My D did overnight visits at two LACs (her top two choices) that on paper look interchangeable only to find that they were more like night and day for her. My D is very touchy-feely, so campus visits, on the whole, were extremely important to her. It was very easy for her to eliminate two schools (with no regrets) that were too expensive because she had never visited.
S did two accepted students weekends, which made up his mind. He expected to love the first one, and didn’t. He came back from the second one wearing the sweatshirt.
I tend to think that the accepted students weekends are better than random nights, since the school is putting its best foot forward, there are a variety of activities, and the overall impression is not so dependent on the individual student who hosts.
My DD’s second choice dropped off the list after the overnight. The accepted student overnight visit was a weeknight. They paired the prospective students with current ones…and there were tons of activities and such planned for all.
Well, my DD and another girl were placed with a current student who had two empty beds in her room. Basically, this girl never did anything with them…at all (she was supposed to, but didn’t). They didn’t really know their way around…but the two of them sort of found their way. Their “host” was out until the wee hours, and never offered to have a meal with them or answer any questions. The other girls on the floor were nice enough…but…neither girl matriculated to this school. They felt that the school didn’t do a very good job of vetting hosts. Plus, that really influenced their overall experience.
And both of them wrote reviews for the school detailing their experience.
My kid actually called me and wondered if I would pick her up early. She didn’t even want to finish the second day.
My older daughter ruled out a college that gave her a full tuition scholarship after an overnight visit - she saw a lot of drug use that night, and that’s not really her thing.
My son did overnight at one school, shadowed a student for a day at a second school, and went to accepted student day at a third school – these were his three top choices (he basically did whatever experience was available). It definitely made the final very clear in his mind.
The risk with overnight or shadowing a student is that the experience will be very influenced by one person. But our feeling was that the school selected this person to host the visit so if they turn out not to be a good representative then that also reflects poorly on the school.
Correction to #19. The older son was choosing between CMU and Harvard. Should be clear from the rest of the post, but if it wasn’t…
Some people think accepted students weekends are typical enough of the real experience, But in our experience schools with bad food had bad food that weekend. (CMU - it’s not their strong point though they tried for events that were just for the prospies.) And most schools had the option of attending a variety of regular classes on the Monday after the weekend.
I don’t really mind if the hosts only provide a bed or floorspace, but if that’s the case they need to make it clear to the prospies that that was all that was asked of the hosts and that there are other things organized for them to meet students.
I agree with mathmom - sometimes the host for overnights is just there to provide a space to sleep. For example, though my D and others happily let seniors stay with them during spring break, they may be less hospitable during Bull Dog Days since the semester will be winding down and they will just be wanting to study for finals and come home. My D will be home less than 2 weeks later.
My kid developed and ran an accepted student weekend at her school. She knew it was important to vet the hosts…and she and her team did so. Her program paired a prospective student with a current student. The current student was NOT responsible for the newbie 24/7, but they were expected to be there in the evenings, help the new person get to the socials, and answer questions. They were not just a flop house for the event.
D did 2 overnights. She could readily see herself at one school after staying over, which was hugely important to her. The other school didn’t really click with her.
Our son just did his second admitted student overnight (first school on the planned date for admitted students; second school arranged individually). The individual overnight was amazing, and he came back ready for us to write the deposit check. He was met by a group of students in his major, taken to lunch, introduced to faculty in the department, sat in on a class, went to dinner with an even larger group of majors (who were clearly friends who hung out together), went to an extracurricular event he was interested in, and then stayed up until 2am talking to his hosts, bonding over all they had in common. Yes, he slept on the floor, but he didn’t expect anything else and it was well worth it for the picture he got of what it would be like to be a student there.