My daughter and I are planning to visit Emory in the next few weeks and I’m trying to decide between the open house next weekend or a regular visit the following Saturday. We have been to many schools for tours/info sessions and only one open house. The open house was a negative experience because it was very crowded and seemed disorganized. There could be some advantages to the Emory open house because I’m assuming there will be more detailed information presented and additional sessions (maybe with faculty?). Any insights? Also, any opinions about the Oxford college option for the first two years? My daughter likes a lot of small LACs, so I think she might prefer that.
I think that if you go to the open house and it is well run, you will be left with a good impression.
Last spring we visited two schools for admitted students day on two consecutive days. One program was so much better run than the other (who hosts breakfast in an outdoor tent when it is 30 degrees??). The contrast was striking, and our son ended up at the school with the better run program. To be fair he was leaning that way anyway, but the other school just did not present itself well at all.
(I have visited Emory but independently as we happened to be there on a day with no tours for prospective students… Seems like a nice place. Our friends’ son is a junior there and likes it.)
DD went to Emory. They put a lot of weight on demonstrated interest, so I would try to select the option where they might remember her more (if that makes sense). DD was offered admission to Oxford (she was initially WL at Emory) and would have considered it but she couldn’t do her sport at Oxford. Good luck to her!
In general, both are fine. Both show demonstrated interest equally. The open houses tend to be more crowded but sometimes there are valuable extras on those days. If you can, look at the program for the open house and see if it is more or less appealing to you than a typical information session/tour.
Thanks for the good feedback all!