College Visit Programs

Parents Forum
21

Why the hostility?

Many (most?) kids still arrive on campus without attending an acceptance weekend event. It is one way the school provides to induce kids to attend. Maybe it is geared toward those with money. So what? They are the ones who can most easily say No. For the rest of us, finances and distances are big factors.

fwiw, a couple of colleges offered my daughter vouchers for airfare to their accepted students weekend. That would be the main cost because room and food are provided. I imagine MIT would extend such a courtesy if requested.

Last year, my daughter was unable to attend an accepted students weekend due to snow. Unable to attend a second scheduled event, she worked with her admissions rep to set up a individual visit on her own - she stayed with a student, went to a class or two, met with the financial aid person. I firmly believe the college’s willingness to accommodate her request is why she chose to attend. (sometimes, it’s not the visit itself but how the college behaves before, during and after).

22

Dang, OP. Not sure why you are so angry about something that is totally optional in your life.

Neither ds went to a single admitted student day, but they did revisit their top choice/choices after they were admitted. Personally, I don’t like the dog-and-pony aspect of those days/weekends and would be prefer to see campuses in their more “natural” states.

23

When you think about it, the students most likely to attend probably are full pay students. If the college can convince more of them to come via accepted days, that would more than pay for the cost of those days, and put more money in the school coffers overall – and that benefits the low income students.

24

Admitted students day was decisive for our son. He had never visited the college before. When we asked him the next morning, “How do you like XX,” his simple answer was “This will do.” And so he turned down the offers from the other five colleges he was admitted to. What he was looking for was fairly general but also easy to assess empirically: a location that had major league sports, a college where it was considered OK to be a thinker and where the students weren’t hoity toity. A couple of the other colleges would have satisfied the “okay to think” criterion but were in less desirable locations.

25

I remember when I was a freshman in college. I’d applied to the two top state schools, chosen the one the farthest from home, a five hour drive. My mom, a single mother, drove me there for her first and only trip to the college. I believe she was considerate enough to slow the car down a little as she shoved me out, and the threw the suitcases after me before she peeled off. OK, I exaggerate. She came upstairs to my room and brought one of my suitcases up before she peeled off. And I was OK. Still, if I had to do it all over again, I wish I had all the choices and information kids have now regardless of income.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing a college. It is a big investment whether you are full pay or not. Besides the money, you want to make sure it offers what your child will need to reach his or her goals. I think getting as much information as possible makes sense. I think admitted student visits are a great way to get good information.

I think the OP’s attitude here is terrible. As if parents are horrible and greedy for trying to make informed choices. Not everyone is “jet setting” around MIT and Princeton. My daughter, who has asked me not to be obvious about who she is, is visiting some schools as an admitted student. We carefully shopped prices. For instance, for one of them, She’s flying alone and staying over night. The cost to me? $137 RT. BTW, this particular school is not MIT or Princeton. She’s going to have some good choices, and wants to make the best decision. How is that a problem?

My older daughter was invited to fly to a school on the school’s dime. It was in her final choices due to that.

OP, if parents have money set aside for admitted students visits, why is that evil? I don’t have money to play golf, but I don’t think people should stop playing golf because of that. I think if someone doesn’t have money to go on admitted students visits, they can still make good choices. However, it is also possible for poorer students to figure out ways to go to these visits with a little resourcefulness.

So the question here is, what is the point of admitted student visits. For me, the point is for making a final decision between the colleges the child has been admitted to. Usually they can stay in a dorm (and see the living conditions for the first time), go to a class, get to know some students, talk to the financial aid officers (especially if the some tweaking with the offer is wished for), perhaps meet with an advisor or admissions officer. I think it is a good idea before making such a big commitment. It is good for colleges, as it is their chance to woo the students into attending.

26

We felt the cost of attending admitted students events for the top choices was a wise investment to help our family decide how to spend 200+k.

27

I guess OP wouldn’t appreciate this:
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/25/luxury/college-tour-private-jets/
It’s just a bit over 40K. Hey, but it is still under 1 year COA for some families.

28

I think the OP has left the building…

29

You guys scared her away.

30

My oldest daughter did not go to admitted students day, but that was because we were living in Germany at the time. She had gone to college tours before she applied. My youngest did not go to her admitted student day because she applied ED and had another committment that day.

Admitted students day may help you take a closer look at the narrowed down list of possibilities…now you know where you have been admitted and what financial aid they offer. It may help your child meet other potential classmates to see if they are the sort they would like to spend 4 years with. They will also get to see professors that they may take classes with and more information about their major.

Also some students who live far away wait until they are accepted to visit…why spend the money until you know it is a definite possibility?

If the school your child is interested in is far away…then take that into account…this trip may be expensive/time consuming…but so will those trips for Thanksgiving/Christmas/etc.

Also if you think about it, there is not a downside for students who were admitted but do not attend admitted students day. They can still attend the college if they wish! It is a sales tool for the college…it allows you to “see” yourself at the college. They want to turn those admitted students into enrolled students.

31

@oldfort LOL @ post #26!

32

My D was accepted ED and we still went to the admitted students weekend which was a mix of ED-committed and RD-still-deciding. What was not to like? She got to see the campus again, become familiar with it ( it had been a very rainy day when we had toured), met some faces she would meet again in the fall. I recognize not everyone can afford it but not everyone can afford to visit colleges in general and sometimes that’s how it goes. It cost us relatively little - redeemed miles for tickets, I got a rental car and an inexpensive hotel for me (she stayed on campus). If it doesn’t seem like a good idea or use of $ for your family, then don’t do it. Problem solved.

33

?? I don’t know any colleges that charge for accepted student weekends, in fact it costs them money to put it on. A few pay to fly lower income kids to them as well.

One of the schools in D’s final list she never did visit, for a variety of reasons, and I wish she had been able to. The one she chose, she did visit for that accepted weekend and it helped her decide.

34

Agreed. Neither of my kids laid a dime to the colleges for acceoted student visits…and I fact were given meal vouchers, and in one case, T shirts.

35

Same here. Schools did not charge to attend admitted students programs.

Admitted students programs are beneficial in that they are able to get more in depth into what it is like to be a student at the school and specific programs. Regular visit info sessions are much shorter, need to address the whole app process and therefore, can only give a basic overview. Of course kids don’t need to attend to be successful at selecting a school, but the programs provide a nice opportunity for admitted students to further explore a college.

36

Other Side of the Coin: My STEM D attended an Admitted Students Day at a large public, and the 2 girls assigned to mentor her stayed out late and cut class the next morning. My D was not happy about this at all – she wanted to attend the class. So, D did NOT attend that school - but the Admitted Student Day was very important, useful and eye opening for my D!

37

That is the “not putting their best foot forward” part for the college. :slight_smile:

38

My D went on an admitted student visit at a school that I didn’t think fit her at all. But they were offering a good scholarship and they “wined” and dined her for 2 days. She LOVED it and brought back all. I was a bit worried. But, her involvement on social media (FB) on admitted student pages made her realize the school wasn’t for her. While the visits are good, these facebook pages can do the trick as well.

39

University of Kentucky is charging $250 for Merit Weekend of which $125 is refundable if the student decides not to commit by May 1. But UKy’s Merit Weekend is not strictly an admitted student event or open house, it’s functioning as orientation, testing for foreign language placement, advising and registration event.

My oldest and I had a great time at the admitted (transfer) student event at UIUC. We were able to check out the different dorms at our leisure and chat with students along the way. It sealed the deal for her.

40

My initial comments were probably worded poorly but here another thought I had: I wonder if it would not be better to visit on a quiet day and not the visit day. I don’t feel bitter, but rather skeptical about visit days being a hard sell and potentially distracting. If a student wants to get a sense about the place, it might be better to focus on the school and not his new potential classmates. Some teens are impressionable by their peers. It may be better to go to a college on a different weekend to get more information. I noticed for instance on another post that Georgia Tech and MIT offer interviews for Presidential awards and the visit program on the same weekend. So students are often looking at both these schools and now they cannot do both the interview at GT and visit MIT. Thus, a quiet weekend at MIT
may work just as well if not better.