Did an overnight visit influence the decision on which college was the favorite? Why or why not? Any advice about whether you think it’s necessary?
Speaking as a student: Right now, I am deadlocked between two schools. I have no way to pick one from the other. So in the upcoming weeks, I will be visiting both to get a feel for each school.
Things I will be focusing on in my visits:
How many students are visible on campus on a weekend
Whether or not I can be friends with the people on campus
Weather
How easy it is to get to the school
Libraries
Food
Classroom
Professor availability
Terrain of the school (I hate hilly campuses)
Distance between dorms and classes
Distance between dorm and dining hall
Condition of dorm
Personality of students
I believe that this will help me choose one school.
Absolutely influenced the decision. He first visited the school in the summer when classes weren’t in session and wasn’t able to do an overnight. He went back in April after he was accepted and had found his people. Is it necessary? Maybe not for every kid.
Well, my son ruled out one school based on an overnight visit. He was a recruited runner, and at only one school did the athletes go out and party heavily. Turned him off totally.
We were living overseas at the time my oldest was deciding…she had visited but made her decision with no further admitted student days.
Risky but worthwhile. If student isn’t motivated to do sleep-over, then I’d be concerned about their level of interest and relative commitment in that school. However, if night goes badly, or boringly, then there’s a negative connotation that might not necessarily be true.
My D did a couple of overnights in the fall of senior year for schools that were within driving distance, but ultimately chose a school where she had not stayed overnight. Being a spring athlete, she couldn’t go to any accepted student days either, so based her decision on previous visits and general perceptions she had. I don’t think an overnight is that important. I do think a campus visit is, which is why we made sure to visit all campuses earlier, even if it was in the summer.
DD was excited about overnight visits until she figured out she’d need to sleep on the floor. After visiting a lot of dorm rooms, can’t say I blamed her.
The overnight visit worked in JHU favor with my kid and his friend who also attended. They were so impressed, JHU is 2nd for the friend and goes between 2&3 for my kid. They were so impressed with JHU, but are still in love with MIT.
My D did overnight visits at three schools, and they definitely influenced her final decision. She wound up eliminating her top choice school, and decided to attend a school that she was initially just “eh” about. We had already visited those schools for the regular tour and info sessions, but the overnight visits gave her a better feel for the campus’ personality, the atmosphere of the dorms and classes, and what life there is like from a student’s perspective. I’m really glad she did it, because the school she chose is the perfect fit for her, and she wouldn’t have chosen it if she hadn’t done that overnight stay.
To be honest, I was a little worried that her perception of the school would be unduly influenced by the particular student she stayed with; and what if that student was “weird” or unfriendly or a wild partier? But now that my D has been a host student herself, I understand how it works. At her school (and most, I’m sure) being an overnight host is something you volunteer for, and you don’t get anything for doing it. So the kids who volunteer as hosts tend to be very friendly and outgoing and welcoming, really love their school and enjoy showing it off. The wildest students tend not to do it, because they don’t want to give up a night of partying to host some high school kid.
We did day trips, no overnights alone on campus. My d got a good feel for the places and decided where to apply to based on these visits (in 3 countries). The difference, I think, was that beyond packaged tours we explored on our own and met people, from students to profs.
Yes, but important that your student understand that good or bad, that visit is just a snapshot in time. We did 3 day visits to Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Tulane, The U Miami, with Emory and USC coming up. I recognize this may be overkill and that not everyone can do this for many reasons. I have arranged through school/school groups to pair son up with another student so son can see social life on Friday/Saturday. This has been an eye opener for some schools more than others. One school absolutely ruled out because of this, and another that really was not on our radar is now at top of the list.
My oldest D did an overnight visit to a small private school in April after being admitted. The school had given her a nice scholarship and paid her travel expenses for the visit. Even with the scholarship, the school was going to be a stretch for us financially, and we probably would have ultimately decided we could not afford it.
The visit was very helpful because she decided not to attend the school based on the visit. She realized that the school was just too small for her and ultimately decided to go to the public flagship. She graduates this year with no regrets and is headed to a fully funded PhD program.
As a parent, I am glad she made the visit because it allowed her to make the decision not to go, and we did not have to play the financial card and say no.
If it is feasible, I would recommend an overnight. My daughter did accepted student overnights at her top two choices (within easy driving distance) and attended several classes at both. She also met with helpful academic advisors for her intended majors, which all gave her confidence in her final choice. She felt that while she could be very happy at her #2 school, she would definitely regret not going to her #1 school which excited her more and felt like her people despite some disadvantages compared to #2. I don’t think that a pro-con list would have convinced her so solidly. Interestingly, my daughter connected less with both of her overnight hosts than with their roommates, so it all worked out fine. She slept on a futon in a common area in a suite type arrangement, so no dorm floors to worry about. Also, she was able to explore freely on her own at both campuses which she really enjoyed, getting to classes on her own, talking to professors, even catching a bite in the cafeteria, which gave her a chance to people watch, a favorite activity. Good luck with your decision-making!!
D. did several overnights at several colleges. It was a must for her.
Sleep over helps if the host is similar to your kid. If the host has different interests then your kid could wrongfully be turned off by the school. My kid was hosted by someone who was into choir/drama, and she was more of an all around kind of girl. She was bored by what they did that night. She was also left in the dorm by herself quite a bit. I think a lot of “main stream” students do not volunteer to host prospects in their room because it’s too much commitment.
I think the best over night is hosted by someone your kid knows from high school. For my older kid it did more harm, so we didn’t arrange it for my younger kid.
A good way to get a feel for school is by sitting at a cafeteria or student center. You’ll see how students interact with each other: 1) Do different race mingle or are they segregated, 2) male/female interactions, 3) are students relaxed, 4) how they are dressed.
My D thought the whole idea of an overnight seemed awkward (she is introverted) and did not do one- even though we encouraged her to do so. She did do an admitted students day.
She is a sophomore in college and doing fine.
Five years ago my S was very seriously considering Oberlin.
We did a regular “visit” prior to admission and after he was admitted we headed out there (9 hour drive) for an overnight. Between the overnight itself and sitting in on classes he decided that he definitely did not want to go there and we sent a deposit to another school immediately.
My oldest did an overnight. The admitted students part during the day was very helpful as he met kids he liked. It even worked out that the class they wanted to take was cancelled as they could hang out more. The overnight was a bit of a bust, as the kid was not very friendly and had a big test or something the next day so did not do much with my son. He probably would have been happier at the hotel with me and his younger sibling. He attended the school and had a good experience. But it could have turned him off.
I’ve got two kids and for both the overnights made a difference.
The oldest did Accepted student weekends at both Carnegie Mellon and Tufts. At CMU they were oversubscribed, but told us to bring his sleeping bag in case they found space. They made the effort and every kid who didn’t have a prearranged overnight (and there were a lot of them) was accommodated. I think this was pretty much indicative of the way CMU works - they don’t always have the school spirit, but when the calls go out for help the kids respond. He really enjoyed the overnight. He stayed with a couple of guys who were theater techies and a comp sci major. The tech guys ate pizza played video games with him into the wee hours. The comp sci guy ate the pizza and then excused himself to do homework. Pretty much indicative of the demanding nature of the program. In any event he liked what he saw. He had an equally fun weekend at Harvard (which he had expected to hate) playing board games and watching movies with the sci fi club. It made the decision much harder as he hadn’t really expected to find his kind of geek there. In the end CMU won.
Younger son stayed with a very studious kid at U of Chicago and someone much more outgoing at Tufts. He feels in retrospect that he probably got too much of an impression that kids at U of C didn’t have fun. He was very torn between the two places and waited till the last day to make the choice. I don’t think he made the wrong one, but he says now he thinks that the little slice you see on visits often gives impressions that aren’t really right. He thinks he could be happy pretty much anywhere and that looking for your tribe (at least at medium large schools) is probably silly. They are there, even if you can’t find them on a short visit.