<p>friends. it's far less contrived and awkward, and more tailored to what you want to see vs. what the school wants all prospectives to see.</p>
<p>My son did only one overnight- it was at the school that he was inclined to attend after his acceptances were in. He is now happy at that school, but the overnight was not very sucessful.
This was my son's third visit to the school and he had sat in on classes and talked with professors and students on earlier visits. He had had daytime visits of that sort at most of the schools to which he applied, but no overnights. I think if you have particularly strong academic or arts interests it may be easiest to explore those in depth on your own or with parents, without a "student host" who may share none of your interests. On those visits (which were designed to see if the schools were a good academic fit) my son often barely had time to squeeze in lunch, but we learned a lot about the things that determined where he would apply. Of course we also did tours and information sessions on those busy visits. We usually pre-arranged meetings with professors and visits to classes in his possible majors and rehearsals of music groups in which he had an interest.
In the case of the overnight, my son was inclined to accept this school without another visit, but we encouraged the overnight visit since we had some lingering doubts about the social fit of this school for him. He spent the night in a suite with people who had pretty much nothing in common with him- they were very nice and did not drink but played a lot of computer or video games (which he has never played) and seemed to be very into sports, which he is not. The dorm was also very noisy. When I met my son the next morning he said he was no longer sure about this school. I reminded him he could still attend choice #2 college, but we also talked to a professor and one of the counselors and learned that this was known to be a particularly noisy dorm and that certian others would be better suited for his interests and that music students favored dorms near the music building and practice rooms. The next day we attended various admitted student and parent events and son decided this was the best place for him and that there seemed to be different kinds of kids there. I think the students he had met on earler visits to classes also helped to give him a more balanced picture. He has been very happy at this school since the day he arrived and quickly found new friends who shared his interests. The academic fit is very good as we had thought all along. </p>
<pre><code> I think it is certainly possible to get very turned off by a particular host or dorm, but talking to students in activities, clubs, or classes that interest you may be a way to get a fuller picture. I do think just going to whatever classes your host goes to will not give you the kind of academic information you may need to make a good decision, however. Also, I do not know how common it is for different dorms to have quite different atmospheres. I think this is not the sort of information it makes sense to fuss over before you are admitted, but it may be worth trying to find out once you have been accepted and are seriously considering a particular school. You need to figure out if there are a large enough group of people with whom you have shared interests and tastes.
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<p>I actually just got home from doing an overnight at what was my #1 choice school. I had never visited before since it's about 4 hours away by plane so I was super excited going into it. Unfortunately, my host and I had nothing in common and although she was nice, she was just not interested in the same things I am. Also, my host had 3 or 4 club meetings that day (it was a Sunday) and didn't even have time to meet me and her other "pre-frosh" for dinner. Fortunately, there were two of us so we spent from 3PM-11PM wandering around campus, trying to talk to students and peeking in dorms. After this experience, I am much LESS inclined to attend and am now rethinking it as even my 2nd choice. So in my case, the overnight really hurt the chances of my attending the university.</p>
<p>overnights are a great data point. if they make you rethink your first choice, that's good and if it reinforces it that's good too. the more information, the better. just weigh it all in light of everything else.</p>
<p>My daughter hated her overnight at Cornell. They sat in host's room until 11:00 when it was "lights out" - host's bedtime. Did not go out or do anything. She crossed Cornell right off her list...</p>
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<blockquote> <p>Did not go out or do anything.>></p> </blockquote>
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<p>What do you mean by "going out"? Both schools DD is going to specifically say that the students are NOT allowed to go off campus for any reason, even with their host.</p>
<p>I do not mean going off campus, I mean leaving the hosts room.</p>
<p>I am trying to remember specifics (this was last year) but RPI had special events for them to go to around campus and at University of Rochester she met other girls in the dorm and also watched as some went through room draw and I think went out in the evening for munchies. She was shown around campus, and got a sense of the sizes of the different places.
At Cornell, they sat in the girl's room all night until bedtime.</p>
<p>Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to not allow visiting students to see beyond host's dorm room during the entire visit. Sorry your child didn't have a more productive & informative visit, tho I've read of some folks who managed to explore on their own, even when the hosts had other commitments (exams, meetings).</p>
<p>There is more about the visit than your host. I just came back from Cornell, and although I had a positive experience with my host, it is the prospective student who needs the make the best out of his experience. For example, during the day, I tried to visit all areas of campus that interested me, I arranged a visit with an advisor within my major and even attended a religious service on campus to get a feeling of what the community was like. A school is more than just the host, and the student must search all aspects of the school before actually making the decision.</p>
<p>An overnight visit definitely turned my son off to one of his top choice schools (school A). A problem arises when some colleges on your list of possibilities have overnights or extended stay opportunities while others don't, or you can attend an event at one school but not at another. What my son didn't like at school A, might very well also be the case at school B, but he probably won't be able to get the same level of information about B. Also, as posters have said, there is a big difference between going on a planned event and just arranging to show up. Some schools also have more meet-and-greet activities than others, so a student will end up with more information about some schools than others. The more data you have, the more chance to find out something bad too. In the end, general discrepancies and esp. discrepancies involving visits, could place the student in the situation of comparing apples and oranges, or comparing a book review with a book he's actually read.</p>
<p>Last year my D visited her #1 scool (her reach - a top LAC where she was delighted/surprised to have been accepted) and had a rotten visit. Her host was busy and pawned her off on her roommate who took her to a party with a bunch of football players -- in turn they were hitting on the prospies. There was a lot of drinking - even though my D is not a drinker this didn't bother her so much as the general attitude of the students - snotty & arrogant. Within a week she visited another school and had a completely wonderful experience - felt really in sync not only with her host but with other students she met - to the point that one kid was playing music from a very obscure indie band that she liked - she felt it was a sign. She wrestled with her decision and ultimately decided on the second (and is very happy and comfortable.) Early in the year she had a chance to visit school #1 for a tournament and again was completely turned of by the students she encountered - which in a backhand way helped her to confirm that she made a good choice. Now she and her roommates frequently host prospies and she has a show on the college radio station where she gets to share her music.</p>
<p>My niece had a similar experience--her visits after acceptances switched her top choice school to the bottom & the "safety" bottom choice emerged as the top. She attended & graduated from that school, where she was very happy & got into her 1st choice of law school, where she will be graduating in less than a month!</p>
<p>With so many kids turned off by their overnight visits, I wonder if there are stories of a school really moving up on their list after an overnight? (Presumably displacing a school they had also overnighted at.) And what were the reasons - was it anything beyond "I really got along well with my host"?</p>
<p>czechitout:
I'd love to hear about any other overnights you might have done at other schools. Did you find the same thing? Thanks.</p>
<p>Referencing post #48</p>
<p>This is what concerns me--- we had a similar experience when re-visiting prep schools. My son ended up rejecting his first choice, and going to a different school after attending the re-visit programs. This week he is doing an overnight at the school he thinks he will attend, but he cannot do a re-visit at his next choice since he was waitlisted there. any suggestions?</p>
<p>Feeling fortunate. DS just did a 2 night stay at WUSTL. This was his top choice school and we had already done a campus visit, don't even want to think about having to go back and reconsider his other acceptances if he came out of the overnight saying he didn't want to go there. Instead he came out saying he loved it, I asked him what he loved and he said "name something." Said the dorm room wasn't great, but we've seen several of their dorm rooms at this point and rest were very nice. Anyway, it confirmed to him that it was where he wanted to go, such a relief.</p>
<p>My daughter really liked University of Rochester after her visit. She mainly applied because we live nearby. Before the visit she was not much interested. It moved to her first choice after the visit. Unfortunately then we got the financial aid package and that moved it back down the list.</p>
<p>*My daughter hated her overnight at Cornell. They sat in host's room until 11:00 when it was "lights out" - host's bedtime. Did not go out or do anything. She crossed Cornell right off her list... *</p>
<p>thats very unfortunate. because i know that most of my friends who did the overnight hosting had a great time. and when i was walking around at night, i saw many of the hosts taking prefrosh out. if ur daughter really did no go out or do anything, then i don't even know why that host even signed up to be a host in the first place. but i guess there are always reasons why some things happen.</p>
<p>my D had a hosted overnight during finals week in November
brrr
her host I believe spent the whole time in the libary
so my d went to commons ( cafeteria- upstairs- bookstore and pool tables and pinball machine downstairs) where she met some students and profs-she found people fairly friendly and eager to answer questions</p>
<p>the library lobby is another good place to hang out and find students to ask questions of-
this was the only school that offered a hosted overnight- but her other schools were larger and public</p>
<p>I don't think hosts should be expected to give a big spiel- they are just slightly older than the visiting student in most cases & visits seem to be planned at busy times on campus.
Encourage your child to have things in mind that they want to see & to obtain a map so that they can find them themselves.
I think visits are most useful to see if you feel comfortable with the campus vibe- that you can't discover if you just stay in one place
The school should have students visiting classes or at least activites for the prospies-
Of course my D has made unofficial visits to large universities where friends attended, no one would ever know if an extra 30 students showed up for class, let alone one!</p>