Several of the schools (all LACs) that have made the final cut have a single reception for admitted students on a Saturday. All of them have also indicated that prospective students can come on a weekday to attend classes of their choosing. While none of the latter involve shadowing someone, it sounds like there may be some activities specifically for admitted students visiting that week day. While doing both sounds ideal, that’s not really an option at this point.
My question to all of you who have done both is this: Which one do you think gives the most accurate sense of the school? We have visited these schools before and are confident that they all have excellent academics. The goal of this visit is for DS to try to figure out where he’d be most comfortable/happiest. The basic “are these my people?” thing… Any suggestions on how to make the most of either?
Can you get there on Friday and have your son attend classes with a student there, and then attend the reception the next day? My D did this and it was very helpful. If you have to choose between them, then probably shadowing a student for the day gives a better idea of what it’s like at a school on any given day.
@suzy100, thanks. Unfortunately no, both is not an option because on the Friday, the other school in the area and not near home – has its admitted students day, which DOES involve attending classes (without a handler!) As fate would have it, we have this issue with 2 schools (and both have the same conflict.)
Go on a weekday tour of the school, sit in on a class, and eat a meal in a cafeteria. Find a student who doesn’t look too busy and ask if they have any time, because your son has a few questions. Have him ask about the school’s social life or anything else that tour guides might try to obfuscate. As a parent, you should step back because there are some LACs where the answer truly is, there’s nothing to do but get black out drunk and/or watch Netflix (the student might be more inclined to share that when a parent isn’t nearby).
OK, then I would have your son contact the school he wants to visit and see if they can arrange to have a student (preferably in his major) take him along to classes that day. When my D went to classes with the assigned student, she got honest feedback about what it was like to go to school there, albeit through the lens of this particular student.
Thanks both of you! So if I were going to twist your words a bit, you think that even though he’d only be exposed to one or two classes, it’d be more real than an event “staged” by the school. The potential for distortion is good whether it’s extrapolating the big from the small or vice versa but he may be better able to apply the filter to the first. (Neither of these involve shadowing, btw – just being given the locations and times of some classes.)
And @whenhen, we’re past the point of stepping on campus with him! There were a few schools we toured, btw, that did separate tours for kids and parents, which struck me as brilliant. Two very different audiences. We’re decidedly un-hip parents, but not completely clueless!