<p>Depends on the popularity of the college. Location of the event would be key. </p>
<p>We’ve been to a huge reception for a university in a hotel ballroom. PowerPoint, lots of handouts, etc. Felt “corporate.” Various staff people to help with logistics. If you had a specific question not answered during the presentation, you waited in a long line to talk to correct person.</p>
<p>We went to another for a small LAC in a home that’s a historic landmark that’s well-known in town. Much more intimate, though I was shocked at what I thought was a large turnout for this lesser-known school. Only staff person was the recruiter/ad rep for the area, but there were several students who spoke during the panel portion, and a number of parents and alums were introduced as well who answered questions. They gave out a few T-shirts for giving a correct answer to a question. Felt like you could make a good contact at this event (in fact, ds did!).</p>
<p>ETA: When I say “corporate” I don’t mean that as a negative; it needed to be as there were several hundred people.</p>
<p>Also, I remember another one we went to gave us a full meal! It also was in a hotel ballroom.</p>
<p>We attended these for two different schools D was interested in. Both were held in hotel ballrooms and we got a lot of good information and a chance to ask questions. We didn’t really see much mingling, but overall it was worth going.</p>
<p>Though we’ve already visited the school I figure since this is currently one of my S’s top choices, it won’t hurt to spend the two hours to attend. Yep, it’s at a local nice hotel. Will be curious how many people attend…</p>
<p>Now that I think about it, this might be a good opportunity for my S to “hear” things about the school again - and without the influence of the campus and tour and everything to take his attention away…</p>
<p>All of the ones we’ve been to have been in the homes of alumni/a and there was not much but mingling and chatting with the admissions officer. Haven’t been to one in a hotel.</p>
<p>We attended one at a local hotel, good crowd of people there, a very slick presentation by the admissions person, local student talked about his experiences, they took some questions from the audience but had an opportunity afterwards to ask specific questions. Got a good overview of the college, but didn’t feel as connected as the ones we went to in person. The good thing is, we got enough info to know that this was not a good fit for us and saved us the expense of flying up there to visit.</p>
<p>I attended a number of these with my two Ds. One was in a local hotel–basically a show and tell with local alumni (all very impressive) explaining what they gained from going to X College. The others were in private homes and provided a chance to mingle with other prospective students/parents, current students and alums from our area, and someone from admissions. I think these events provided some useful information about each school–something beyond a tour and information session.</p>
<p>We went to several events hosted at private homes in the area. There were alumni organizers, current students and parents, and depending on the college, either an admissions rep or a professor. The college that D attended rocketed way up her list as a result of attending such a “prospect party” during junior year. The most valuable thing for her (and for me, actually) was listening to and talking with somewhere around two dozen current students. At the time I remember thinking, “What an impressive group of young women. I’d want them to be my D’s peers.” To this day, I continue to attend these parties, acting as a guinea pig parent for other parents to talk to, addressing their questions and concerns…and not so coincidentally providing cover for the prospects to slip off and have discussions with current students without POS. </p>
<p>There was lots of mingling, a formal presentation where alumni and campus reps did a 20-minute presentation (DVD looping on a TV in another room), and then a lot of Q&A followed by more mingling. Most that I’ve been to run about three scheduled hours with some afterflow at the end.</p>
<p>The degree of correlation probably should be random but it’s interesting that the colleges that were D’s two top choices after admissions came in had the best events and that the college that was her safety had a definitely “eh” feel to its gathering. Not that other attendees weren’t enthused with the latter but that we were not so much, there being all sorts of cues that while a decent school, this wasn’t in the same league academically (hence, a “safety”).</p>
<p>I also thought seeing the kinds of kids at each event was interesting. </p>
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<p>So true! At the reception of one school, my D, who is very quiet and not at all high-school-cool, looked around … said, “I think I might be the coolest one here” … and knew the school just wasn’t for her. Maybe it was an unfair assessment, but it helped when narrowing the field.</p>