Do Info Sessions Deserve To Be Obsolete?

College Search & Selection
21

<p>I agree with midwestmom. “I have always thought the sessions were important because of what you learn at the edges, not because of the formal content.”</p>

<p>I rarely learn any new information from the info session, but my son and husband, who have not been studying the CDS or school websites, are often hearing things for the first time. Would it be a better use of their time if they were to study on-line info, probably, but this works for us for now.</p>

<p>Attending the info session just provides one more window into the school and the other students who are considering attending that school.</p>

22

<p>I actually had a really nice information session experience at Ursinus College. I expected the same experience of going into a room and having a man talk to you and the 10+ other people there about things you already know from looking at the website and researching colleges in general. Instead, I thought I was being pulled into an interview that I didn’t sign up for!</p>

<p>It wasn’t an interview, though. My mom, my sister, and myself were brought into the office of a current senior who worked in the admissions office. There, he gave us the whole spiel on the college and why it’s different, but it’s a lot more engaging when you’re speaking to someone one-on-one (or three-on-one). I feel that being in such close proximity to the person who is speaking to you makes you pay attention more, probably because you can’t exactly doze off for a minute or two without looking extremely rude. Plus, it allowed him to speak directly to MY interests and needs. I wish more schools would do this!</p>

23

<p>It’s so highly variable! We went to information sessions at every school we were interested in. I did lots of research prior to our trips, the rest of the family, however, didn’t. </p>

<p>The sessions brought us all up to a certain minimum of information, then we discussed and with the research I’d done were able to come up with pretty quick decisions about whether this was one to apply to or not.</p>

<p>I can only think of one useless info session, and that was with an admissions officer who unfortunately assumed we were all clueless about the process because that was where she was a few years ago.</p>

<p>We didn’t travel to MIT, but did see a regional presentation, and it was the most fun we had at any session. Princeton was unique, and the admissions officer did a fantastic job of differentiating his U from others. Our flagship U info session was a disappointment, it mostly focused on a Disney like ‘school here is fun message’. But the tour afterwards really wowed us.</p>

<p>So my point in outlining all this is to say that you get what you get, and it’s really up to the family to make good use of these sessions. While you do have to sit through a lot of repetitive information, in some cases the info session was the ONLY place to get critical information about deadlines and procedures. Websites are still iffy, in my opinion, and don’t always have the most current or important information. Nor can you always find it! There is no substitute for hearing a real live member of a community talk about who they are, what they do and why.</p>

<p>We learned about the Fiske Guide and picked up a copy after a few visits. We compared our experiences to the info in Fiske and and Fiske was really right on. But our visit to the schools made the Fiske Guide information a part of our experience, and we truly did get a feel for each school. We did cheat a bit, after that, and relied more on Fiske, reducing our time on some campuses.</p>

<p>Somewhere out here on CC I read last spring that it’s good to take the same view of each campus. Info session, tour, whatever, compare apples to apples. We found that to be excellent advice. They really are different, and we could detect budget issues, whether a school used technology effectively, and their overall orientation to education.</p>

<p>What I do find obnoxious, though, is all the slick marketing stuff. Anyone remember the college catalog? I’d much prefer one of those than the multiple glossy multi-color meaningless view books, so expensive to produce. I think colleges should save their money on those and produce more virtual tours on their websites.</p>