Making it harder to get information about information sessions

<p>Planning to visit a couple colleges during an east coast trip-- I'm finding it more difficult to find information about when/where on information sessions than it was a few weeks ago. Case on point is URochester. A few weeks ago it was easy to find the schedule for information session and tours. Now a visitor to the web site has to create an account before seeing that information. And the accounts are meant for students, not parents. Similar deal at MIT, though a little more information is readily accessible.</p>

<p>It makes some sense that they would want to know who is coming, but I first need the information for planning.</p>

<p>Just venting a little. I am irked.</p>

<p>I just went on the UR webpage. Looked for interview and information sessions in my area. All I did was search on my zip code. I did not need to register.</p>

<p>Sounds like you are having a bad day. Maybe it is time to take a break, do something nice for yourself and start over tomorrow.</p>

<p>I had some free time so I thought I would look. I will agree, the MIT one was hard to find but there was a way without having to register. Good luck on your visits.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/youmit/campus_tours_info_sessions/index.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org/topics/youmit/campus_tours_info_sessions/index.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/visit/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/visit/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>mom58, the most effective way to resolve things liek this is to merely have your student call admissions and get the necessary info and make the necessary arrangments. Talking to an actual human being allows you to get immediate confirmation of reservations when needed and to ask questions which may pop up.</p>

<p>Email and web sites are nice but nothing takes the place of talking to someone, though it is always wise to follow up with a confirming email.</p>

<p>I agree with originaloog. In hindsight, I'd call all the admissions offices we were visiting and have them set up special stuff for my kid. Things like sitting in on a class, having lunch with an undergrad, tours of labs, a look-see at music departments, tickets to student plays.... Once we figured all that out (and many schools will do all those things for you) we really had much more satisfying visits. (It's hard during the summer though.)</p>

<p>By the way, welcome to Rochester.</p>

<p>edad-- I was looking for the time for the on-campus info session.</p>

<p>I did send an email to UR and got a pleasant response with the information I sought. And D successfully signed up for a session. It is just that it would have been more convenient if I could have found the information on the web site-- a place where I could get it on a Friday night for example. What I find irksome is that an obstacle is placed in front of getting this basic planning information.</p>

<p>By dwelling on this, I sound more irked than I really am.</p>

<p>The MIT one wasn't hard to find, I didn't think.</p>

<p>Go to <a href="http://www.mitadmissions.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mitadmissions.org&lt;/a> (the Admissions website), look down the page on the right where it says "Search This Site", and enter "campus information session". The first response returned is the one cited above, with the campus tours and info session schedules and locations.</p>

<p>I use those search boxes on college websites all the time. Sometimes one has to be a little creative in the search terms, but they usually do the trick for me.</p>

<p>I was able to find out what time tours and info sessions are at UR without logging in. Go to <a href="http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/visit/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://enrollment.rochester.edu/admissions/visit/&lt;/a>, click their link that says "You can schedule your visit here". They'll then show you a calendar. Click on a date, and it'll tell you when the tours and info sessions are on that date.</p>

<p>I do have some egg on my face. I'm not sure what went wrong with my navigating the Rochester site. Maybe I didn't click on a date??? Hard to understand since I had successfully pulled up times for various dates a few weeks ago.
I do know what happened at the MIT site. I navigated the mit.edu site and went to <a href="http://web.mit.edu/visit/info.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://web.mit.edu/visit/info.html&lt;/a>, clicked on "information session" under the bold-face "admissions" paragraph and ended up at <a href="http://admissions.mit.edu/AdmissionsWeb/appmanager/AdmissionsWeb/Main;jsessionid=BLhJ7yqSZPx6Jvhzb34Gdhfs71LGYGLsT5h636V0QlWt1Ff9gYCX!-1515862591!-2147452183?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageCampusTours%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://admissions.mit.edu/AdmissionsWeb/appmanager/AdmissionsWeb/Main;jsessionid=BLhJ7yqSZPx6Jvhzb34Gdhfs71LGYGLsT5h636V0QlWt1Ff9gYCX!-1515862591!-2147452183?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageCampusTours&lt;/a>. This page asks for log-in and seems designed for overnight visits. It also has the option of going to the admissions blogs. That is a little misleading because it takes you to the admissions portal, not just blogs. I didn't want to read blogs; I wanted information about information sessions. Things would have been fine if I had gone there or had gone directly to undergraduate admissions from mit.edu.</p>

<p>That's OK, mom58; I just had to check, since my d is going to Rochester, and I wanted to let them know if their website's a problem!</p>