked the school MUCH more than she had expected to. It definitely went up on her list. She met quite a few students she liked, thought their planned evening activities were great (fighting with “home made” green fire lightsabers and a string theory presentation) and loved the classes she attended the next morning. Glad she stayed overnight, she may end up picking this school – and would not have without this visit.</p>
<p>D has two overnite visits this week - now you’ve got me very nervous!</p>
<p>S had a fantastic overnight at Rice. I believe they tried to pair prospies and hosts well as I hear they do in pairing roommates (with great care.) That being said, I had to direct him when filling out the overnight form. He was going to put himself down as ‘very social’. He is outgoing and likes to do things. However, as a non-drinker and in general, not a big partier, I encouraged him to place himself as ‘moderately reserved.’ He was placed with two hosts (they were roommates) and two other prospies that were all pleasant, talkative people and were busy the entire time (mostly school structured activities.) They also went into Houston for some Mexican food and (following tradition) threw a girl (not prospie!) whose birthday it was into the fountain at midnight. The dorms were great and the food the best he had at any college. He did wind up choosing another university for a reason unique to his studies, but would recommend Rice highly!!</p>
<p>My D only had one opportunity for an overnight. She was paired with 2 other prospective students in a suite. Unfortunately she didn’t connect with the prospective girls. They were very quiet and were scared to do anything. D had to go down the hall to find other kids that wanted to go out to the scheduled improv show ( which she really enjoyed).
Her hosts were busy and she never even went to the cafeteria for breakfast.
She came home with" didn’t connect" but I explained to her that she can’t judge by 2 prospies who were probably nervous and scared.</p>
<p>She just choose that school after Accepted Student Day so it all worked out. But in the long run I’m not sure overnights are a good idea.</p>
<p>Sent from my Nexus S 4G using CC</p>
<p>Son did an overnight last weekend. I purposely had him do the overnight because I wanted him to see what the kids and dorm life was really like. Since this school was somewhat isolated with very little to do outside of campus, both my husband and I wanted to make sure that our son would have enough activities to do on campus to keep him happy for the next 4 years. My son had been very impressed with the school when we visited last winter and considered applying Early Decision. After his overnight there, he was very glad that he had other options. He experience similar problems as many people have previously posted. He still feels that the school would have been academically rewarding but he just didn’t feel like he would fit in with the students currently going there. The students he met overnight really were interested in the party scene and my son would like to go to a school where other options were more popular than partying.</p>
<p>Just for curiosity sake, did you as parents report any of the incidents to admissions? Or did you just use these experiences as a deciding factor as to whether or not you were still interested in the school?</p>
<p>I did let admissions know that my daughter decided against a school because of her overnight. She was on an official athletic visit and loved everything except the students. Alcohol in her room, everyone getting drunk. Totally turned her off----could not see herself with these teammates.</p>
<p>She has hosted prospective athletes at her current school. She’s naturally social (without drinking and drugs) and a good student. Coach loves her.</p>
<p>DS had two memorable overnights. At Rice Owl Days for admits, he had the similar wonderful time that was mentioned upthread–they really do have an amazing residential program, so I don’t think it was just a lucky match with hosts. He was really more of a small LAC type, but that experience almost changed his mind. At a fly-in weekend at another school, he was put in a suite with seniors, one of whom was celebrating his 21st birthday and another was about to take off to work as a bartender in New Zealand after graduation. I didn’t ask too many questions about his non-academic impressions of that place, especially after he got a text from his host thanking him for being “so chill” during his visit. He ended up at a college he had visited but not done an overnight at (and loved all four years there).</p>
<p>Some of these reports are truly frightening! My daughter heads off to two overnights tomorrow. She is just 16. I hope to God she is not paired with some alcohol enthusiast Senior.</p>
<p>Sorry for the bad overnites. My son had a overnite at his current school and I know the overnite helped him decide. The boy was also late coming to get my son but another kid was also there waiting for his overnite host so they waited together. </p>
<p>My son was not dying to do the overnite, I was the one who encouraged him to do it. My husband was staying closeby at a hotel. My son was told that if at anytime he wanted to leave, my husband would come get him. Instead, my son texted for my husband to come later in the morning for his pick up. </p>
<p>I think bad overnites are probably like bad college tours. Hard to know how skilled the person is who is providing the experience. But hopefully your student is going to interact and see more than the one person or two people in the room they stay. They go for dinner and breakfast so see and hear other kids interacting to give them a feel for the school environment.</p>
<p>D spent 3 days at one of her top schools and it was magical. She came straight home and accepted. She really didn’t want to go either - she had already pretty much decided on another school but I didn’t really see any joy about that. So glad that she agreed to go on the visit. But either way - your kid will know if it is right after the visit.</p>
<p>We did not tell admissions at the school with the late host/bar/bug bites. Although admissions was aware of the host not showing up, as they were orchestrating the pickup process. This school is hyper about coordinating all other aspects of the visit to maximize appeal of the university, but I think they just hold their breath when the students head off with their hosts.</p>
<p>^^^
I agree with Kennedy. D wasn’t very sure about “sleeping on strangers’ floors” but was convinced to do an overnight last Feb at a school on the other coast, and when we met her the next day, it was clear she had really fallen in love with the place. She did another overnight last month and liked the second school well enough to keep it under consideration. She was scheduled to do two more overnight visits during Spring Break, but she decided that none was going to live up to her #1, so she canceled. Last weekend she sent her deposit to the #1 college.</p>
<p>My S went on a few overnight visits… a few when he was a Senior checking out schools, which now in retrospect, I would not do again for DS14. It made him be overly in love with the school and when he was rejected it was hard. Better to do those types of visits after acceptance. The overnights he did at accepted students events were what really made him know where he wanted to be. He had never even visited any of the 4 schools he went to accepted students events at. I knew a few were off the list when he texted me at midnight and there was nothing going on. My DS thrives on constant stimulation, so a dead campus on a Friday night at midnight was a deal killer. The school he decided on had a volleyball game going on a 2am where everyone was in costumes… I picked him up and he went directly to the admissions office to give them the deposit check.</p>
<p>My son had some interest in going to his Admitted Students Weekend, but in the end decided not to go. He told me, “I’m gonna spend the next 4 years there, Dad. I just have a few more days to spend with my friends here at school.” Hard to argue with him on that point.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids did overnight visits until after they were admitted. D applied EA to all, so she began to get acceptances in November and there was more time to visit. S applied RD to his favorites, so there had to be some culling before overnight visits were scheduled. The downside was that both ended up with schools they eliminated without ever visiting. There were good reasons for dropping them, but I always had a slight feeling of incompleteness about those schools.</p>
<p>DS was not really excited about an overnight at one of the state flagships, but he had a great scholarship and he had grown up hearing about how great it was. He was worried about the school not being “serious” and that he would be surrounded by drunken idiots. He requested a guide in an honors dorm floor on a Wednesday night.
He was up half the night with crazy drunk people running through the halls, and stepped out of the door stepping in vomit. We never mentioned the school again. Epic fail.</p>
<p>Yuck, sorry for your son Mizz Bee.</p>
<p>I agree with many of the people who have posted to wait and do the overnights until you have been admitted and it then becomes one of the deciding issues as to where to attend. Unfortunately, it is not just seniors who act as hosts for these overnights. My son’s host was a freshmen and alcohol seemed to be readily available. The school that my son visited last weekend is known as one of the top 10 party schools. Having been to college I know that partying is part of the college experience but I do not want my son to go to a school where it is the only popular social activity. The consensus of the students to whom he spoke with seemed to indicate that although other activities were offered, they were poorly attended and that they were proud of the fact that you could find a party on campus on any night of the week. The atmosphere turned my son off to the school and he has chosen to go to a school where there are more social options both on and off campus.</p>
<p>I have to agree with others TVenee. Your concern isn’t a senior, who hopefully has matured a bit. Many of these hosts are traditionally first year students. I will say better in the spring then fall when first year students have just arrived themselves. As you can see these overnights are a very mixed bag. Just talk to your dd about managed expectations and what to do if she does find herself in an uncomfortable situation.</p>
<p>My son visiting his college this weekend. He received an email a few days ago from his host who gave him detailed information about where to meet, sleeping arrangements, and contact information - that’s a good sign, right? Four pre-frosh are staying with the host, who is a sophomore…figure that even if the host isn’t around, the four boys can stick together. These stories really make me cringe, though…</p>