<p>Time to vent:
My (east-coast) family just came back from a visit to WUSTL. The last fifteen minutes of the info session was question and answer time. Every single question asked by the parents could have easily been answered by 30 seconds of web searching. </p>
<p>For example, here are some actual questions asked during our info session:</p>
<p>"Do you operate on a semester calendar?"</p>
<p>"When does orientation begin?"</p>
<p>"What's the weather in St. Louis like?"</p>
<p>"Where can you study abroad?"</p>
<p>Am I nuts, or should people do at least a little bit of homework before coming to these things?</p>
<p>Actually, I don’t think those are the most irritating questions. </p>
<p>To me, the most irritating ones are those that apply only to an individual student and take a long time to answer. At one college we visited, there was a lengthy discussion between one family and the admissions officer at an information session about whether or not the no-cars-for-freshmen rule could be waived for a student who wanted to continue a pre-existing part-time job in a nearby community. This is the sort of thing that would best be dealt with in one-on-one communication with the admissions office, not in a group session.</p>
<p>I agree with you both!!! In every info session there were parents asking ridiculous basic info questions, as well as 1 oer 2 asking questions specific to their kid. And the students barely had time to get their questions in because the parents monopolized the Q & A! I found the whole experience very frustrating…</p>
<p>Umm, how about the fact that every information session I have ever been to started from the premise that no one there had ever been to a college information session before. At least 50% of every information session consists of completely generic information that ALSO could be gleaned from the website – that college’s or any other remotely similar college’s. I’m not sure I have a perfect solution, but I know that the current system turns information sessions into a colossal waste of time that manages to impart only minimal actual information.</p>
<p>We sat in Saturday’s MIT info session and listened to a parent ask what SAT score is needed for admission, and whether or not students use drugs and alcohol.</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly agree with the above posts. In fact, after almost every college admissions info. session that we attended, my daughter and I would discuss which was the most annoying, could-have-looked-it-up-on-the-website, question (usually from a parent) that came up.</p>
<p>You were hoping to find no clueless people at college info sessions? Since pretty much every human endeavor is encumbered with its share of the clueless, why should college admissions be any different?</p>
<p>Go easy on people. They may not have attended college; this may be new to them. Not everyone is as sophisticated and worldly as you, JHS! I have a lot more sympathy for the “dumb” questions than for the specific-to-my-kid questions. Having said that, a tour beats an info session every time, IMO.</p>
<p>As a parent I made it a point not to ask questions in info sessions. On tours I lagged to the rear to make sure the students could see and hear.</p>
<p>My favorite questions have always been on the order of “My D or S roomate can have an overnight guest?”. What universe do these people live in ?</p>
<p>My daughter sat on a student panel at the parent information session for Freshman Orientation. About half way through the Q&A period, a woman raised her hand and said, “Is marijuana legal at this college?” I guess that lady and the people who ask about the overnight guests live in the same universe! I think it’s in the denial galaxy.</p>
<p>Why? I think that’s a fair question (to ask the tour guide, not the info-session person). Hearing how they talk about it (easygoing, everything’s-a-secret, strictly forbidden, how common is it, how do they deal with conflicts between roommates, single vs mixed gender bathrooms) does provide a lens into what the atmosphere is like. Besides, H gets to ask that and be the heavy :-)</p>
<p>There are always people who ask questions just to hear their voice or because they think those running the sessions take notes on who is most interested. My family also discusses which schools have the most annoying parents/kids. I think it can have an influence on your overall feeling of the school - types of kids who will go there and the way the questions are handled.</p>
<p>One of my most entertaining tours ever featured Sen. Chuck Schumer obnoxiously and stentorianly badgering the Dartmouth tour guide with generic sex, drugs, and alcohol questions while his daughter tried to shrink herself to the size of a pea.</p>
<p>Yes, you can skip the info session. Some colleges do them very well (Yale comes to mind), others not so much. Info sessions are a good place to get a sense of the school’s financial aid policies, but you have to ask questions and listen very carefully (and comparatively) to the answers.</p>
<p>How about the detailed description of how the “Cat Card, Cougar Card, Panther Card…fill in the blank with your favorite animal Card” works when you go to the dining hall!! All you have to do is swipe it!! It’s magical!!! </p>
<p>My favorite questions at a recent info session:</p>
<p>“How will you address my peanut allergy?”</p>
<p>and from a parent:</p>
<p>“Can we bring her siblings to orientation? I don’t think we can get child care for that long.”</p>
<p>My experience at information sessions invariably led me to contemplate just how 75% of the people attending were able to find the way to the building much less participate in any meaningful way.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s wasting everyones time. Yes, I’m the uber-geek parent who researches everything to death and could probably run the session but there’s no required reading before attending the information sessions.</p>
<p>Also, some people are just more comfortable speaking with a human being and want to confirm things they’ve read.</p>