… which is the definition of a successful visit!
If that prevented pursuing a bad fit, it was a worthwhile investment of time.
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Very true. It also taught us that not all top universities are for everyone. Don’t just apply bc of name alone. I’m really glad we visited and both realized we couldn’t picture him there. From the people to the focus of their majors, it just wasn’t a good fit. So it was a successful visit like you say.
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If Penn is on your child’s list, then I encourage you to visit. Demonstrated interest is considered per the CDS. This year, there was also a question on the common app that asked whether one had toured campus and, if so, the date of the tour. I’m not sure when they added that question, but it was not on my D19’s application.
I suspect, with the sharp increase in applications, it’s one more data point for Penn to use as a potential tiebreaker in its holistic admissions process. It all comes down to yield management. Applicants who applied after visiting campus might be more likely to accept an offer of admission.
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Anyone who isn’t HYPSM probably wants to know who’s truly interested.
Penn worries about cross-admit battles with HYPSM, Columbia, Chicago, Caltech – other Ivies and their ilk.
A school like Vanderbilt or WashU may worry about cross-admit battles with top LACs, all the Ivies, each other, Duke, JHU, Northwestern, Rice, Georgetown, etc.
On and on – you worry about the kids you admit in the RD round also being admitted by your peers and schools above you on the “prestige” scale.
Because, in the end, if you just let in all the kids with the highest stats and your RD yield is 30% – you wasted a lot of time on kids who won’t be enrolling, and now you are scrambling to fill your class. Time is money.
HYPSM don’t care because if a kid gets into one of them, chances are they are only getting into one. And most will take that offer. Boom, great yield.
Stanford especially has an advantage because I imagine they can find the kids who want to be in California, those who value Stanford above HYPM because of it. That unique aspect of Stanford – location and climate – means they can basically cherry-pick their kids, and those kids would usually turn down even HYPM most of the time because of that unique aspect that the eastern schools just can’t match. That’s how your yield approaches 80-90%.
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Interesting point. I read somewhere that Harvard wins the cross admit battle with all the other “elites” with the exception of Stanford – although I think that is a fairly recent phenomenon.
It’s Harvard – everyone has heard of it. And not everyone values fit above prestige (as we generally think they should).
And Stanford has the climate/location advantage vs. the rest of that group. Stanford kids likely make themselves known by simply applying, and drive it home through their essays.
I think for most kids at those five schools, they “chose” the one they got into – but for those who have an actual choice between two or more, I’d love to know the reasoning for their decisions. Especially between HYPM, since location/weather isn’t likely much of a factor, if any.
I’m going to guess it is the name – Harvard is the elite school that most people know about and the one that has the highest perceived cachet. The few figures I’ve seen show that it isn’t really close in most cases - Harvard is getting 2/3 or more of cross admits.
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I would bet that often, the parents don’t know much about the other great schools, and tell their kid, “It’s Harvard. You’re going.” And that’s that.
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We never visited any of the schools my son was interested in pre-admission for the sake of “demonstrated interest,” including those schools that do consider it. My son mostly didn’t have the precious time as a primary reason, but also didn’t want to spend money on touring schools that he may end up being rejected, which is more than a likely scenario with those tippy top schools with brutally low admission rates. We decided to visit only after all the dust had been settled post-admission, and then only the top two serious contenders.
There are many ways to demonstrate interest, touring the school being just one, and one of the most effective, outside of applying ED, certainly more effective than a school visit, is how you answer “Why Us?” and other essays. Penn, as mentioned above, does consider demonstrated interest, but instead of visiting, my son wrote a very effective essay that demonstrated his interest in Penn. Likewise with other schools. The fact that he was admitted to schools with CDS indicating “Level of Interest” considered and those that do not, I can only conclude that visiting schools pre-admission is fine if you have the time and money and other reasons for doing so, but it’s not a significant factor enough to tilt the admissions decision.
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The kid I know who chose Harvard over Stanford (and Yale) perceived Harvard’s culture to be less entrepreneurial and more about service to society which aligned with his personal values. Yale’s shortcoming was its comparative weakness in the kid’s intended field of study.
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That’s good – seems pretty well-reasoned according to the student’s values and preferences.
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The EA yield at these places is 90-95% plus. These are kids that are not solely driven by prestige, and have chosen one of the 5 (or many) to apply to based on fit. The cross admit battles just happen at the RD level. These are uncommitted kids and they are more likely to go by prestige.
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