<p>8 RD decisions pending here, and no others. Youngest is singularly devoted to attending the best school FOR HIS MAJOR that will take him, with finaid also a consideration. All the usual issues of campus lifestyle that kids weigh mean far less to him. He thrives in diverse environments and will be okay if he’s finding the learning he hopes for within his major. I’ve never had such a well-focussed kid (academically) who is also so capable/flexible (socially). He skipped 11th grade, so we’ve been feeling that missing year of search/inquiry. That’s why there were no campus visits so far, except for one. (He tagged along behind a walking tourgroup; LOVED the school </p>
<p>For my son: Do you think he should seek out more info now during March by emailing profs in his major, or just leave it alone these days and wait for the admissions decisions. </p>
<p>For me: I’m unsure how to set up my travel weeks between April 1 - May 1.</p>
<p>Help on any of these points, or other hints, will be deeply appreciated!</p>
<li><p>How can I find out when the “Accepted Student Day” is?
(I checked websites to no avail and feel brassy calling Admissions.)</p></li>
<li><p>Do they sometimes let prospective students stay with dorm hosts? </p></li>
<li><p>When I fly, I always find cheap fares by booking weeks in advance on non-refundable deals. SHould I rethink this one?</p></li>
<li><p>I figure H (superior with business details; we delegate) will need some time to get onto the phone to talk over various finaid deals with each college? What part of the month to do that? before or after “Accepted Student Day”?</p></li>
<li><p>Finally, I’ve been asked to chaperone a teen trip (not son’s) with my H to NYC over the 3rd weekend of April and could even stay on myself with H (and perhaps son) for a few days following. That would actually pay my airfare. Those tour-planners need my answer in the next several days. I’ve turned down all kinds of other optional things during April to put the priority on my last child’s decision-making. Two of his schools are right in NYC. He could stay with his brother during the actual teen weekend part.
I can’t decide whether to say “yes” to chaperoning, hoping it’ll cover his seeing the NYC-area schools…or say “no” because I don’t want to give up 5 critically-timed days. </p></li>
<li><p>I should know this, but when are AP tests? He has 4.</p></li>
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<p>The way I found out about accepted students day was to ask in a thread on the school I was interested in and the kids that were already accepted told me.</p>
<p>I'm not sure what to do either, the schools are at least close together, but except for one, I don't know which ones to plan for. I assumed that they would host any accepted students in dorms if you give them adequate time, sure hope so as my D will be traveling alone and it will be easier and cheaper. I would think it best to make appointments with anyone your S wants to talk to as soon as you know the dates he will be at a school.</p>
<p>Wish I could help more, but it's my first time.</p>
<p>ACCEPTED STUDENT DAY information comes in admit packages. It's hard to anticipate these sort of things, so it's smart to set guidelines BEFORE decisions.
I would suggest the following:</p>
<p>1) Set a limit on # of schools to visit, schools you haven't visited yet should be on the top along with the TOP 2 choices (if they exist).</p>
<p>2) Set a personal budget and if anything goes out of this, let your D or S know.</p>
<p>3) Be realistic about what you can do and what you can't time-wise.</p>
<p>4) Don't over-do anything and make sure that schools give you everything you want because now it is them that should be courting you, even though a few days earlier it was your D or S courting them. Don't forget this... get the information you need and don't leave without it. You'll be surprised how great the admissions staff at selective universities are. </p>
<p>Do you feel that any of the NYC schools are sure things? If so, then I would call up the schools admissions office and just ask them about their accepted students days. Then decide what to do. If they aren't the weekend of your event then you would know that that trip wouldn't be a combo trip anyway. It's going to be a tricky month for you! Hopefully, a couple of the schools will be kind and let your son know early. Good luck. BTW, I wouldn't hesitate a bit about calling up any of the schools to ask about their accepted students days, it's not really a secret and you probably don't have to leave your name. Just tell them that your son is an applicant and if accepted he might attend the accepted student day and ask when it is.</p>
<p>I bought the air tickets-as they are w/Jet Blue to NYC from Calif. during easter-spring break. Once she read the postings online to see which offered her admissions, I figured I would pay to make the necessary changes.</p>
<p>While d is visiting classrooms/touring--do I check in with admissions/fin.aid offices? My concern is that the packet will not arrive before we take off.</p>
<p>I thought colleges did post their accepted student days.</p>
<p>I've posted this before, but S applied as junior at last minute. He had never toured a college. To visit a few colleges in April, I booked multi-city trip. We had stops between cities, but a direct flight home (across country). By booking northeast then westcoast, I saved lots. Still, only actually were at one accepted weekend. At that one, he could stay in a dorm and lots of activities planned. He met at least one student accepted at the westcoast school. It was an intense week, but we tried to use evenings to tour the citiy we were in (like seeing Tonight Show, sushi restaurants, etc).
My advice; be well rested before you start.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Prioritize. Your son should have a rough idea of which colleges he likes best -- and when you get financial aid packages your list of 8 may be considerably shortened. </p></li>
<li><p>My kids did spring visits on their own --I found it easier to be booking flights for them alone. They arranged overnights on their campuses or stayed with friends who lived nearby. This works, of course, only if the schools are in areas readily accessible by public transportation. </p></li>
<li><p>My son planned to visit his 1st choice school only; when that school did not offer financial aid, he then went to visit his 2nd choice school. His rationale was that if he liked the top choice, he didn't need to see the others. </p></li>
<li><p>Accepted student days are nice, but it is not necessary to visit then. My son visited his college mid-week, after the accepted student day. The college was happy to arrange a student to host him, and there was plenty going on campus but less of a show being put on. </p></li>
<li><p>Some colleges have multiple days -- my daughter's college had 2 accepted student days plus a third 2-day overnight for accepted students. She went to one of the day-only events. </p></li>
<li><p>Getting reasonable prices for last minute flights has not been a problem for us, as long as there is some flexibility in travel plans. However we live near major hub airports and my kids were both looking at schools in or close to big cities. </p></li>
<li><p>If it were me, I'd pass on the chaperone opportunity -- but it depends on how comfortable you would be with your son traveling on his own elsewhere if he has to visit a college in a different area at the same time you have committed to being in NY. </p></li>
<li><p>Is one of your son's school NYU? NYU has admitted student events on successive weekends, and sends notice in the form of an invitation in mid-March (early enough to book a flight). They will probably be the first two weekends in April. (You get the invitation before official word of admission).</p></li>
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<p>I find this puzzling also. We're still waiting on 7 schools, 3 in the Midwest, 2 on the West coast and 2 in the NE. I can't imagine how we'll fit it all in. The only 2 he hasn't seen with students on campus are the West coast ones, so that might be a priority, but not until we find out that he's accepted. He's resisted choosing a favorite until he knows where he's accepted. I feel like somebody pushed the "pause" button on my life.</p>
<p>Most people do not visit/revisit every school on the list in April. I think that when all the decisions are out, some natural preferences will settle in and a few clear favorites will emerge. I would only concentrate on visiting/revisiting those schools that are the front runners. If you try to cram too many visits into a short time, you won't get the full picture of any of them, just fragments. Research on academic offerings can be done from home now so some pieces of the puzzle will be in place when the decisions roll in and chances are some top choices will surface.</p>
<p>A clearer picture will form in April when you know which schools can actually become a reality. Good luck.</p>
<p>I look at Accepted Student Day as a sales promo. I prefer that our child visit on a regular class day and be paired up with a freshman. The only advantage I see to Accepted day is a chance to meet other possible classmates, but there is always Facebook for that. She has already joined one school's 2011 group. Saying that, ours will attend 2 Accepted days that are within a few hours of home. But this will be the 3rd visit to the schools and she has already cut the list from 8 to 4. I feel for the families that are traveling great distances in such a short time. I was exhausted visiting 4 schools in 2 days last year.</p>
<p>I would go ahead and chaperone the teen weekend. The anticipation of the time period coming up is probably worse than the time itself. "Worst case" your son will get accepted to all schools and have a decision to make.<br>
The financial aid offers will be well spelled out in letters sent to you. DH may not need to spend a lot of time on the phone with financial aid officers unless the offers vary greatly between two schools. The FA information will come. It will be clear what the offers are. If there are two schools where the money differs greatly and your son would be happier at the more expensive one, some time might be spent calling the more expensive school to see if they can come up with anything better but generally what you see in the letter is what you get.
Agree with calmom, not necessary to visit on accepted students days. In fact, you might try to go on another day as the accepted students days are definitely a marketing event designed to get accepted students to enroll.</p>
<p>Very much agree with ebeeeee. Son last year applied to many schools and only visited 2 prior to acceptance. After all the decisions came in WITH the financial aid packages did he figure out which ones he wanted to visit. And out of those he visited he only went to one Admitted Students Day, and wished he had not. The others he visited mid-week to get a feel for the classes, students, profs, food and dorms. What daily life would be like with students that had already matriculated, rather then attending an organized 3-ring circus (his words not mine!).</p>
<p>Also if HE had any questions about his FA package he was on site to make an appointment to go ask them. He did and it worked out well. For him waiting until acceptances were in helped for time efficiency, and cost. He had to minimize his time away from school as spring sports are usually headed to regionals and states about that time along with APs.</p>
<p>I called office of Admissions and cruised around on the college website (had to search for "Preview Weekend" and "Admitted Students Weekend" to find out). Found out that 3 of D's schools have their weekend festivities around the same weekend -- April 14 and 15! And, friends who live near one of the schools won't be home (away at THEIR D's admitted students weekend!) After trying to figure out if we could swing more than one, D decided to go to the one for the campus she has not visited yet. After looking at the itineraries at the others, I agree that it doesn't look like a lot of new info covered.</p>
<p>We had to pick two accepted student days to attend last year because there was neither time nor money for more. It turned out my daughter fell in love with school 1 (Columbia) and hated school 2. I thought the Columbia program was great, and yes, she could have stayed in the dorm, but stayed with me at the hotel. (After she got there, however, she wished she had stayed in the dorm.) I guess if your priorities are meeting professors etc, there are better times to visit than accepted student days, but if you want to meet your potential classmates, they are great.
We had actually planned for her to go to one other school that was very high on her list for a second look, but the travel arrangements were so impossible that we gave up. That ended up making her decision for her because we realized that it would take her all day to come home from that school due to the bad flight connections and airport access, while she could fly non-stop from N.Y. in 3 hours.</p>
<p>S has already been narrowing things down as offers have come in and had visited most places during the last two years. He will have the opportunity to see and stay at his final 4 choices prior to and during spring break (in a couple of weeks). No college weekend stuff as we feel it is better to be away from that hooplah. He will have everything except one outside scholarship in place by March 31. Clear sailing for all the AP tests, prom, the rest of track, a musical, and maybe enjoying the last quarter of his high school time. Can't wait until April 1.</p>
<p>It is really tough to coordinate visits in April, especially if your kid is on a sports team. Ds app schools were chosen in part based on her sport and the ability to play it, her sport is spring and they won the state championship in May and she was captain, so it was really tough to miss anything.</p>
<p>We narrowed down the visits by comparing some schools side by side...if she got into A & B, she would only visit A. We deleted a couple of schools that way. There were too very high prestige school very far away, we felt it critical to making a good choice that she visit, but only if it was worth the money. One she we tied into a school trip and she visited alone. The other was as spring break trip with her dad. These were both done in March after likely letter info came through. The school where she ended up was the last one to inform us and had no likely letter procedures, we had it factored in to the end of our spring break and only made the 3 hour drive there after getting the online notification!</p>
<p>So, we did make two trips especially for schools, kept the costs as low as possible, and added one trip to our plans which were not too far away. We also vut out a couple of school based on priorities.</p>
<p>All Accepted Students Weekends are going to fall on either April 14-15 or the following weekend (Easter is the 8th, and the first and last weekends of Aprill are either too soon or too late for consideration). Students shouldn't plan on visiting more than two colleges in April unless they can take some time off from school, or the schools are in the same city.</p>
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