<p>Are overnights generally positive experiences or has anyone had an overnight been a major turn off? My daughter is going up to Cornell next week. She is borderline on accepting and if the overnight is anything like the phone call she received from a sophomore last week, we can pretty much cross Cornell off the list. The phone call was from a young man who knew nothing about the program my daughter is interested in, and he kept saying, "I dunno, I dunno," to everything she asked, even about the campus in general.
Who are the kids that host these overnights? Are they selected by the school, do they volunteer, are they doing it for money? Granted, I have a special interest in this being a positive experience, but if the host turns out to be a dud, that shouldn't reflect on the whole school (even though it just might).
Anybody have experience with this?
Thanks.</p>
<p>On CC historically there have been mixed reviews about overnights. </p>
<p>Personally, I'm not that fond of them - others will disagree.</p>
<p>My problem with them is that they are a complete crapshoot. If your child is stuck with a loser host (and that does happen surprisingly often!) they may cross off a perfectly good school for no good reason. Hosts are paid by the schools. I'm sure they try to screen them, but...</p>
<p>So you just need to be aware that it could go either way, have big ramifications, and possibly not represent at all the experience your child will have at the school.</p>
<p>I agree with Weenie that overnights can be a complete crapshoot but I didn't know that $$ could be involved when being a host. My daughter has hosted many times and she takes it seriously. Where is the money. Show me the money!</p>
<p>at my school (barnard), overnight hostesses are volunteers who dont get paid.. i think maybe they get a coupon for a free coffee on campus or something.. but everyone loves barnard so much that they are happy to do it (or else they wouldnt volunteer). i cant imagine why someone would volunteer who wasn't interested in showing off their school.
in april when we have mass overnights, barnard sends out emails to the entire student body asking for volunteers to host prospies, so during this time it's more likely you'll have someone who wouldn't normally do it. but they're not being forced or paid, so i'm not sure why the experience wouldnt be a positive one.
is your daughter just doing on a random overnight or is it a school-sponsored one? if it is a school sponsored one, like for all the '10 admits, then they will probably have activities for her to do so that it wont matter if her host is a loser or not, they will just be providing a floor for her to sleep on.</p>
<p>My D is leaving tomorrow for Denison for a program for admitted students, and she will actually be staying overnight 2 nights since she has to travel cross-country. My advice to her is to try and connect with more students than her host (or hosts) -- with students involved in the activities and academic areas she is interested in, professors, basically with anyone friendly. Also, if she hears something negative or weird from someone, I suggested that she ask other students about it to get as broad a range of input as possible. She is doing another overnight at Whitman the end of next week, but she is staying with someone she knows, a freshman who graduated from her high school. I think that is a great way to do the overnight, but it's not always possible. You can't avoid the fact that your kid's impressions are going to be influenced, maybe heavily, by whomever they come in contact with on the visit.</p>
<p>At my school (Rice) hosts are all volunteers, and just are doing it to show off how much they love Rice. </p>
<p>I personally think overnights are valuable, but if your daughter sees she is not clicking with her host, she really ought to try to get out and see if the rest of the student body is like that, and what there is to do other than classes (go to a sporting event/party/concert/club meeting/lecture, etc.)</p>
<p>My son will be doing two overnights within the next week. Both school sponsored. He had a whole "college experience weekend" at his sister's college his junior year that was outstanding. Her college offers an event where students come in (I think they offer 20 spots), spend two nights, stay in a special dorm, take a class, meet with an admissions person and a prof. in a field they're interested in or an athletic director and then they take them to St. Louis to show how close the city is, and the other night there is some sort of college entertainment like a dance. I think my son saw his sister once and had a great time. He feels he knows the college too.</p>
<p>The admissions person at Roanoke told us that they try to match the visiting student up with another student from their home area who has similar interests. Sounded like a tall order to me, and I'll tell you how that goes next week! I think good experience or bad, it will give the kids a much better idea of the college then any walking tour and information session can do.</p>
<p>My experience was pretty miserable, but made a lot of confirmations for in terms of location, experience, etc.</p>
<p>I flew down to Maryland (from NH) to have a two-night visit at St. John's College. It was really a no frills type of experience, which I prefer as it gives some accuracy. A group of about 10 people took a campus tour and were left to their own devices for all the social aspects and activities, with the exception of a planned interview/classes/seminar/lecture. We had no host for it and my avoidant personality (not convinced it's as bad as the disorder, but consider my personality a mild version of it).</p>
<p>My experience? I was bored out of my mind, pretty miserable, and while the lecture (a very interesting view on the Book of Job in the Old Testament) and the lab (chicken embryos) were very cool, the rest just wasn't my cup of tea. A good point was that I got a thorough reading of a few chapters of "A Tale of Two Cities" done.</p>
<p>I'm kind of happy with the way they did it, but I seriously considered leaving early and finding a hotel to stay out and I left early on the third day. The people weren't the problem, I just am not a good overnight person. When I get to know people and settle, I can make friends, but random conversations get me anxious.</p>
<p>Even though I didn't apply and had a horrible time, it confirmed that I wanted to say relatively close to home, I may be more inclined to a more structured education, Greek is so not my thing, having a settled network in college would be nice (I've never been at a school more than five years)</p>
<p>Waruv, I'm JUST like you. I want to an overnight at Udel last year, didn't stay with a host but with my SISTER, and I still felt crappy. I was just uncomfortable, anxious, scared of college in general, etc. AND I'm not the greatest socializer, I tend to keep to myself. The whole experience was so different from what I was used to that it took me completely out of my comfort zone and I didn't like it. I deal with change poorly. However, I do adjust, and I'm hoping my entire freshman year won't be a nightmare.</p>
<p>I think overnights are really an important part in the decision making process. I visited WashU (did an overnight) and loved it so much that it made me apply ED. I just recently did and overnight again (same host as the first time) because I was a finalist for the Ervin scholarship and I feel in love with the school even more. I am happy to say I will be overnighting again this month for multicultural weekend. </p>
<p>My experiences were that my host wasn't a good host in the sense that he didn't convey his experiences about the school, in fact, he didn't really even talk to me. All he did, was basically clear space on his floor for me to sleep. That was it! However, I didn't hold that against the school. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't a jerk or anything, but it just seemed like my presence might've annoyed him or he didn't like me or something. However, I judged the school based on the other students I talked to (trying to get multiple perspectives) and everything turned out great. I think putting too much stock in a host and basing the decision on that is bad either way. Merely use them as a person who is letting you sleep in their room and explore the campus on your own to see what it feels like for you. After all, the host is already there and having his or her own experiences, its all about how you feel at the school. I think the purpose of overnights isn't really to let you connect with a person, but to allow you to see how the dorms are @ night, to see what people do when they wake up, how is the food @ different times, how are classes, etc.</p>
<p>We'll let you know. DD is doing two accepted student overnights the week after Easter. The schools are very far from home and we wanted her to see a micro of what the campus life was like before making a decision to go so far from home. She is a friendly, but not particularly outgoing type of kid. If she meets fun kids, she will have fun. Otherwise, she won't.</p>
<p>I agree- I did at overnight at Notre Dame. The girl I stayed with was really nice but she was very reserved and so we didn't go off and do anything exciting, but it gave me a chance to explore the campus a bit, meet some of the student body, and and see what the campus was like on an average day. I think it was a very helpful trip. I'm planning on going to Dartmouth and doing an overnight there as well- this time during a scheduled program- and I'm hoping that it will help me make my difficult decision.</p>
<p>Definetely overnight if possible. My daughter did three overnights at three different schools, and they were critical in her decision to make Smith her first choice. A quick tour and information session (and maybe an interview) give a kid a very superficial picture of a school. Kids are affected by what their friends think, what their parents think, what the weather's like, and all kids of crazy factors on the day they visit. Glossy brochures and US News rankings don't give the full story, either. The more exposure you have, the more informed your decision. Overnights let you see a school behind the scenes -- the dorms, the bathrooms, the food, the classes, the interaction --that a simple visit doesn't give you. Even if the host is a bust, it's still worth it.</p>
<p>Sons first overnight was far from home. For him an ideal evening would include watching anime with a small group of friends and perhaps spouting liberal polical views. Filled out a form to get matched with a host with
similiar interests and somehow ended up with a student in ROTC who wanted to
bring son to an event in a fraternity he was pledging for! I figured this experience would totally turn son off to school. Instead he came home beaming having had a blast with host and and now wants to go to this school. Go figure.
I guess college is about new experiences.</p>
<p>The info session can be very helpful both my sisters left half way thru there info session at atleast 2 schools visited</p>
<p>My eldest dd has been a volunteer host for a number of students visiting Hillsdale. The school tries to match the prospective student up with a student in the possible major. My dd enjoyed her visit so much as a junior--that's why she tries to give back. She did an overnight at Grove City too, but her experience and auditions with the orchestra told her what she needed to know: it wasn't a good match for her. </p>
<p>Dd#2 did a week at three different academies and then another overnight at the Naval Academy. Her hosts were great, and she had the chance to talk to a lot of mids. It made her decision for her--she canceled her overnight to the Air Force Academy and sent in her acceptance to Navy!</p>
<p>A friend of my son's went to an overnight (I won't tell you where, a smaller midwestern school) and his host took him to a fraternity party, got drunk and passed out, leaving my son's friend to fend for himself. The parents didn't notify the school, although I'm sure the school would like to know about it. This is just an anecdote, not meant to discourage anyone from going on an overnight, but I know my son would freak out. He is not into the drinking scene, although he is still young (sophomore) and things could change.</p>
<p>My son went on two overnights. The first one was at Cornell. He had a great time. Felt that he was wined and dined and fell in love with the school. Very organized and able to meet with teachers and discuss the school. His second overnight was at Dartmouth. He was miserable. It was very unorganized. He was not able to meet with teachers and spent the Saturday night at a Frat party watching everyone get drunk. He was dropped off at the airport on a Sunday and was told that his flight was cancelled. He was seventeen so he couldn't check into a hotel and was stuck at the airport overnight with a whole group of hung over kids. Both trips were paid for by the school but the Cornell one was definitely a better trip. He will be going to Cornell in the Fall.</p>
<p>I wish my child's schools were doing overnights! All the schools are just having day programs. My alma mater had sleeping bag weekends as they used to be called and they were great from both the guest and hostess perspectives.</p>
<p>I think overnights are important, just to get a sense of the school. Yes you may come away with a negative feeling, but then that school just may not be for you. Obviously you might be stuck with a less than active host, but you just have to work around that, and try to see what other people are doing, what might interest you etc. Personally I only overnighted at one school, I actually spent the weekend there, mainly because I wanted to see the Jewish religous life there. I was glad I did that because it led me to see that I was not happy with the level of religion there, and that the school would not be right for me especially since religion is a huge part of my life. That is one of the most important things you should be doing on an overnight - making sure you see the things that you are interested in. If you're a big partier - check out the party scene. If you're more of a coffee shop person, see that etc.</p>