What is the purpose of College Visit programs for admitted students? Is this a network opportunity, a chance ot choose a roommate, or a total waste of funds for the upper middle class to say their child made an “informed” decision?
It is a feel good weekend for a nervous kid that got into all his top choices? Is it a marketing ploy with the top schools fighting for the top 5% and ignoring students who may actually contribute more to their campuses? Is it a way to cope with senioritis, jet set around to MIT and Princeton, and then feel good about making the absolute CORRECT choice so the student can be in nervous bliss all summer while they feed starving children in Africa on Daddy’s bank roll? Sorry, I am getting a little sarcastic , but what is the benefit of a visit program for admitted student, both for the student who take them and parents who pay for them? Are the universities using our children and giving them the ultimate “hard sell” as after all the child in most cases is not spending their own hard earned money on the visit program. Is this about parent confidence that the child will STICK at the school if they visit frequently?
Where is all this cynicism coming from? Did your child have a bad experience at an admitted student’s weekend?
Isn’t the purpose of admitted student’s programs rather clear? Not all admitted student’s have visited the campus prior to admission. My DS has not. He will likely attend admitted student events for his top 2 schools. So what is the big deal?
My kids found them very useful. 24 hours on campus is very revealing. Even when the college is mightily attempting to put their best foot forward, that is not always what happens. My D2 was accepted to several highly ranked colleges. She went to accepted visits at her top 3 with a pretty set 1-2-3 order in mind. The top 2 honestly showed pretty poorly with more time on campus. Number 3 was very strong – she was quiet for a few days after they were all done, then picked #3. She is a junior now and loves it – she says now it would have been a big mistake for her to pick #1 or #2.
Your kid gets to interact with a lot more current students, sit in on classes in many cases, get a stronger sense of the academic and social vibe. You definitely pick up nuances that don’t come out in a shorter day visit. Remember that your initial visit and tour is a very scripted marketing experience by the school. This can be a chance to get beyond the marketing veneer. Also, mistakes are expensive. Transferring usually means giving up scholarships, poorer FA, social integration issues – not to mention that your kid probably had a pretty unhappy experience.
My kids didn’t network, choose a roommate, or have senioritis (it was challenging to get away for the visits). They genuinely used the visits to learn more about the college, and make a more informed decision. Also, a few schools paid all or part of their airfare to visit.
The overnight campus visit was the single most important deciding factor for our son (keeping in mind he was choosing between colleges where he already had been accepted and where the financial package was affordable). Meeting other majors, meeting faculty, sitting in on classes in his field, talking to students without the filter of the admissions office, spending a night in the dorm–all of these factors made him feel confident about making a choice. But we felt that the individually scheduled overnight visits were more helpful than the pre-planned admitted student group visits, just because the schedule was more personalized and he was meeting students who knew more about the university.
My kid did the admitted student visit at her top 2 choices. (I encouraged her to visit the next 2 as well but she was pretty firm that she could eliminate them without another look). I think it was very helpful. Interacting with a lot of other admitted students, spending more time on campus and meeting more enrolled students and faculty all helped confirm her tentative choice and feel confident about it.
If you go in with an attitude that it’s just a gimmick to get your money, then it’s not worth it. I’m working on setting up visits for my second child to go off to college. He has narrowed his choice down to 3 schools. He’s not expecting to find a roommate or to network - orientation is a much better opportunity to meet folks. He is looking for what may make one school stand above the others. The chance to attend a class, meet with department chairs, and spend some time with students helped D make her decision.
My kids don’t spend summers in Africa on their parent’s money (in my family, Mom makes money as well as Dad) - they work to earn their own spending money. We’re also not jet setting around MIT or Princeton. Many CCers barely see the schools my kids are attending as safeties, but we’ve never been about the prestige, we’ve always been about the education. What we are trying to do is make the best choice possible. My kids are attending on significant merit scholarships, which makes it difficult if they decide they hate their school and want to transfer.
D is a junior now and has had such a great experience - I hope for the same for S, and if spending a bit of money to road trip and visit before choosing helps, I’m all for it.
Thanks for your responses. Here is where my questions come from:
A lot of college bound kids I talk with in Colorado do not get the chance to visit any of their top choices, if they get into them at all. I am an EC for MIT and most of the kids get rejected, who I interview for MIT and they are not flown to the other choices they have. Many do not have the funds. Some go to colleges sight unseen, as we did in the 1970s. Most take an in state choice as other choices are too expensive and almost all 1000s of miles away, unless they might choose U of Wyoming in Laramie. So visit programs appear to me to be just for families who are closer or more wealthy. Its a newer trend to host special visit weekends with hundreds of students visiting at once. It was not done that way in teh 1970s and 1980s on the east coast , but I guess now both parents feel its money well spent and colleges are happy to cash in on it. A little like the Common Application, which gains U of Colorado over a million dollars, which then funds the reader of those pesky essay questions. Its a business, college admissions. If we all said NO to it, and other perks of today’s college life (fancy dorms, fancy meal plans, single rooms , fancy work out gyms)
then the costs of college would even go down a little, I bet! It does cost money to host huge weekend visit programs, it comes from somewhere, and colleges continue to up the ante, as parents and students are ready and willing to pay for such visit services, that were not available to perspective students in the 1970s, when college cost a lot less. Someone at the university sets up every overnight visit, for instance. But yes, that allows students to feel happy and comfortable, and maybe thats worth something.
Coloradomama - there are other things to consider in selecting colleges now as opposed to the '70’s, when as you point out, many college-bound Colorado residents simply attended schools without visits.
Many schools are less focused on general liberal arts and more on STEM-related, or more practical career-oriented avenues. Is that what’s right for your student? Does your student want more in the way of experiential education? If the school prides itself on the fancy dorms, etc. that you cite, will your students be happy there or are they looking for a more down earth experience? Although not definitive, visits can help you asses.
While one would hope that the bulk of research into a school has been done prior to an application being submitted, many schools have such great marketing that only an on-site visit can allow the student to make a considered decision.
Cost remains the biggest factor, however. Since the average cost of a private school (and most out-of-state publics) rivals the cost of a new Mercedes - a new one for each of four years - it makes some sense to do a test drive before purchasing…
The charge for the multiday visits was minimal to nothing at the schools my daughter visited and at several she declined to visit. Yes, we were able to drive there. She applied to a few schools which would have required air travel. I told her she could visit if she got in. One did not accept her. Another did and offered a travel subsidy to attend their admitted student event but she declined. You should look into travel subsidies for needy students.
For many students the purpose is pretty straightforward. They haven’t made a decision yet, do not have a clear 1st choice, or may have gotten rejected from their 1st choice, so attending the admitted students day is a way of gaining data points to make that decision. No evil motivations here. Sure- the colleges want a good yield and want students to feel positively about the school, but making a good decision benefits all involved and that is really what drives these admitted student days
You seem really bitter about this. How is this different from the fact that some families can afford pre-application visits, and some can’t? I don’t see how the cost is that high for the schools to offer these visits, except for the flight vouchers (which it seems like you should like given your gripe). They do feed the students, and print some materials. But the presentations are in college facilities with existing staff, the kids stay in student dorm rooms with student hosts (couches or floor), and mostly attend classes alongside existing students.
You can have a bee in your bonnet about families with more money having more opportunities all the way around in the college admissions process. Their kids likely go to better schools, they can afford SAT tutoring and multiple sittings for tests, their kids may have better summer opportunities, and they can travel to more campuses to check out schools. But this is a kind of silly target for your indignation.
I am going to an admitted students day at Boston College next weekend. It won’t be too expensive (5 hour drive, staying overnight with good family friends). I did visit BC (and other Boston area colleges) over the summer but now I get a chance to look at it as a place I could very well be living for four years. I’ll get to meet current students and professors, see a dorm room, walk around campus in the wintry cold! 
If I get accepted at other colleges that require a flight, I probably won’t be able to go but I am excited to have the chance this time.
Not sure why you are so upset by this. If you don’t like the idea of accepted student day, nobody is twisting your arm to go to one. How others choose to spend their time and money should not be your concern.
The admitted days were just as much for parents as for the students. There are plenty of workshops explaining the programs, opportunities to meet faculty and/or current and/or former students, tours of the campus (if they haven’t already) or even areas not previously opened on regular tours (such as residence halls), an opportunity to sit in on class etc. It might also be a chance to talk to people in the financial aid office about their aid package. It’s much more in depth than a regular admissions talk and tour is. For some kids it really helps them make their decision.
Not sure why you have a problem with it. Yes, it’s a shame not everyone can take this opportunity, but that shouldn’t mean that the opportunity to cease to exist. And no one is making anyone go if they don’t want to.
I think multiple visits to a college can be a great way to confirm a student’s decision. A student who is confident they have made the right choice could have a stronger start to their college life. It is completely optional, so I don’t understand why someone would be bitter that colleges offer one last chance for admitted students to visit.
For my D, the accepted students days were more informative than the original college visit. We are fortunate that being in the northeast, there are many schools in driving distance, limiting the cost. We look forward to the accepted students days for my S, who has a few schools that he seems to like equally. We seem them as an opportunity to visit the schools a 2nd time, getting more specific information about the program he is interested in. The info you receive when the student has been accepted is different than when they are applying.
Ummmm for a kid that hasn’t visited how else can you decide.
What if the food is lousy? $5,000 a year on unhealthy take out food would be a good thing to avoid, right? That also correlates well to how much kids spend on alcohol, more money spent.
If you been on vacation you know only the pretty pictures make it on the website.
Oh please. ANY accepted student can visit a college campus for an accepted student visit once accepted…not just the top students. But no one HAS to!
The only time not everyone is invited is when the visit is for a specific purpose…like a scholarship weekend, a fly in for certain students (again, very specific), or something the university is oaying for for,some reason…again usually very specific.
Not sure why the OP isn’t thrilled with the idea of an accepted student visit. Our kids went to them…and they were key in helping them choose from their top schools. My DD ran acceoted student weekends, overnights, and visits for her college. Her only agenda was to show,these kids her college.
Wondering why the OP is disgruntled about these?
I think the OP expressed frustration that low income kids can’t always attend. It just seems like an odd piece of the application and attendance components to target. Some schools offer vouchers for flights, and I feel like I have heard that low income students can ask for them at some schools that don’t routinely send them out, and sometimes they are granted.
The OP also needs to understand that the VERY VAST majority of college students attend college within a drive from their homes.
And as pointed out…the wealthier colleges do have travel vouchers for low income students in many cases…if you ask.