<p>Here's a partial list of college Web pages showing schedules for regional college information sessions. Such sessions offer a convenient opportunity to meet and ask questions of college admission officers. </p>
<p>Exploring College Options consortium (Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and Stanford) </p>
<p>I know a fellow parent on a Brand X online forum who says, with considerable warrant, that all college admission officers give the same spiel in public meetings. Having attended many of these regional information sessions, I agree that most college admission officers don't dare to say anything very bold about how their college differs from some other college. There's certainly no trash-talking in any joint information session. But for all that, I think subtle differences among colleges become more apparent if you note what is NOT said at each session. And, as you note, there are at least a few colleges that want applicants to show them love in the application process, and attending an info session for such a college can't hurt in that case.</p>
<p>The Big 10 schools have recruiting receptions in a number of cities. Next year schedule not up yet. 2006:</p>
<p>Prospective students and parents are invited to meet with the admissions directors from the public universities of the Big Ten. Each reception will feature a presentation on the participating universities, and students will have the opportunity to talk with admissions directors about the college admissions process, financial aid and more. Receptions will be held throughout March and April in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. To learn more and to RSVP, prospective students should visit <a href="http://www.admissions.umich.edu/prospective/bigten.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.admissions.umich.edu/prospective/bigten.html</a>.</p>
<p>and
Big Ten Reception
On April 15 the universities of the Big Ten will host a reception in New York City, where high school students and their families can meet with admissions directors of these world-class institutions. The event will feature a collective "Big Ten" presentation as well as the opportunity to ask questions of any or all of the universities. </p>
<p>New York Big Ten Reception
Sunday, April 15, 2007
New York Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway on Times Square
New York City
College Fair: 2-5 p.m.
Presentations: 3:15-3:45 p.m. and 4-4:30 p.m.</p>
<p>Here are some more Web page links for college information sessions. In some cases the links mention visits to specific high schools, and in some cases the link today is just a place-holder for information that will be filled in in the next few weeks. I'd love to hear about other links like these. </p>
<p>What I saw from my info sessions is that they really are useless but you do get to see the inside of a room you may have to sit in, the way in which they deal with prospies (ie: big school, lecture hall; little school, classroom; etc.), and the most important stuff, as tokenadult said, is what they leave out.</p>
<p>I think it's good to go to them if you're unsure about the suitability of the school, because I certainly left some interesting schools asking more questions. Of course, I'd wait to find an actual student to ask them, and not the admissions officer, all of whom in my experience were very nice and charming but not totally completely honest.</p>
<p>We found the presentation last year to be very helpful. Applications to CMU must be directed to a specific subdivision of the university, and the requirements for the various schools differ greatly. The School of Computer Science, for instance, is separate from the engineering school (Carnegie Institute of Technology), and applications must be tailored accordingly.</p>
<p>About usefulness of info. sessions: We went to Amherst's and Williams' s the same day. You probably couldn't find two more similar schools. However, S knew immediately just from the venues of info. sessions that he preferred Williams. Amherst's was in an elegant room with thick, red carpeting and large swivel leather chairs. The seats were arranged on rising tiers. Williams' was in a large room with a very polished floor and we sat on folding chairs. At Amherst we had to walk across half the campus; at Williams we went to buiding 100 feet from Admissions into the Jewish Studies building. We had to duck our heads to avoid rows of Jewish prayer shawls. Many people would have preferred the elegance of Amherst's presentation. S loved the simplicity, quirkiness and down-to-earth quality of Williams. "Spiels" confirmed the impression. So there are subtle differences that kids can pick up.</p>