I’m trying to figure out how much different it would be to attend a special visit day for admitted students versus just going to visit on a random day. Kid was accepted to Case, but the February accepted student date that they set isn’t great for us. It looks like an all-day event, so they must do different things that day than the general tour for interested students. Kid wants to visit schools before deciding. The timing is tough, though, as RD results won’t come out until March. That means we’ll have to cram visits in April to any other schools (if there are any others).
Are these special days worth it? Or should I just try to schedule a visit on a more convenient date?
The special days are more in depth. Each school will be different but you typically still get the info session and tour. But then depending on the schools, you get more. You may get a student panel. You may have a club fair. At Penn State, they actually took us to the nearby Accuweather location for kids interested in meteorology. There will be academic department meetings, perhaps sessions for financial aid or study abroad. They’re better - but if you can’t go, you can’t go - and if you need to learn more about the campus to decide if your child likes it, then do the regular thing.
If he has an extra interest - for my daughter it was Hillel…for my son it was academics…admissions will always be glad to set up an extra meeting for you or you can reach directly - so you sort of create your own day.
It’s great if you can go - you meet other kids and you get the entire campus sell - and sometimes lunch is way better to make you think the food isn’t institutional…but I wouldn’t alter your life to attend if it doesn’t work out.
These were really helpful to DS. They had way more resources available and it was much easier to meet lots of students and get a feel for vibe. I would try to prioritize this over a regular visit.
It’s not the end of the world if you can’t go. My kids went to a total of three admitted student days. Ultimately neither of them ended up at any of the schools.
If you can’t make those days, it’s just as helpful to contact the Admissions office and ask them to help arrange a special day just for your kid. At one college, my D had a sort of guide for much of the day. He took her to a club meeting. The Admissions office arranged for her to sit in on two classes and had another student join her for lunch. She enjoyed the day, but the school she ended up at, she only had one visit in the summer with no kids back yet.
Do what works for you. The college will try to accommodate your schedule in some way I think.
For all 3 kids, we much much preferred visiting on a random day, where we got a more accurate feel for the vibe. Admitted student days are like advertisements, geared to convincing applicants to say yes (and improve yield stats). One of my kids did an overnight and all 3 attended classes in their prospective major, once admitted, and we hung around the dining hall, bookstore, library and in some cases campus green to get a feel for the place. We also walked downtown or in the neighborhood.
I found the admitted student days incredibly mire insightful than a regular tour. Yes there is a marketing feel to some of them, but it provided an opportunity to talk to get a more in-depth feel for the school. Some have, academic fairs, club fairs, info session with specific schools and majors…
If you can’t make the admitted students day, I would call and see if you can arrange to meet with the department chair for your Childs intended major. It’s a good opportunity to ask any specific questions about the program.
We found accepted student days to be much more help than regular tours. On a standard tour you get a presentation telling you how to apply and people (frequently parents) asking ridiculous questions, followed by a brief tour of “here’s the science building, here’s a dorm , etc.”. The accepted student days, in the other hand, were full day affairs that included meeting with existing students and profs. They were much more informative and allowed my kids to get a much better feel for the vibe of the school.
Our son has a great time at his admit weekend back in 2016. Stayed up just about all night playing zombie vs human that spanned the entire campus. He attended many sessions during the day and it sealed intent to attend.
Not sure yet if our D22 will have the option to attend a similar event at her school, but we will be checking if one will be held.
I was not referring to regular tours pre-admittance. Once a student is accepted, schools want to convince them to attend. We did do visits before application. But I was comparing visits AFTER acceptance to those programmed accepted student days. Once accepted there are options like overnight stays, meetiings with faculty, attending classes, lunch with current students and so on. We found a more realistic feeling for a school was possible when we avoided the accepted student days and instead the kids went on a regular school day. We would often spend a night or two to further explore the vibe.
Agreeing with all of the above (even the ones who say it isn’t critical). Imo it matters more for some students and some schools more than others - where fit is an important variable, a re-visit day/weekend can matter a good deal.
One of the collegekids applied ED to a school at which she had previously visited / spent the night / sat in on classes. She was deferred and then accepted RD, but in the meantime had been heavily wooed by another school, so she was seriously torn. The only revisit days that could work at all were back to back Sat/Sun, in 2 very inconvenient locations, but we did it- and it was worth it.
She knew both schools pretty well, so the big difference was that everybody there was an accepted student, so now it’s real: are these my people?
On a more practical level, her major department was running some super helpful sessions on getting involved, giving & taking contact names, setting kids up with profs whose interests aligned, etc.
Again, I think they’re great - but you can also have your “own” created if you can’t make it.
One note - my daughter had to choose from 3 or 5 schools at American to go to. She chose the School of International Service which offered an International Studies major.
That’s where she first learned about the Intl Studies major and while not at American, it is what she majors in. She was “jazzed” after that meeting!!!
My son - at Penn State - I think they had 3K kids there - and they started with the “We Are, Penn State” chant - so there is certainly an energy.
But at FSU, we got a meeting with meteorology on our own. At Oklahoma, they created an entire 2/3 day for us, taking us all over to so many places.
So if you want more than the norm and can’t make their all-day session, it’s possible to have something made for you.
My S went to a few accepted student days and found them helpful in making his final decision. Some were definitely better than others – but in general accepted student days were more in depth than regular visit days (two had an overnight component).
It may be worth seeing if you can find the agenda/schedule for accepted students day at Case to determine if it is worth the scheduling difficulty. If you can’t make it to accepted students day it is fine – in that case I’d have your child contact admissions to see if they can arrange an alternate way to have an in-depth visit (perhaps shadowing a student for a day).
FWIW my D applied to her college ED and committed before accepted student day. She did her “due diligence” to feel confident of the fit through regular visits, shadowing a student for a day (she arranged it with admissions), interviewing with an admission officer etc. She did go to accepted students day to meet some kids she connected with online and to look at the freshman dorm options.
Your child will have the experience they have at CWRU regardless if they go to a standard visit (tour and info session), enhanced (full day or even overnight) or none at all.
These are just - really ways for the schools to sell themselves. They still need mom and dad to agree to stroke that check - and they’re pushing all the levers they have to get you to do so.
If you’re unsure - the most important thing is - to get there. Do the regular stuff. But what are her interests? If it’s Hillel, reach out to them or another religious group? Reach out to them - and they’ll set up a meet and greet with some students. We did that at Miami of Ohio.
If it’s nursing, have admissions…or yourself…set up a meeting with a professor and ask to meet a student, etc.
Whether you attend or not, the experience of the four years will be the same.
The question is - do you already know you’re attending or do you need affirmation, etc?
If you need affirmation, get to campus - in addition to the above, walk the area, eat at a yummy Italian place nearby, stop kids walking around and ask questions.
As long as you get there and explore - you’ll get the affirmation or discomfort that you need to make a decision.
In the grand scheme of things, you’re accepted so the day matters little - unless it matters to you!!
I think this is the key. At an accepted students day your kid can look around and see, and get to know a little bit, all the other kids who are very interested in the school and see if they feel like their kinda people. At some larger schools this may not matter, but at some LACs it could be the make or break. Depends on your kid too. You might have the kind of student who can get along with everyone or you might have the kind of kid who needs to find their tribe to fit in.
Is it a must to go to an admitted students day? Well there are plenty of kids from last year and year before who didn’t get to do many visits at all and are still happy with their choices, so no, not a must, but if you think if your kid is the kind who needs to be able to see other members of the prospective first year class in person then I think it could be incredibly helpful.
That’s precisely happened with my daughter! Once her acceptances had come in, she had decided which 4 were her best options. But still, there was a scheduling conflict between two schools that were a few flight-hours apart.
So she missed day 1, incl. the parents’ banquet, the “overnight dorm” stay, and breakfast at one college. But we did manage to go there for day 2, which still had separate info sessions and a department “fair”.
Crucially, we all joined (yet another) neighborhood tour for Mom’s sake, where she and a few random other young ladies tagged behind the parents. Soon I was thrilled to hear a very active chit-chat behind us, eliminating my daughter’s persistent reluctancy about how cut-throat this particular college might be, and how “preppy” and excessively “driven” her fellow students likely were going to be.
As you said: She realized how much “these were her people”. So that’s where she ended up, fit in perfectly, made great friends and experiences, and thrived academically.
My daughter changed her mind on what had been her top school by going to an accepted student day. She left halfway through the day and declined the offer. This was the third visit, but she heard different information (from the student panel that only met with students and not parents).
Thank you all for responding. It’s so helpful to hear how these different types of visits were helpful to your kids (or not!). I hadn’t really considered how being there with a group of other admitted students could change the dynamics compared to a personalized visit on another day.
I think I’ll go back to the drawing board and reconsider if we can swing this visit.
If you can’t make the accepted student day, definitely ask the admissions office if they can do something different on a normal visit. This happened with my DS. When the big group of normal visitors left to go to the lecture hall for the presentation, the two admitted students stayed behind. They got their own tour guide, had lunch and then went to a class. Not being in the big tour was really nice.