The first UCD Meet & Greet is in LA tomorrow. Is anyone going?
We’re going to one in NY on April 1. Have fun at the LA meet up.
Went to the LA “Meet and Greet” and it was… interesting. I’m glad we’ve been up to campus on more than one occasion because this event was pretty dry and didn’t do much to sell the school.
The reception started at 3 pm and we were not allowed to check in until 2:45 pm. Each student received a lanyard and a bag (with a small Davis notebook and large UC Davis pennant). As we walked inside, Ebony Lewis, the Executive Director of Admissions warmly greeted each person.
In the hallway there was a table for each of the colleges (L&S, Engineering, Ag & Env Sci, Bio Sci). Each table had one representative with brochures and swag (pens, pencils, lip balm, etc). There was also a table for the Aggie Parent & Family Association. A financial aid representative was there but he didn’t have any paperwork or signage - just a long line of people waiting to talk to him.
It felt like there was a lot to look at but because you only spoke to the person from your college, the only other tables of interest were either the parent group or the financial aid person. There was no one from housing, no photo backdrops and no one mingling around the crowd to answer questions or to try to encourage you to go to UC Davis.
The room was set up for approximately 200 people and all seats were taken. In the front there was a small stage with a podium. The intro and financial aid portion was done in both English and then Spanish. We heard from Walter Robinson, the Associate Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Ebony Lewis, Milmon Harrison (professor of African American studies), an academic advisor from the College of L&S, from the College of Biological Sciences and from Agriculture and Environmental Science. Each speaker showed a series of slides with statistics about their department - basically the same stuff you can read on their web site. A physician who graduated from Davis in '88 spoke as did the gentleman from financial aid.
The best speaker (IMO) was Jennifer Curtis, the Dean from the College of Engineering. She’s been Dean for 1.5 years and spoke about how Davis compared to the other campuses where she had worked before. She said that UC Davis stands out because of its interdisciplinary atmosphere. She said that UC Davis focuses on the undergraduate experience and that the people are warm and friendly. She said that it is research university and, as such, undergrad research opportunities abound. They have a 9000 sq ft student design center and this year, she has hired 29 new faculty members - half of whom are women. She said that UC Davis has a very diverse student body and faculty.
They took 3-4 questions (all about housing) before thanking everyone for attending. During the questions, it would have been nice for the group of speakers to come to the front to answer questions. Instead some would speak from the front and others would interject from the back of the room.
When you go to UC Davis, they have a great Welcome Center with an interactive wall filled with information about the school. It would have been nice if they incorporated some of those videos into the presentation. It would have made the presentation more lively and would have given the audience a better feel for the personality and beauty of UC Davis.
After the reception they were setting up for a UC Davis dinner. I’m not sure who was invited to that dinner but they seemed to be in a rush to get us out so they could set up for the second group.
I’m curious what others think of future receptions. I wonder if it was just rusty because it was the first.
Thank you for sharing! We are attending a Meet n Greet this Thursday.
Thanks for the info. We’re not doing a meet and greet but are doing Decision Day which will be our first campus visit.
Thanks @lkg4answers for posting about your meet and greet experience! It will be interesting to compare yours with ours here in NY since I am sure we will have a much smaller group. There are two here in NY, one in Brooklyn and one in NYC. I had wanted to go to both, but the website only lets you sign up for one. We will be seeing the campus for the first time on Decision Day.
It will be interesting to see how the others compare. It felt like more of a presentation for students who hadn’t yet applied and needed to hear about the different colleges at UCD. There really wasn’t the need for someone admitted into Bio Sci to sit and listen to presentations about Engineering, L&S, Ag, etc.
They kept thanking the parents and congratulating the students but didn’t do a general campus overview. They didn’t cover housing and mentioned First Year Aggie Connections but didn’t explain what it was.
Again, the Welcome Center at UC Davis does a great job and has a wealth of information to share with prospective students. This reception seemed to be more ad libbed.
Sorry to hear about the somewhat disappointing L.A. “Meet and Greet”; we’re going to the one in Oxnard this evening. Davis is a great school with a lovely campus and deserves better. A couple of weeks ago we went to one put on by the University of Minnesota and it was very well done. We’ve visited the Davis campus twice so far (once on our own, the second time for an actual tour) and plan to attend Decision Day.
@LarryM please share if your presentation/experience was different.
I agree, we visited Davis twice and were blown away by everything we saw and everyone we encountered. We’ll be at Decision Day as well.
OK @lkg4answers, we just returned from the Meet and Greet in Oxnard and I think our experience was different than the one you had. Rather than starting in the middle of the afternoon like yours did, ours started at 6:30 PM and included a 3-course dinner, a slide presentation, and several good speakers. That makes me wonder if maybe you accidentally went to a reception for PROSPECTIVE students, rather than one for ADMITTED students.
There were no tables set up with brochures for each college; only one table for checking in and another table where our D was given a bag containing some general information, a pennant, notebook, and a lanyard. Then we went into the banquet room which held about a dozen tables, each with seating for eight. The room was about 3/4 full.
Our main presenter was a Dr. Guerrero (sp?) who gave a general introduction about the school and the city of Davis in both English and Spanish. This was followed by a parent who gave a testimonial about the school, and then by Mr. Elroy Pinks who gave a slide presentation and spoke more in-depth about the different colleges, housing, and clubs/organizations. Then another speaker came up and talked about housing costs and financial aid. This was followed by another parent who spoke briefly about the Parent/Family Association, and finally by a couple of current students who gave their stories and perspectives.
Overall it was well done and did a good job of “selling” the school. This may be where our daughter winds up, as they have a good chemical engineering program. If she happens to get accepted at Cal, it might change things but I do think she’d get a great education and be very happy at Davis.
@LarryM Thanks for posting about your Meet and Greet experience. It’s interesting how different it was compared to @lkg4answers. I was glad to read how positive you felt about it. I will post about ours on April 2 as well.
We should all wear CC stickers or something so we can recognize each other on Decision Day B-)
@LarryM great to hear that the Oxnard presentation was more polished. The meeting we went to was definitely for newly admitted students but it felt like it might have been intended for URM.There was a dinner that evening but I’m not sure who was invited to the dinner and who was invited to the reception. Thanks for following up. I’m glad to hear that things went well in Oxnard. #:-S
@LilyMoon I was thinking the same thing about Decision Day.
Regarding these rather elaborate receptions that include dinner, I must say that I don’t feel that they’re really necessary. They’re a reminder of why the cost of higher education (accompanied by student debt) has escalated so much in recent years, and that as taxpayers we’re all (well, MOST of us are) ultimately paying for them. IMO a simple slide presentation in a large room, followed by a thorough question-and-answer session should be sufficient in helping students to decide where to go to school; the rest is needless fluff.
@LarryM Thanks for your feedback of the Meet and Greet. My D is also considering UC Davis for ChemE among some other top-notch schools and we’ll be at Decision Day after visiting both UMN and Purdue. Also waiting for decision from UCB though I’m not sure it’s as high on her list if she even gets in.
@Banker1 - Our D is considering Minnesota (for ChemE) too but it looks like we won’t be able to visit the campus before May 1. I’d really appreciate in hearing your opinion after your visit!
We went to the reception for accepted students for UCSC last night. It was in a hotel in midtown Manhattan and had a pretty sizeable turnout. I was impressed that they had the school Chancellor and the Head of Admissions there, however, my d decided that she didn’t want to go there after the reception. She said she didn’t get the feeling it was the school for her.
It will be interesting to see how the UC Davis reception goes on Saturday. Of course, it’s not necessarily a good idea to base a decision about a college only on the reception, so we still intend on visiting both schools.
@LilyMoon was it the attendees or the presentation that made her feel that it wasn’t a good fit? We didn’t attend the UCSC local reception but had previously visited the school.
Like I said, we visited UC Davis twice - once for several days so we could get a good feel for the community and the campus vibe. There is something about Davis that you can’t really put into words. It is a supportive community and there is a certain warmth and kindness in the Davis students. I joke that it is like Mayberry. Everyone we know that has attended lights up when you tell them you are considering going to Davis.
I’m really curious as to how your perception at the reception compares to your visit to campus.
@lkg4answers They had quite a number of alumni there, a couple of them spoke to the group and others mingled, but my d said that she did not think any of them would be people she would be friends with. I think that made an impression on her. Although the presentation was thorough, for a young person, it might have been a bit dry and my d said she got a bit bored in places. For a school that is known for its beauty…I also felt as though the slides didn’t do it justice.
We can’t wait to visit UC Davis, after hearing so much about it!
My son and hubby attended a meet n greet last night. They thought it was great. They picked up some swag and my son came home excited and interested in the school. Before that he wasn’t thinking much of it. He was able to talk to the engineering representative there and asked all his questions. He said he learned a lot and he came home looking more upbeat about his future at Davis. So glad he got the opportunity to go.
We had the reception/meet and greet for UC Davis today. It was really unique and unlike any we have attended so far. Part of the reason was probably the location as well as the small number of people. It was held in a funky restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Zizi Limona. We had the room downstairs to ourselves, which had two long tables. They had the kids sitting at one table and the parents at the other, which I thought was an awesome idea. The kids all started talking and getting to know each other right away. The restaurant served some really interesting dishes family style and we all tasted everything.
There were two representatives from the school, a female admissions person and a current male professor who also attended the university as an undergrad. They were both fun and full of personality and each brought their own perspective. My daughter told me she wanted to take one of his classes. One sat at each table so they could continue discussing the school and answering questions while we ate. They both gave out their contact info and told us to contact them anytime with questions or for the kids to seek them out if they attend the university.
Because of the limited space and small group, there was no slide presentation, but they did give out a flash drive with the presentation on it for the kids to view at home as well as some other UCD goodies. They talked about different aspects of the UC Davis experience and answered questions. The vibe was open, friendly, lots of laughter and joking around. My daughter said she had fun and that it made her want to attend the school even more.