My DS17 went to his first admitted students’ day recently and liked the school. It is a great option for him, although not necessarily a 100% fit. He has a few other options (still waiting for a few more this week)…my question is…how important is it to go to more than one admitted students’ days to compare options? (Assume cost is not a factor in visiting, but he is a spring athlete so that is an issue). My DD16 was in love with one school, perfect fit, got in, affordable (IS) and she loves it. My son has been all over the map so deciding has been hard for him, but I am afraid he is defaulting to this one school because of good location, has his major and affordable (great reputation in-state flagship). I know those are a lot of good reasons to choose this school - but I would love to hear opinions about how important it is to do more than one admitted students’ days in order to make a more informed decision. (he has visited and toured some of his other options - but just the generic tour and info sessions). Anyone have advice they could share? Thank you!
This is a huge decision. Lots of time and lots of money. I would recommend attending admitted student days at any school he is still considering. For my son, these revisits really changed his view of a couple of the schools and made him more certain of his final decision.
He also noticed that there were social elements /vibe he thought were unique about the first school he visited that he realized later were common at many of the schools. He was a spring athlete, and while this weighed on him a bit, I think he ultimately figured the tradeoff of a game vs. careful research of his next 4 years was a no brainer.
If your son sticks with his original decision, he’ll be more confident that he knows what he’s passing up.
We took DD to three admittted student days. Her number two school totally fell out of favor, and number three moved up. Number one remained number one. We felt it important because all of these schools were a LONG way from home.
If your son has any second thoughts about the school he has already visited, I would suggest one other visit anyway…to a top contender. He might change his mind. And he will have a basis for comparison.
My D, in college now, revisited three colleges and that was it. Your son should only revisit two or three top choices. He shouldn’t visit ones he isn’t really interested in. Make him narrow it down. If money is the issue, then say so and tell him to choose the two he likes best. They have soooo much going on at this time of year. Colleges visits are very time consuming.
My daughter and I went to three admitted students days (one weekend was crazy being in DC on Friday and Boston on Monday). It was very important for her decision. She decided against her dream school (which we had visited 2 times before and had been her number 1 for two years) after admitted students day. She just felt she didn’t fit in with the student body there. It was the right decision.
Yes. Viewing a college when you know it’s totally your choice vs when you are thinking “I really hope I can get in here” are very different things. Go to all schools he is seriously interested in assuming you can afford it.
And “Spring Athlete” should not be a factor. This is a HUGE decision. Students ( and coaches) need to understand priorities. Hint… it’s not spring athletics.
@kkmabo Yes, visit the top 2-3 if you can!!
Definitely revisit the top 2-3. A hs teacher told me, usually the last school visited is the winner. Don’t know why but that is how it tends to play out. So if you have a preference bear this in mind.
Like most questions posed here, it depends on the student. Only one of my 3 kids attended any admitted students day. Oldest went to 4, and for her it was helpful. Son only had one top choice so did not feel the need to attend. Youngest was also spring athlete and had a very demanding academic schedule; she knew she would not be able to attend any so we made sure to visit them all in the summer and fall of senior year.
we visited the top 3, and doing so helped the decision process enormously.
DS had not been able to take a really hard look at one college during the tour, and after checking out the music building on his own, he just said “next”, and did not even want to stay overnight.
If you can afford to send them to the accepted students visits [and can go yourself,] do so.
DS had three trips planned. He had already visited his accepted schools in state. Even though he liked #1, he loved #2 and said that he didn’t even want to bother with the third. College #2 was by far the strongest school for his major and the cost for all three was close to the same. So I didn’t push for him to visit the third school.
If S was unsure of his major (or major area), or if the schools had all been comparable, or if the balance of academic strength and cost had to be weighed, then I would have insisted that he visit all three.
I would say try to go to the top 5 if you can!
A lot of this depends on travel distance and what else is on the schedule for spring.
If all your schools are close to home, five might be do-able, barely, if you don’t mind having zero weekend downtime in March or April. My first high school graduate made it to one school after acceptance, and didn’t end up going there so I was glad she revisited and noticed some things before making a mistake.
I would prioritize trying to get to schools that are in the running and where he hasn’t set foot on campus yet.
If you have no particular reason to think another school would be better, he should just go where he’s already leaning. Some kids have no need to obsess over many choices.
By March, we briefly considered going to 3. D vetoed one. I pulled rank and vetoed the other (the most expensive, greatest distance away school).
So in the end, she went to one Admitted Student Weekend. She got her student ID, met with an advisor, & registered for classes, all without committing to the school yet. It was a fun weekend for her and her dad. It didn’t hurt that the weather was spectacular.
D1 went to just the school she attended. But honestly, our search wasn’t that organized, and it was the best choice by far in terms of fit and affordability. D2 went back to her top 3 choices, and it was a good thing. The “distant third” shot to the top after the visits, and the other two kind of lost their luster. It is interesting to watch on a day when a school is supposed to put their best foot forward to see how they do. (Seeing it again this year in her visits to grad schools! And she is probably attending a grad school that was a real dark horse before her visit).
I’d encourage him to do 1-2 more if there are schools pretty even with the one he has already visited.
Admitted student days are there to get the future class to bond. They are not great for "due diligence’’ visits to help determine if you want to attend.
Much better are overnights with current students and going to some classes. See if the student can imagine themselves in with this group. See if you can arrange those at the top choices.
We found the ‘admitted day’ tour to be MUCH MORE VALUABLE than any other college tours we did. At this point in the process, you know which schools love you (or you at least ‘like a lot’), which schools you love, and MOST IMPORTANTLY which schools are in play from a financial standpoint.
In our case, we never had more than 4 schools that met all of these criteria, so we visited them all for D2 and D3. Even though the schools were not collocated (D3 visited schools in LA, CA, MI and PA).
We were sold on this after D2 visited her #1 school and decided against it for her #2. And in the process saved us over 15k/yr (and we had told her either option would be fine, so the decision was totally hers). And no, the order didn’t matter, #1 school was the last visited.
Two final thoughts:
- the most important element is the overnight. Just going to the admitted student dog and pony show will be meaningless without actually staying with students in the dorms and seeing what really goes on.
- busy-ness of this time of year - what other priorities could there be, assuming getting a D or F is not in play. This is THE main decision a HS student makes. It should be made with as much information inputted as possible.
“…good location, has his major and affordable (great reputation in-state flagship)”
Sounds like you have one really good choice locked down. IMHO it is very important to avoid student debt, so given an excellent affordable choice I would be inclined to skip any which are not affordable.
That being said, we revisited my daughter’s top 3 choices (all affordable, all are great schools). I don’t think that it changed anything, but I think that it made her more comfortable with her choice. It was worth the very short flight. We had to skip the official “admitted student days” because of conflicts (school, sports), but re-took tours.
That’s a good point. The admitted student visits my son did were all multi-day events with overnights and class visits. Many schools only have single day events.
I’m sad “admitted student days” are now behind me! We went to all of them that were feasible and really enjoyed them. Aside from the excitement and “wining and dining” that goes on, we did find them to be valuable in terms of decision making.
Hey, if you don’t want to go, I’ll take your kid! 