Anyone heard whether BS will provide “re-visit” opportunities for the newly admitted applicants this year? If so, what is the likely timing? I have a spring break to plan but want to make sure I will not miss any re-visits
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@groel At the moment, none of the BSs I’m aware of have commented much on their revisit day plans. There’s a fine chance that it may be just like last year: online. However, I can’t really say much at this point in time.
In that case, could anyone elaborate on how virtual revisits worked last year?
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I’d guess there is little to no chance of on campus re-visits this year for most/all BSs. Without a doubt, kiddo’s school will not host anyone on campus. Virtual re-visits pale in comparison to an actual visit, but unfortunately it’s likely the only option. I don’t even remember what the virtual re-visit programs were like last year…I remember wishing for more…more on campus virtual tours (show us a dorm room!!), more interaction with students etc, but at the time campuses were closed, so the schools were limited in the content they could produce. I’d guess this year, virtual re-visits will be more expansive and complete as they’ve had a year to think about this, and they have students on campus. Without a doubt though, this is a difficult year to be a prospective student.
When DS was considering-- so close to a decade ago, George had – in addition to revisit days – a number of panels on different topics – from music, college counseling, athletics, etc via webcast. They did this realizing that some students couldn’t afford to travel or that even those who attended in person might be looking for more information. I think they did something similar last year. Personally, I really found it useful and helpful.
But yeah, being on the campus was really the only way we really got the “vibe”. And having been a parent volunteer during revisits, I think that is incredibly hard to do via zoom.
Some places felt more joyful and friendly. Some were definitely more diverse. Even the way kids expressed their passions was different.
Everyone here who knows the schools will be helpful, for sure, but it’ll be tough.
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The panels are great as @gardenstategal mentions. They are still being done. So are calls with potential students.
Given the virtual nature of visits, I’d bet that admissions will answer any question at all once you have been accepted. And you can find lots of info on FB and Instagram to get a sense of what is current; I’d also read the school’s magazine and newspaper ( this will help you learn what current students are thinking).
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Andover announced months ago that they would not be doing in-person revisits this app cycle.
As someone who has done both on-campus and virtual visits, I have to say: I really, really prefer on-campus. (Duh right?).
But, schools are getting better and better at capturing their personality in virtual settings. Still, they capture the vibe of, say, a faculty panel, not a walk around campus where you get to see how the students interact with one another – their voices, their body language.
I’ll add to @Happytimes2001 list of suggested resources: the student handbook. (One of the schools had some details about how to butter your dinner roll properly, and I can say categorically that would not have been a good fit for us!)
@Calliemomofgirls - out of curiosity, what was it about buttering the dinner roll that made you conclude that the school would not be a fit?
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@groel We are low-carb, so dinner rolls aren’t a good fit for us.
(I’m totally kidding. The fact that the school had a strong enough opinion on how my kid should butter a roll that it made the student handbook was… surprising… to me.)
Oh I’ll also add as a resource:
YouTube videos from the school! So many more videos there than on most of the school websites. You really get to see the kids in motion with one another. We looked very closely at the body language, and at the faces of the kids who were not necessarily the “star” of the video – the kids in the background – how did they look like they were relating to one another? How much laughter and hugging and physical closeness is there? Or did kids look like they were patiently just tolerating the event. (We saw this vibe at more than one school. The “star” of the video, aware of the camera, was super cheery and upbeat, but the rest of the student body definitely did not match that energy.)
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Lol @Calliemomofgirls you are SO much more observant than me. I can now add to the long list of questions I will have for you on M10 things like “did the kids in the background seem more fun at Berkshire or Mercersburg?” and “if D is a butter the whole roll at once kind of girl where will she be ostracized?”!
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Clearly the unwashed masses that insist on buttering the whole roll will not be a great fit. I am reminded of a scene from Gilligan’s Island.
I would have found that off-putting as well. It comes across as stodgy and overly formal.
While some view boarding school through the romanticized fiction versions, the fact is, if your kid attends then they are living there.
We looked at one school that, in theory, would have been a wonderful fit, but rules listed for the boarding part seemed a tad rigid and paternalistic. My kid would have been miserable living there.
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I wonder if the “Asheville Banana” is listed in their student handbook…with a quick search, I did find several youtube videos on it !!
The Asheville Banana – we visited Asheville school and saw they had banana curtains and we asked about them. I love this little tradition. (Asheville banana is a sliced banana with sugar and lemon on it.)
A friend of mine went to The Asheville School and hated that she couldn’t eat a banana the normal way!! 