My junior D is taking a 3 hour tour in February to see one of her schools at the top of her list. I know it’s good to try to meet with the advisor so they can see a name to a face, but she wonders if she will even have many questions after the tour and doesn’t want the meeting to seem awkward. Any advice on how to go about this or specific questions some people ask to the advisor right after a tour they can’t find on the website? Thanks.
Sometimes it’s not necessary to ask a question. Nothing wrong with her introducing herself and saying how much she is looking forward to applying. This often leads to a natural conversation in itself. That would be enough to express interest with the admissions officer.
I don’t think we ever met with an admissions officer after a tour unless there was an appointment set up in advance for an interview or something like that. Does she have an appointment/interview set up?
“Tell me something about your school that doesn’t appear on the website”
“What do you like about working at this school? Did you attend this school? What made you decide to work in admissions?”
“Is there a nice place close to campus that you would recommend for lunch/dinner?”
Honestly, after a 3 hour tour you should have gotten all the basics and most of the bells and whistles. At that point, what is left are specific things about your particular major or interest and the personal touch. The visit with the admin is their chance to make a sales pitch to you. Hopefully all you’ll need are a few leading questions.
We are thinking of setting up an appointment to meet him. I heard that it is really good for them to see a face to the applicant, express interest, etc. But after three hours of touring, I don’t want to waste their time, so need to come up with some good stuff without it coming off as too fluffy. I am sure we may have some very specific questions related to the major. I just wondered how many other people actually meet the admissions officer at school.
Some things you may want to know but may not find on the website…
How are advisors assigned for incoming freshmen and what is that relationship like?
How does prioritization work for oversubscribed classes? And related to that…
Right now, I am interested in xyz but want to explore before committing. How would you recommend I do that here?
What advice would you give a student who is choosing a school?
What advice do you have for making a successful transition into this school?
Very helpful. Thank you.
Are you setting up an interview? I’m not 100% clear on what you mean by “meeting.” Some colleges offer them on campus while you are there and some don’t–it’s generally easy enough to schedule online if they do. Also, sometimes the interviewer is a student who works in the admissions office, so that can give her more ideas for questions she’d ask a current student.
I would like my D to set up an interview for a formal meeting. Something one-on-one. Is this common or not? @PetraMC
We never did this, @3mamagirls , but DC had a chance to meet his reps when they visited his school. If the rep doesn’t visit her school, I think it’s fine.
If the school interviews then you can set up an interview for when you are there. However, keep in mind that you cannot insist or guarantee that the interview will be conducted by the admissions officer in charge of your region. At some schools interviews are done by students, at some schools they are with whoever is in the office that day etc.
HOWEVER, I see your D is a junior. It is not the right time to try to set up an interview or a one-on-one meeting with an admissions officer. Admissions officers are extremely busy right now and are very focused on handling the group of senior applicants. The appropriate time for an interview or one-on-one meeting would be late junior year (after the admissions cycle is complete) or early senior year when the focus shifts to next year’s applicants. I do think it is great to go visit schools, but I would forgo the idea of one-on-one meetings for now.
@happy1 . Interesting. We are flying to visit the school, and going mid February, so lots of visits are not realistic for us. She is also visiting one other school, and because she is in the 2nd half of her junior year, can actually sit in on a class.
I do see your point about who would actually be doing the meeting though - her exact counselor or any counselor.
We will have to think this one through. We are doing two schools in February, and she will go to a few more in a different area during spring break.
If you can’t go back it is always worth having your D ask if an interview would be available when she visits. If not she can always ask to do an alumni interview close to your home next year.
During our college visits with our D, we were able to get a walk-in appointment and meet with the Dean of Admissions at a highly selective LAC in his office at one college, and the Director of Admissions in the admissions office lobby at another college. If nothing else, have your child ask them about the process the college uses to select applicants for admission and what they are looking for in applicants.
Based on the interview we had with the Dean of Admissions at the highly selective LAC, we learned that college used an elaborate board process. The Dean of Admissions had one vote on the panel and the regional admissions advisor for our area had another vote, would present our D’s application to the admissions panel, and make the case for her admission. With that knowledge, we made an appointment for our D to meet the regional admissions advisor for that college when she visited our state. It was a successful interview and our D was offered admission to that college.
@ARTCC Wow - I would have never thought of asking about their selection process. That didn’t feel intrusive? But not even sure why I would think that - which is why I am asking all of you! Thank you.
We went to several schools where an appointment with admissions was part of it when you set up a tour. However, it was amazing how often ‘our’ admissions officer (whether assigned by last name or region where we lived, or major) wasn’t available so we were given to another AO. It happened so often that I began to realize that it just didn’t matter whether we had that interview or not.
Each college’s admissions process is different; however, given the large amount of money parents are asked to pay for college tuition, room and board, and expenses, it shouldn’t be unreasonable at all to ask about the admissions process as a potential stakeholder. The Dean of Admissions and Director of Admissions at the two colleges we spoke with didn’t seem taken aback or offended at all by the question when asked about it.
I would not be pleased if a dean or director of admissions was offended by such a question or tried to obfuscate the response.