Got invitation in mid-late Dec 2019 for ADS weekends. Any info on how many they invite and if they use info from this weekend to award additional scholarships if you do not get full ADS?
Good luck to everyone attending!!!
Hi! We will be attending the second ADS weekend. Very much looking forward to it. I think there are also scholarships short of full ride, that depend on the test. The test is supposed to be crazy hard, general knowledge, and nothing you can prepare for 
My S is there now. If you have any questions, I can ask him after this weekend’s test and activities.
We will be attending next weekend. It looks like a full schedule, wining and dining in addition to trying out for scholarships. I think there is much more to it than the exam…meeting and greeting, shaking hands, being engaged, etc.
My D20 is still trying to decide between schools and this weekend will be a large part of her decision process, aside from just the money.
We are attending next weekend too. Tough decisions for my kid coming up… Michigan vs MSU Honors.
Same choice for my D20. We don’t qualify for any need based aid, so it’s all merit. She is leaning toward Michigan, but if there’s a big difference in aid it will be a tough choice. She does like the James Madison college at MSU, makes the size more manageable, and there seems to be more advanatages to honors at MSU than at Michigan. We are attending Campus Day in AA the following week, it’s hard cus not exaclty apples to apples.
Mickey, we might have the same kid, ha! She is also considering James Madison, and that plus honors college is really compelling. She’s not really entertaining honors at UM. The “prestige” factor is weighing in for her too, though she is trying to resist that.
We will be attending this weekend. Any insight from last weekend’s attendee in terms of session quality? which one were worth the time?
We attended this weekend. There are approx 600 attendees each weekend.
This was our first visit to MSU, so we found all the sessions worthwhile. There’s a lot of flexibility in the afternoon with the academic sessions - choose 1-2 that you’re interested in. We went to 2 different engineering disciplines, and both were well done.
My daughter was meh about the students only stuff in the evening but I think others loved it. She said the academic booth lines were very long, so not much chance for her to get info there.
Overall it’s a very long day(s) but we got a lot out of it. But again it was all new to us.
@lgiltmier - Thanks for the info. We moved out of Southeast Michigan long time ago so it will be kind of first visit for us too.
We are heading up to East Lansing this weekend too. Lucky enough to snag room at Kellogg Center for the entire weekend.
My D20’s classmates who went last weekend were Meh about it. They said there was a lot of people and they felt too hard of a “sell.” Most of the kids there, high achievers all, have been admitted to other schools as well and are weighing final decisions on the amount of merit $$…my D20 included. MSU is fully aware of this fact and pulls out the stops to make them feel wanted.
Whatever happens it will be a nice weekend for us. We get a chance to visit my niece who’s a junior and spent some downtime away from the stress of senior activities.
Clearly that’s the point of the weekend. The competition is more a marketing tactic to get you there. I appreciated that they understood the pool of kids they are talking to. It was refreshing after other visits where places present with some arrogance of their superiority. The equation at MSU is different - financial advantages, flexibility, attention as a high achieving student. They were honest about it. It’s was all what I expected.
Again if you’re already familiar with MSU, I don’t know that there was anything unique. I was surprised we didn’t see Sparty. 
DD is missing the events of the weekend as we have other commitments both Saturdays. However, she is taking the exam later in the week. What are we missing? We are OOS and have been to the campus once. DD is a bit concerned about the size, but it is one of few schools that has her program. Therefore, it’s a strong contender.
I thought it was great. I appreciate how welcoming everyone at MSU always is. I liked the chance to bus around and visit different departments and programs. And obviously, the honors college has great perks here.
My S attended the first weekend. It was his first visit to MSU. He got tons of good information specific to his major and areas of interest… way more in depth than a normal visit. This seemed to be the biggest benefit of attending. He is also super social, so the student-only portions of the weekend were relatively fun for him (he ended up with quite a few contacts in his phone). And my husband felt the weekend was well run.
Despite two days on campus, it was a little hard for my S to get a good feel for campus vibe. Maybe that is just the nature of a huge campus in the winter? And my husband noted that the Lyman Briggs dorm (Holmes) is a little rough around the edges (not that my S cared).
Overall it was a very good experience and moved the needle a bit, although probably not enough to overtake my S’s current top choice.
I agree with @aewlmom. We had a great first visit also. My son came out of there seeing himself going to school there. It has quickly climbed the list and is probably 1 or 2. I really liked how organized things were. My wife is a U of M grad and fully signed off on MSU and was impressed with everything.
What was your son’s first choice school?
Also, if I understood things correctly we should all know how things stand in terms of scholarships by Friday? I assume that they will send out an email?
@gohawks1 – Tulane is his first choice (admitted EA). Obviously a very different type of school (smaller, etc.). He applied to MSU sight unseen because an acquaintance suggested he might like the “small college in a big university” feel of Lyman Briggs. Over the last few months, MSU has steadily moved up his list thanks to its outstanding marketing and honors/scholarship offers (all without cumbersome additional apps). MSU is doing a lot right, in my opinion.
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Agreed. My D visited the James Madison College, which is just like Briggs but with a public policy focus. I loved the fact that professor tenure there is based largely on teaching skills, with a secondary research focus. And it showed. I too am not sure MSU will make it to #1, but it might – it’s up there. They are doing many things right.
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aewlmom: also – was your S mainly on the north side of campus? That’s where briggs is, I think. And the south side has a much more beautiful, “campus” type feel to it.
Anyone know when they will release the ADS results? Is it 5pm? Is it email or regular mail? Thanks.