<p>Every college that my kids are looking at says something on the website to the effect that overnight visits through the school are only for seniors and they cannot accommodate juniors. Which I totally understand - they need to draw the line somewhere and senior / junior is as good as any. However, since my kids are wanting to ED / EA, their trips will all be during junior year, and the chances that they'll fly back to a college they've already seen are low. </p>
<p>However, would it be ok to try to make private contacts (e.g., with friends of friends, or even through "CC friends") and have my juniors spend the night with someone? Or is that just a big no-no that will get either them or the student in trouble with administration?</p>
<p>If a friend is living off campus and has no problem with someone crashing there overnight, then it might be worth it. But your S/D won’t have the opportunity to be able to sit in on classes unless he is registered as a visitor with the admissions office, which I would think is the whole idea behind this visit. And if the friend is in university provided housing then I would strongly advise against trying to “sneak” your child in. Instead I would plan on having them stay overnight in Oct of their senior year. My son visited Chicago twice, once during our summer college trip , and then again in Oct during the times specifically scheduled for HS seniors.</p>
<p>The timing is critical…but this is the time for SENIORS to feel welcome to the colleges. And since colleges are overloaded with students, they really can’t do “justice” to acknowledge a junior. </p>
<p>Visiting days, for juniors, technically begins in the spring of their junior year. While you can, of course, visit any school you’d like, they really can’t accommodate your junior-age kids for anything more than info sessions and tours. </p>
<p>One important aspect to remember is to be sure to sign in when you visit. This will put your D/S on their mailing list, and they’ll keep track of ‘demonstrated interest’. Some applications also ask when you visited.</p>
<p>Check with the school first to find out its policy about overnight visitors. Most schools that my sons looked at allow students to host guests overnight in their dorm rooms. If that’s the case, there’s no problem using “private contacts” to find a current student to stay with, since your children would not be “sneaking” in or breaking any rules.</p>
<p>They could still attend the formal tours, info sessions, etc. offered through the Admissions Office while they are there. And to make the most of their visit, they should definitely try to sit in on a class or two or at least make some contacts with faculty/students in whatever academic dept. they are most interested in.</p>
<p>Of course, if the school does NOT permit students to have overnight guests (other than the formal stays for seniors arranged through the Admissions Office), then there’s not much you can do about it. You do not want to break the rules and get someone in trouble. </p>
<p>I sympathize with your dilemma about timing college visits. The schools my sons were interested in were all on the other side of the country and we too could only afford to fly out for one visit per school.</p>
<p>Some schools will absolutely allow juniors to do overnights, but that’s generally during the spring semester. My D did one last year, and I know that at least one other school she’s applying to offered that option. If the school specifically says that official overnights are only offered to seniors, then I see no reason why your kids can’t stay with someone they know on campus - provided it’s ok with that person’s roommate. There’s no reason they couldn’t do the information session/tour/sit in on classes thing, and I wouldn’t consider that “sneaking in” at all. But if it makes you feel better, you can call the admissions office to find out whether that’s allowed. :)</p>
<p>Over night visit is over rated, my daughter didn’t have very good experience. She also thinks it’s weird to have a random person stay in her room.</p>
<p>One of our best college visits was my daughter’s junior year when we did an info session and tour at Brandeis and then she stayed overnight in the dorm with a high school friend/acquaintance there.</p>
<p>Whether an admissions office will make arrangements with any junior for an overnight stay, you can always make private arrangements through friends’ kids or through CC contacts. </p>
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<p>Security at most colleges usually isn’t this tight. I know that my younger D had no trouble going to classes with the friends of her older sister when she went for a visit.</p>
<p>As for the actual benefit of an overnight stay–neither of my kids stayed overnight at their EA schools. They didn’t do any overnights until after they had received all of their results, picked out the 2 or 3 finalists and then did overnights and those schools. If I were going to apply to an ED school, I might want to try to overnight there as a junior.</p>
<p>Otherwise, I’d wait till spring of senior year for overnight visits.</p>
<p>Well, right, but how will they know which school is “worthy” of playing the ED card unless they try to stay overnight at as many as possible during our trips the back half of junior year?</p>
<p>The concept of going back and making these visits in the fall of senior year, when they’re trying to get applications out the door for, say, a Nov 1 or Nov 15 ED – plus getting others in EA should the ED fall through – (obviously those other EA’s would be withdrawn if the ED comes through) just makes no sense. I can’t believe I’m the only person who thinks like this.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl,
S1 did this repeatedly during his search process. He had friends at pretty much every school he was considering, so he’d make informal contacts to stay or touch base with them, but would still pop by the admissions office to sign in (to show the demonstrated interest love) and then go off to visit classes. For Mudd and Chicago, he did the on-campus interview at the same time (both interviews/overnights were fall of senior year, though he had already done overnights at both during junior year, too). He contacted profs in advance to sit in on classes – noone ever turned him down, though they did occasionally have a test going on that day and suggested it might not be the best time to observe. He had also done the official info/session tour at some point.</p>
<p>S2 has done this twice at Chicago already. Helps with an older sib there! Think we will wait for more visits til he has acceptances in hand. In general my kids are not fond of Accepted Student Weekends. They prefer to do their own on-the-ground intelligence gathering.</p>
<p>Right - I’m not suggesting foregoing the sign-in, do-the-tour-visit-the-class jazz. I’m just trying to maximize the info gathering given that we are visiting so many schools (for twins, each with different interests / criteria) and flying or driving a considerable distance to do so.</p>
<p>I didn’t do a single formal college visit last year. That said, I think the experience of spending a weekday and a weekend at a school you’re seriously considering with a friend is an experience that cannot be replaced. </p>
<p>Because your child will be staying with a friend, they will likely experience a social scene that will likely be similar to the one your child would be attracted to. The social scene both on weekends and weekdays is the most important thing to be looking at, as I would say that the variability of classes within a school is much larger than between schools. The only exception is if there is some extremely specific program that your child is interested in.</p>
<p>Multiple overnight visits would be pretty time consuming, and I think many colleges restrict overnight visits to seniors. I do agree that it is a great idea to try to spend time with friends at each college you visit - my kids found this time much more valuable than the standard tour and info session. </p>
<p>My older son saved the overnight visit for senior year fall - after seeing all the schools on his list, he had one clear first choice for ED. He spent the night there in mid-September as a “to be sure” check. The overnight confirmed the school was his first choice.</p>
<p>My younger son used an overnight visit in September senior year to try to learn more about a school he was intrigued by, but not enough to apply ED. In this case, the overnight visit helped confirm that the school was not his first choice. On another “return” trip senior fall, he then spent an afternoon with a friend of his older brother at his first choice school - this time firmed up the ED decision. Both of these visits involved air travel - so he really needed to narrow down which schools he wanted to spent extra time at. Very hard to fit in senior year fall.</p>
<p>I think that these overnights are totally over rated…unless it’s with a friend the student has something in common with. Otherwise, it’s going to be totally dependent on the host and the particular weekend. The experience at the same school will be entirely different if the host is a nerd, partier, has a SO, etc. Also, imagine if the weekend is during homecoming, Halloween, or Spring Weekend as compared to right before midterms.</p>
<p>I’ve read stories of nightmare overnights on these boards, some where the prospies were even ditched by their hosts. I wouldn’t want to take a chance that a top choice could be ruined in my child’s eyes because either they were bored or turned off by their host’s evening activities or personalities.</p>
<p>Oh, I dunno…best bud of one of my sons was ditched at his overnight visit because he didn’t want to drink or smoke, and wound up going out for the evening with six young women! Is still friends with them three years later.</p>
<p>As for the host having a SO, party, etc. – not much difference in what could happen (or how one learns to handle it) in April vs. September…</p>
<p>I think that informal overnight visits should be possible at most colleges. Sitting in on large lectures without permission is likely possible at most colleges. Sitting in on the classes of the kid you are visiting is likely possible, if the host checks with their professors in advance. Sitting in on classes that are not normally on the list of approved classes to sit in on (which are usually large lectures) is likely to be possible if the student e-mails the professor directly. My older son only did overnights as part of accepted student events. While I think they were valuable for him in their own way, I don’t think they are as typical as less orchestrated weekends. My older son didn’t spend any time with his host at Harvard, but still managed to find a good group to spend time with. (Of course he did choose the other school, but I don’t think the Harvard host was the reason at all!)</p>
<p>It’s definitely okay to arrange for your student to stay with a family friend or accquaintance at the college you’re visiting privately. As long as you’re not violating dorm policy, enrolled students can usually host whoever they want, it won’t get anyone in trouble. I would stick to people you/your kids know. If you’re going somewhere where you don’t know anyone, you might have your kids check with their GC and see if any other students from their high school have gone to the college you’re visiting, and then try and get in touch with those students. </p>
<p>Only doing senior visits for seniors is honestly because it’s usually hard to get hosts for overnights, and colleges have a limited number of spaces and a lot more juniors coming to visit than seniors. It’s better for them to spend the resources on students who are further along in the process and have therefore narrowed their choices more and know what they’re looking for. And most applicants don’t apply ED/EA anyway, so while it’s inconvenient for those that are, it inconveniences the fewest number of people. </p>
<p>Visiting is more important than overnighting anyway, I would agree with those who have said that the overnight is rarely the best evaluative tool.</p>