<p>My son was also big into the sitting on the bench thing. Could tell within about 15 minutes if it was a group of students he felt he’d fit in with. I think it’s a <em>great</em> way to come up with a “absolutely not” or a “you know, maybe. . .”</p>
<p>He did a couple of overnights fall of senior year of hs. One of them was pretty awful–way too much underage drinking (although the good news was his host was eventually kicked off the athletic team for too many drinking infractions).</p>
<p>Come March with all acceptances/FA offers in hand, he narrowed it down to two schools. He did back-to-back overnights at both (they were in the same state) and came away with a clear preference. It ended up being the school he’d had the fairly awful first overnight with. I think the difference was partially the host but also going into the second round with his eyes a little wider open. College kids drink.</p>
<p>All that is to say, I don’t think they’re absolutely necessary, especially if a kid has a clear #1. On the other hand, they do impart information/offer more exposure to the school (for better or worse).</p>
<p>1 of my kids had an overnight experience like Beltrami. The school was trying to show these kids a good time, but it backfired. They were given a t-shirt and football game tickets, and the school hosted a picnic. The students that were hosting the high school kids told them about the frat parties being held that night. Many of the kids went off to go to the frat parties. Some of them got so drunk that they were too hungover to atted the school’s morning sessions the next day. My son said one of the girls had a real horror story about being accosted by a drunk frat boy.</p>
<p>(Of the kids that my kid stayed in touch with, none of the kids who blew off the morning sessions offered received acceptances.) If the overnight is being offered for students who are not yet admitted, something to consider is that the school might be observing the students as much as the students are observing the school.</p>
<p>My kids were required to have an overnight during their summer orientations. Those particular overnights worked out really well, and they met a lot of other freshmen. When they went to school in the Fall they already knew some of their fellow students.</p>
<p>i firmly believe they should do overnights at all or none. DS fell in love with the only place he did an overnight and still wonders if it was the school or the concept of being in college that ‘turned him on’. He went to that school and is happy, still wonders if he made is choice with a level playing field. </p>
<p>When asked about the possibility of an overnight an another of his top accepted choices, he was told the school didn’t arrange overnights due to the liability involved. I’m wondering if others ran into similar replies. Suppose there would be some liability involved–the school pays you $100 to host an overnight and there are ‘issues’–??</p>