This student has decided where to go to college, but doesn’t want to spend the money to travel to Admitted Student Day or orientation. Find out what The Dean advises: https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/are-admitted-student-days-and-summer-orientations-important-to-attend/
My daughter did not attend Admitted Student Day; however, she did do the pre-orientation hike which was just a week earlier than school. We thought it was a good way for her to get to know people, and it really worked! She met a young woman who ended up being a wonderful mentor for her, really paved the way.
We were living abroad at the time and my DD did not go to admitted students day and went to the orientation right before classes started. She did just fine. We had visited previously though.
DD did not attend the admit day for the school she would eventually attend because it was the same day as another school’s admit day 400 miles away. We book ended her spring break with admitted student visits two schools she was considering but hadn’t visited yet. By the end of weekend two, she knew would be attending neither of them. It would have been so much fun to go to the one for her chosen school, but it was really important to eliminate her other options, and this was the only way to do it. Note that we had toured her chosen school earlier in the year, so she wasn’t going in blind.
As for summer orientation (3 days, 2 nights, as I recall), it was mandatory (they registered for classes for the fall, among other things), but I’m sure she would have attended anyway.
OP, if you must pick between the 2, I’d say do the orientation. You will get a lot more out of it.
Nine pages of posts here…
I think it might be better to tour on days other than admitted student days, if you are evaluating which colleges to attend. Colleges should be expected to put their best foot forward for Admitted Student Day, and you might want to see more of an average experience at all colleges you’re considering.