<p>My S has just requested that we plan a trip for first week of April to visit as an admitted student. Some schools he has heard from as he applied EA and some he obviously wont hear from till just before. Since we are coming from a long way off the planning will have to be done anyway. I am also wondering what a parental roll in the whole thing would be.</p>
<p>My main question is what is the best thing to do on an admitted student visit? attend a class? stay overnight? try and arrange a day or half day with a student/guide? I don't know what things will or wont work at various schools but any and all experiences/opinions would be appreciated. We didnt do this with my older S as he knew for sure where he wanted to go, so another new experience!</p>
<p>We just got back from an accepted student day. It is fun, and tends to excite the student about going to the school, but it is important to look past the hype. Definitely try to sit in on a class, if possible. Come with your toughest questions about financial aid, retention and graduation rates, drinking, crime, etc. Try to figure out what’s going on by where the students actually hang out. Are there more students in the workout area or the library? Does the environment seem to revolve around drinking, parties, and sports? Look at the bulletin boards and posters to see what is on the mind of students. Pick up a copy of the campus newspaper. Don’t get so excited that you put down a deposit. Finally, try to keep your mouth shut–it’s your son’s decision, not yours.</p>
<p>I would first find out if the colleges he has applied to[ or been admitted to already] have accepted students days planned for some time in April, as many do. Kids usually do stay overnight at those events, and many events are planned by the hosting college, including class visits, recitals, etc, etc. Those preplanned events ARE the best times to do visits, as the students, and administration are specifically prepared to answer questions that students and parents may have about the college.
If he is planning on going at another time, then he needs to contact the admissions office to see if they can arrange someone to host him for at least one night, so he has a better chance of getting the “feel” of the college and current students.</p>
<p>But I think that you need to wait to plan his trip until he finds out where he HAS been accepted, and then hopefully whittle down the list to a few choices that can be seen in one trip. Otherwise, you might be spending more time come April 1 revising this trip than actually planning it.</p>
<p>Right now he has a couple of acceptances combined with scholarship offers. One other we are pretty sure he will get an acceptance to and hopefully at least one more of the others he is waiting on. The problem in waiting is we are coming from 10K miles away and planning it around his spring break so we don’t have a lot of room. Everywhere he has applied is on the East Coast from DC to Boston so that does make it easier no matter what the outcomes. We can a week or so, so hopefully that should work out.</p>
<p>Well, I think you do need to wait and see where the cards fall on April 1, and then ask him to compare his choices and pick his top 2-3 schools, based on what ever parameters you jointly decide on- scholarships, FA, location, proximity to airports, majors offered, etc, etc. But first contact the colleges and find out when they having accepted students events. And lastly, prepare to be flexible- he may walk around a campus for 1/2 hour and say “no way am I going here, lets’ move on to the next school” . That happened to me 4 years ago.</p>
<p>Agree with Menlopark. You may think your kid should give each college an equal chance but there’s a high probability that won’t happen. No point wasting a day in Philadelphia if your kid arrives the night before and has a toxic reaction to the city. (No flames- I love Philadelphia- just being illustrative.) So there is a lot of value in whittling down the choices to a manageable group. It is much more valuable to be part of the programmed accepted students visit than to try and replicate the experience on the fly.</p>
<p>If you really can’t work around the official programs, then getting an overnight for your kid at the top 2 or 3 choices would be really valuable.</p>
<p>The funniest thing about accepted students day is where they decide to purchase a t-shirt or hat. Last April, I asked my son repeatedly to rank the schools he was accepted at - which was first choice, which way was he leaning, etc. No response. He did 4 accepted day visits with his father - came back with a hat from Wake Forest - and that’s how I knew where to send the deposit check!</p>
<p>If your son has specific questions about a program that interests him, he might want to arrange a meeting with the undergraduate program director of relevant departments.</p>
<p>My son was particularly interested in research opportunities, the freedom to pursue a double major, the likelihood of being granted sufficient advanced standing in some courses that he could access upper level courses in a hurry, that sort of thing. In his case, academic issues were paramount. With that in mind, he arranged a meeting with the undergraduate program directors at the final two schools on his list. He also arranged ahead of time to sit in on some classes in his field of interest.</p>
<p>He did enjoy the accepted student days social activities. The overnight visit was not helpful. At the school he decided to attend, the accepted student day activity included having many faculty, many students and even all of the deans available to talk to both students and their parents at a couple of functions. It was well done, and I am glad we decided to attend.</p>
<p>Lots of colleges have “accepted students days”, but those are specific times – usually one weekend during April, maybe two. The earliest this year would be around April 10-11. They aren’t running programs constantly. So you may want to pay attention to when those pre-planned programs are at the schools you know you want to visit or think you may want to visit. Also – it’s very hard to double-up on these. Maybe you could do pieces of two in 2 or 3 days, but not more.</p>
<p>Of course, you don’t have to have a formal program to visit a college, and you will probably visit some without it. But you DO want to try to visit while classes are in session, and at some colleges they may not be in early April, especially April 1-2 (which are right before Easter, and thus during many colleges’ breaks). So you should pay attention to THAT, too.</p>
<p>We have heard from one college so far (acceptance). That acceptance included information about an accepted students day but many of the rest of the colleges my D1 applied to do not list accepted students days on their websites. I do not want to call admissions offices about accepted students days when she has not yet been accepted as I feel it would be seen as helicopter parenting. (And to ask her to do it under the stress she is under waiting seems cruel.) Yet we are in a similar dilemma having to make travel plans on short notice (once we hear of acceptances) from clear across the country. Does anyone know of a master list of these dates or how to find them on college websites that don’t list them on their events or admissions calendars? Why are they so secretive?!! It would be nice to have a general idea before two weeks before we need to fly somewhere. Kind of insensitive if you ask me!</p>
<p>My S had success just contacting some of the schools directly and they usually set up a schedule for him - sitting in on classes, meeting people from the department he was interested in, etc.</p>
<p>One school really took care of him - I dropped him off at 3:30 PM one afternoon and was told to pick him up at 3:00 PM the next day - they had a full 24 hours scheduled for him. He ended up going to that school and is now friends with the student he stayed over night with.</p>
<p>We stayed away from the Accepted Students Days - seemed to be a prepackaged marketing day for the school. We thought he would get a better feel for the schools if he just went when the school was in session and kept his eyes and ears open.</p>
<p>Accepted student days in April also pose a challenge for kids taking AP exams in early May – the scheduling flex may not be what you’d hope for, especially when you may also have prom that month.</p>
<p>expat, Has your son already visited his potential choices or would this trip be his first in-person exposure? If he’s visited before then my guess is that he has a pecking order in his head and when his acceptances come in a first choice will float to the top. A second look may not be necessary.</p>
<p>If he hasn’t visited then yes, by all means, do it. Assuming that he won’t have more than three top picks then he should do an overnight, sit in on some classes, generally soak up the atmosphere. The parent should lay low.</p>
<p>One thing I would caution against, though, is visiting schools at which he’s waitlisted. In the event that the door never opens, an overnight just adds to the pain.</p>
<p>Money may (and should) be a determining factor so you don’t want to plan the trip until you have the financial offers as well. You don’t want to fall in love with something you can’t afford. If you do visit, this is one area where you’ll want active involvement.</p>
<p>We couldn’t afford much in the way of campus visits – but S applied to Dartmouth and was accepted. He and DH went to the accepted student’s weekend in April. S loved every minute of it (ghost stories especially). He was shy about it when he got home – I think he was afraid it wasn’t possible. We sat down with a calculator and started penciling. It was do-able (Dartmouth was very generous). S flew up the stairs to order a T shirt and all was right with the world. </p>
<p>I asked DH about the campus visit. He said he was moral support on the plane but completely unnecessary once they hit campus. S stayed overnight in the dorm with another kid from our area. </p>
<p>Admitted Student Weekends (which I have not attended) and Recruitment Weekends (of which I have attended many) can definitely be filled with rah rah activities. But, any discerning student should find it easy to look past the hype and get a sense of the real school. On each visit, I made sure to spend a few hours by myself or with a close friend. I checked out the dorms, the classrooms, the dining halls, and the bulletin boards - ESPECIALLY the bulletin boards. I visited one school that blew me away in terms of the social offerings in that single night, not to mention that week (and another school where I was bored on the very first night!). If you’re not shy, talk to current students. If you are shy, find a non-shy friend (I found I filled that role relatively well) to hang out with. I also checked the book store, the student union, etc. I wanted to see what the students were doing and what the atmosphere was like. In 1-3 well-used hours, I was able to get a great feel for the school outside of the plush program.</p>
<p>OK…so what is the value of the “accepted student receptions” that are held in a nearby city? We have had one of these and I am worried that it will be all hype. However, as we are waiting for the merit aid package, perhaps it would be good to go and show interest (reception 45 minute drive away rather than half a continent). He also has an offer to fly him and a parent to an accepted student day at another university but it is way down on his list and it seems a waste to do this before he knows the outcome of preferred schools and before he gets his merit award (if he gets one)…I hate to waste anyone’s money so we are stewing over that one. Advice?</p>
<p>Try to plan at least the “BOOK END FLIGHTS”.</p>
<p>We are in the same boat: trying to plan a coast-to-coast trip, when all the decisions aren’t in yet. I decided in January to purchase the “book-end” flights in and out of a big airport hub (Dulles), and one flight in the middle of my D’s 9 day break to attend an accepted student-day at one of the match schools my daughter has already been accepted to but has yet to visit. I had been watching the fare for this basic itinerary go up $100/day since Christmas, and decided it was time to buy.</p>
<p>The plan leaves us the flexibility to revisit the safeties that she’s gotten into now if there are no more fat envelopes to come, or ditch them if some of her more top choice schools accept her come April 1. We can fly or perhaps even drive from the Big Airport to those other match and reaches, if necessary. Her break begins April 3rd, and we just couldn’t wait til April 1 to plan the whole thing, because it would have been outrageously expensive.</p>
<p>Moniquemom has the right idea. Plan your overseas flight to a convenient hub - you may want to ask the East Coasters here which airport is best - and plan to get around to most schools by bus or train (a car is only needed south of Washington DC.) All of the second stage can be done with little notice. It works best to arrive at a school in the late afternoon so you are fresh for tours or interviews in the morning. </p>
<p>Regarding your ideas on what is important when visiting - A) attending a class, B) spending the night or C) hanging out with a campus guide, I would say all three are important and rank them C, A, B. However, my sons would say C, B and a distant A, but add “check out the dorms.” Which brings us to a point mentioned briefly by others - this is your child’s moment. He will want to blend in and act like he is already a college student, which means that mom or dad should act like wallpaper. Truly, go on the official tour with him, and then find something else to do. This can be a difficult time, depending on your student and how pressured he feels, so give him as much room as you can.</p>
<p>S1 and S2 have found roaming around their intended departments quite interesting. Read the bulletin boards. S1 found out a LOT at one school about where graduates were going, what kinds of jobs/fellowships/research opportunities were available, and profs came out the door to talk to him about their department. Another school had corridors of closed doors, nothing on the walls, no sign of personality. </p>
<p>Both sat in on classes and talked to profs. S1 did April visits solo so he could assess the travel issues, and went on non-accepted students weekends. He only went to his top three choices in April. S2 is going to do the same thing, but may visit a couple more schools, depending on how things work out. They both wanted to get the unvarnished version. Remember that in April the schools are courting your kids – they want to put their best face forward. Your kid now has control. The dynamics are totally reversed.</p>
<p>We are doing the bookend flights for S2 over spring break, knowing he’s going to visit one school, but hoping we hear from others between now and then so we can make arrangements for the rest of the week.</p>
<p>I thought I was a savvy traveler but I am not familiar with bookend flights. Does that mean a round trip flight from a home airport on a Friday and coming back the following Sunday? Can someone explain this in a little more detail?</p>