<p>I am in the processes of planning our first college visit trip. DS and I will be visiting two east coast cities over the course of 6 days (two schools in each city). I am reserving tours and info sessions at each school (even three weeks out some of the sessions are full, more on that later) I have a few questions for the veterans out there.</p>
<pre><code>1) I have noticed that some schools provide a limited list classes that prospective students can sit in on.
a. I have asked if it is OK to attend classes not on the list and two schools said no. Is it OK to by-pass the admissions office and directly ask a professor or their department if my son can sit in on a specific class?
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<p>b. One school we are looking that has a limited list wants the students to show up at the admissions office between 8:30 and 9:30 on the day of the visit to choose a class. This makes it difficult to plan the day. What if the class my son is interested in is at 11:00. We wouldnt need to show up that early (I know we could still use the time to walk around and get a feel of the campus, but nonetheless, I would prefer to have the class picked out in advance). Should I insist for the list of classes in advance (I asked once already and was declined)?</p>
<p>2) If a tour or session is listed as full on the admissions web site, is it OK to crash the tour/session? We are traveling cross-country for these visits and I already asked the regional admissions counselor about getting us on a sold out tour of the engineering school. (They havent responded, but based on my experience with the admission offices so far, I am not holding my breath that they will get us on the tour).</p>
<p>A.no, B.no- just get there on time, 2-no- ditto- are you trying to irritate the admissions office? you can do your own tour. tours are way over rated IMHO. I found eating at the student union and watching people walk by are informative. buildings are over rated.</p>
<p>Be very careful, as much as you are evaluating the college, they are also evaluating you. If you are demanding and go over heads now, they may imagine this is what it will be like if they accept your son. You do not want to come across as entitled or self important. Everyone’s time is valuable</p>
<p>There is plenty of wasted time during college visits. Take the opportunity to enjoy your son and just stay in the moment.</p>
<p>One of our college visits was the same way as far as arrival time farther ahead than both the class he was able to sit in on and the actual guided tour. The time in between was actually nice. We were able to walk around campus in a pace that worked for us.</p>
<p>To be honest, even though my S did not choose that school, it was a chance for us to spend time together and we both have some good memories of that day. Not to mention it was on his spring break from HS and the day we went it snowed. That just added to the experience.</p>
<p>I know you are trying to cram alot in, but take the moments that are not “scheduled” and enjoy the time you have before your DS actually leaves for college.</p>
<p>I definitely agree with the others-I would not go against what they are telling you they can’t do.</p>
<p>From what you are saying about visits, you are looking at schools that get a LOT of visits. They have their procedures for a reason. The tour will be what it will be. This is a introductory tour to see the campus and really nothing more. They will have more in depth visit options for accepted students next year, or even some just for seniors in the fall when they are deciding which schools to which they want to apply. These are typically by “invite” only–meaning they send out emails to interested/qualified students. Take what you can on the tour and move along to the next school.</p>
<p>I think you’re overcomplicating things. You have already asked, and gotten answers from the schools, so do what they say. </p>
<p>a)I would not contact individual professors to see if you could sit in on the classes. Go through the admissions office and follow their policies. Contacting the professors sounds nervy to me at this stage of the game. This is an initial visit. If your student is at the point where they are deciding between two colleges, and are absolutely sure of their major, I could see doing this (but through the admissions office, not through individual professors unless they have been involved in your admissions process), but for a preliminary visit, this is overkill.</p>
<p>b)Show up on time. 8:30 - 9:30 is not unreasonable, even if the class is at 11:00. At the worst, you would probably have an hour and a half to kill. Get a cup of coffee.</p>
<p>c)I have been able to do tours that were sold out. I have found that if you are at the school, they want you to be able to do thier tour. If you can’t get on a tour, take a walk around yourself, you can still learn a lot about a school that way. It is definitely worth going even if you can’t get a scheduled tour.</p>
<p>You can also learn a lot by reading the bulletin boards. I encouraged my kid to read the bulletin boards in the student union to get a sense of what campus organizations were up to, and, at one school we visited, the most informative part of our day was walking the hallways in the building where classes for his intended major are held to see what the department was doing and where undergrads were participating in research and study abroad. The bulletin boards are where the campus community talks to each other – rather than trying to sell you – and they’re a good way to “eavesdrop” on everyday life on campus. </p>
<p>Similarly, grab a copy of the student paper on every campus you visit. You can scan that even after you get home.</p>
<p>For 1 a…For a number of schools we visited, my son sent emails to the dean or some other administrator of the dept he hopes to major in…introducing himself, giving the dates we would be on campus, and asking (very graciously) if there was anyone available on staff in the dept to meet with him briefly to chat about the school and the dept. In every case without fail…they were happy to either meet with him themselves, or pass him on to someone else who would be available. He didn’t get to sit in on a class in every case…but it did give him an opportunity to get a little more than the generic admissions tour. And, in the cases where he did end up applying to the school…he wrote back to whoever it was that he met with, thanked them again for their time and enthusiasm for their program and told them they were applying…with the hope that if he made a positive impression…they might reach out to admissions and relay their feedback. </p>
<p>b)…Don’t “insist” on anything. If you do what I suggest above it might answer that issue…but in the long run, sitting in on a class isn’t really that essential to a great school visit. Like others suggested. Show up a little early…Cozy up to the admissions desk folks with how excited you are to have been able to make the trip all the way from (fill in the blank) and hope for the best. </p>
<p>2) I know it’s hard when you’re traveling a long way to see a school and you want to get a really good “feel” for every aspect of the place…but be flexible and once you’re on campus, let the school come to you (and your DS) in whatever way it comes. Plan for what you can plan for but be open to the overall experience and don’t get lost in every detail and time slot and class schedule. Have fun!</p>
<p>About the “show-up time”. If check-in is 8:30, that process takes a while given that there are probably 40 other kids taking the tour. They typically have some kind of info session with an admissions counselor either in a large group or individually, that usually takes 30 minutes-1 hour. Then they introduce the students leading the tour, maybe 5 or 10 of them, that takes time. They divide the groups up to go on tours, that takes at least an hour. All of the sudden it’s 11:00. They do these tours every day, they have their schedules down pat. It’s pretty regimented. You just have to accept that you are not in control of this process.</p>
<p>Our D sat in on classes at several colleges, but it didn’t have the desired outcome. In hindsight, I wouldn’t consider that to be an imperative part of the decision process. YMMV</p>
<p>DD was a tour guide in college. She says they have a limit on the number of people in each tour for a reason…the guides want to be able to speak so that everyone can hear. If the group becomes too large, then this becomes difficult. Only accepted students were permitted to sit in on classes, and that was prearranged through a special program for accepted students. At her school, they would add an additional tour group but only IF they had an available tour guide.</p>
<p>I confess our party of four, two HS seniors and their Mom’s, crashed a tour at Elon. They were not surprised and several people that had registered did not show up (we saw their name tags on the table) and it all worked out. We were touring several college in NC and Elon was high on both kids lists. We knew the tours were full but thought we would take a chance. Had they not let us in, we would have just done a self-guided tour, but it turned out we got the whole talk and tour.</p>
<p>I assume your son is a junior? After you narrow down your choices next year, and attend an accepted student event, you will probably have much more opportunity to attend other classes and get more in-depth tours and information. Remember, this is just an initial screening trip, not a final decision-making trip.</p>
<p>^^I think the issue is that she and her daughter are traveling across the country to visit the school. I know it’s not an issue for some…but not everyone can afford to make more than one trip just to visit.</p>
<p>I understand the desire to get the most out of your visit, but I think you need to be sensitive to the college admissions offices. It would be bad if an admissions officer made a note in the student’s file about overly demanding parents. </p>
<p>It sounds like you are making the trip during junior spring break, which is an incredibly busy time for the college admissions offices. By necessity they must be less accommodating during that period than they might be at other times.</p>
<p>Regarding the class visits, you really need to follow what the admissions office says. It’s OK to ask each college once for more flexibility, but if they say no, it is over and you shouldn’t ask again. </p>
<p>Regarding crashing a tour, I think it is OK to just show up that day and ask at the admissions office if you are able to join. If they say no, just accept it gracefully and look around campus on your own.</p>
<p>hmm, do most schools limit the classes that can be observed? This would be a bit of a red flag to me – are they only allowing observors at the classes of professors who are the most motivating?</p>
<p>^Maybe a professor has scheduled an exam on the day that the visit is scheduled. Maybe the classroom isn’t large enough to accommodate observers.</p>
<p>^^I don’t think admissions “limit” classes per se, as much as they try to arrange a schedule of available classes that are at different times to allow for flexibility with a visiting schedule, are at different levels of instruction…and are actually teaching lessons and not giving quizzes or tests.</p>