Need Advice on Focus of Second Visit to College for Possible ED

Parents Forum
21

Just be cautious in deciding based on a visit. My son had a somewhat negative overnight experience because the kid happened to have a test the next day and really didn’t do anything with my son. And my son is an introvert so wasn’t comfortable going up to random kids or seeking out a party. He also went to visit a class and the class was cancelled for that day! (and this was on an admitted student visit). He ended up attending the college and loved it, but almost despite the visit.

We also visited some schools on a Saturday morning (which was when the info sessions and tours were held on weekends) and campuses seemed very dead due to kids all sleeping in.

A visit can help, but really diving into the academic offerings (including the schedule so you know if the class if offered every semester or once every few years) and talking to professors and upperclassman can be even more useful.

22

My kid (a STEM kid) did an overnight at my alma mater and it totally turned her off as her host was a theatre major with a bunch of friends and they all talked about the science courses they couldn’t wait to get out of the way so that they never had to take another one again. It gave my daughter the impression that everyone there was a humanities major (even though the school is famous for producing high numbers of science PhDs). I later wrote to the admissions department telling them that intentionally “anti-matching” hosts was a terrible idea (that was in fact what they were doing).