<p>DD will have her own free time both before and after the "scheduled" events at the two schools where she is doing overnights next week. I will need to drop her off a little early, and pick her up a little late. She'll be on her own to poke around the campus. At first I was a little worried about this, but the more I think about it, the better I like the idea. This will give her time to see what the school is like but NOT in a contrived set of activities. She has plans to go to specific places and ask questions herself.</p>
<p>I think that prospective students tend to forget that for their host probably is not going to change their routine as they may already have planned things (exams, papers, events, work/club commitments, etc.) happening before the prospective student arrives and their buy-in is usually providing the prospective student a place to crash. </p>
<p>Depending on the student and their situation, they may have time to show the prospective student around and do things with them but I look at it as more of an exception than an expectation especially when the visit is taking place out side of the school's admitted student days since these days usually involve other prospective freshmen. There are usually events planned for prospective freshmen through out the day and after classes so they get an opportunity to meet other prospective freshmen and explore the campus together.</p>
<p>I agree with EK, that prospective students should come with a prospective agenda in mind (especially if they are not coming during the admitted student days) that includes visiting and talking to department people in their prospective majors, trying to obtain information about class meeting times (and obtaining permission to sit in on classes) checking out the career services offices (as they can obtain information about professional school placement, internships and job placement after graduation).</p>
<p>I absolutely had an awesome time at the Bryn Mawr open house... I love it there so much more.</p>
<p>The people are so passionate about the school and it shows in even the people I met even on the street. Everyone seems to have huge school spirit and love the school and their professors there.</p>
<p>On the other hand, UCSD was quite a disaster... they made us pay 6 dollars for parking, which is quite... interesting. and it rained during the visit, which i believe is an omen that tells me that i shouldn't go there.</p>
<p>I absolutely hated Cornell when I stayed overnight. My host was not a "loser" but actually pretty nice and happy to bring me around everywhere. I had a pretty nice time when I was there; we made pie, played lacrosse, and wandered around campus. I hated it because it was not for me at all, and I think the overnight showed me more what it was like. Staying at Brown, however, made me really love the school. Staying at Olin with future classmates is what made me fall head over heels.</p>
<p>I am honestly very glad I did the overnights I did. I stayed at MIT for CPW, and I could tell it wasn't what MIT really was like- I would advise an overnight before actually applying, if possible. For those schools, at least, it helped me a lot.</p>
<p>Clearly there aren't any hard and fast rules about overnights; they can be make or break, but they do provide a way to compare or evaluate schools, especially, as one poster noted, for "vibe," altho that too can be misleading. I think overnights tell you a lot about how a school is organized and how much care they put into hosting. If a school choses its hosts well and arranges to have a visitor sit in on interesting classes the experience has a better chance of success. </p>
<p>My advice is to visit schools early if at all possible. I know it's costly, and there's only so much time, but if a school really stands out as great match, early decision app can give a kid an edge. Of course the problem is that by spring of jr yr lots of kids just arent ready to deal with the whole process and often parents end up masterminding the jr spring break tour--but if that's what it takes to jumpstart the search, then it's a good thing. Overnights allow more chance of a class visit that's meaningful. We found that asking the school to set up a class in my D's area of interest at a soph or jr level made a huge difference. She loves Bio and was just completing AP Bio. One school (no overnight there) could only get her into Bio 101. It was awful--an intro course with bored freshman half asleep. Another school (overnight stay incl) arranged for an advance Bio seminar that turned out to be lively and fun. The host was nice and conscientious, and there was much impromptu hanging out in the dorm room with lots of nice kids (I was told nothing about alcohol, but I didn't ask) and generally it seemed to D to represent a typical school night. That school became her first choice and the one against which all others were measured. She applied and got in ED2. The more visits the better. It benefits all of us if we can cut down on the number of arbitrary apps or help defeat the assumption that all ivies are desirable or that name recognition trumps feeling comfortable in a place.</p>
<p>I've done three overnights so far, with mixed results. A friend of mine found a great alternative to overnights though, there's a company called THE U that makes DVDs about schools all over the country, but they aren't affiliated with any of the colleges, so they are more informative and uncensored than what you would get from the school itself. So if any of your schools are too far away, or just to get a better idea about some of your choices, check out these DVDs!</p>
<p>Overnights swayed my S's decision. He had it down to a decision between two schools. At the overnight at one the hosts left at 7 pm to complete some prearranged deal they had downtown and didn't return until after midnight, locking S out of any place to stay. The others in the dorm offered no assistance. The smoking was so heavy that the students had taped plastic over the smoke detectors so they would not go off. At the other school, he was invited to a party (which he did not attend), dorm residents who found out he was interested in a certain martial art searched the dorm to see if there was anyone else there who had a similar interest, there was and they got to meet, and his host stayed up to 3 AM showing him how to work out calculus proofs that were being discussed in the class he was sitting in on the next day. Needless to say, the latter school was his choice. Overnights do matter.</p>
<p>My overnight is what solidified my desire to go to Duke.</p>
<p>Definitely do the overnight visit. It may be hard to overcome the inpact of a host who is boring or obnoxious but I have to believe that these would be the exception. My D has done two visits to schools she liked about equally well and had a great visit at each school. While the visits did not make her decision easier between the two schools she came away knowing that she would be very comfortable at either.</p>
<p>I think overnights are really important. Yes, you can have a bad experience. However, the chances of having a good experience (or at the very least, an experience which is helpful to you come decision time) far outweigh the chances of a dull host who convinces you not to go to a school you otherwise thought was perfect. </p>
<p>I have been hosting potentials for the last year, and know that a lot of them ended up at my school as a result of the visit. Staying overnight really does let you see the campus in a way that you can't get on an hour long, prepackaged tour (I'm also a tour guide, so I speak from experience)</p>
<p>My D wanted to apply ED to a top LAC. This school was different than many that interested her so I asked her to return for an overnight before submitting her ED app, which was ready to go. She met up with a friend of my other D who took her to his team party where she was the only girl and spent the evening fending off invitations to go for "walks." She does not drink but did not have a problem with the partying. Her host asked her several times if she wanted to do something else but she knew he was having fun so she stuck it out. Upon their return to the dorm, the girl she was to stay with was puking in the bathroom so host found her another girl, who subsequently disappeared. She ended up in host's room. She was pretty philosophical about it but that incident, the cold personality of her interviewer and the failure of the coach to return a call from D's high school coach, left me and H discouraging her from applying ED. The whole visit left a bad taste in our mouth.</p>
<p>My D called us last night (midnight) from her sleeping bag in the common room of her host's suite where she is currently attending admitted students' day at one of the two colleges she's considering. She's attended classes, found the school's organic farm where she had pizza made in their woodburning stove, listened to various a capella groups, and talked to members of the "Anti-Gravity Club" (whatever that is). She's happy as a little clam. She called her grandmother earlier in the day (who, of course, called me with instructions "Don't let her know I told you") and told her that she's so happy she may cancel her trip to the second school she's considering scheduled for this weekend.</p>
<p>Seems to me these overnights are very important.</p>
<p>GUILTGURU - sounds like your D is in NH! My son is there and loves it if I'm right in my assumption, he probably was at the Anti Gravity Club and a capella group singing too. Oh, AGC, it's a juggling club!</p>
<p>Personal experience, S will be a Junior next year. We had visited a two of the schools he was interested in applying to over the summer, only one of the two did he apply, he didn't like the other after seeing it.</p>
<p>He was accepted to quite a few schools. I won't name names, but the first one, the college flew him there - he thought he was going to love it, he didn't. The second college, same thing, flew him up, thought he was going to love it and again, he did not. </p>
<p>Then he flew to see where he is now. He called me about a half hour after arriving on campus. He said "Mom, I'm home!" He knew right then that it was the place for him. He knew someone from school who was there so he was able to go up on a Sat and stay a couple extra days. He did stay with the host student when BBD started and said he was great. I have to tell you it was a hard decision to let him go on this particular trip. I had to pay for him to fly there and with finances being what they are, it put a strain on me. The other thing was that my son had never missed a single day of school in his life - the other 2 college visits happened on a long weekend. BUT, after those 2 experiences I decided this was much more important than his perfect attendance record. I knew he had PA, he knew he had PA and no one else was going to remember this later. It was too important NOT to do. I didn't want him to get up there and find he didn't like it (you never know). </p>
<p>It was the BEST decision to let him go - he definitely made the right decision!</p>
<p>If you CAN do a college overnight visit, I'd suggest it.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you all!</p>
<p>Did anyone do an overnight at Bard or UCONN? If so, please share your experiences</p>
<p>What is ANTI - GRAVITY Club ??? Sounds like something my S will get into !</p>
<p>You got it right, debelli. Turns out Anti-Gravity Club is a group of jugglers! My D came home last night with lots of college "swag" and says she wants to check the website of the other college "just to make sure" that they don't offer anything she can't get at this one. She told us that she walked out of class yesterday, bought lunch at a food cart, and sat outside in the glorious sunshine and thought "I really belong here." I don't think that would have happened without the independent trip. It was her first flight (and had connections) without Mom or Dad along and she had to fend for herself for taxis and everything else...and she did just fine. And came home confident that she can do this again, no sweat.</p>
<p>I was an overnight host at my school.
A prospective student came, and I showed her around, and she spent the weekend in my dorm.
It was a pretty good experience for her, she said she enjoyed it.</p>
<p>I'm still not sure how well the overnights are really helping my D sort through her choices. She's currently attending the admitted students weekend for one of her choices, and it will be her fourth and final overnight. For the first school, our state university, she was hosted by an honors student who drank the entire evening and actually "sexiled" my D for an hour at 1:30 a.m. My D knew that such behavior was not typical of honors students there, but it called somewhat into question the usefulness of the overnight. </p>
<p>For the second school, MIT, she attended the official CPW and was hosted by a very nice girl whom she saw for a total of about 30 minutes all weekend. She came away from that weekend feeling like she missed out on parts of the school she might have loved and felt really irritated at the 4-hour "tangerine tour." She was left wondering whether an overnight on something other than the official admitted student weekend might have provided her with a better idea of how she might have fit in there, or even if she had been hosted by someone who had had the time to talk to her. It was perhaps just bad luck that she was put up in a dorm with few other admitted students and an absent host. Then again, MIT may not be the right place for her anyway. It's just hard to know based on that experience.</p>
<p>For the third school, Harvard, she was not able to attend the official admitted students weekend, so she contacted the admissions office to arrange for her to stay with a student. The student host was too busy to show her around but did provide her a place to stay. Because the host was so busy, we contacted several CC parents (you know who you are and how grateful we are for your help!), who very kindly contacted their children who are current Harvard students. Those wonderful students took time out of their schedules on incredibly short notice, and I think provided my D with the best view of how student life really is on an ordinary day (Sunday night/Monday a.m.) there. She came away from there gushing about how incredibly nice everyone was.</p>
<p>My D is now attending the official weekend at Stanford, and I'm afraid that it will be too hard for her to compare the big party that Stanford is undoubtedly throwing for the students with the lower key but incredibly positive experience she had at Harvard.</p>
<p>The mixed experiences so far have more than anything made her question whether she has gotten an accurate feel for the schools and whether it's possible to compare the big, official admitted students bashes with the lower key visits. I guess we'll see what the decision is sometime next week.</p>
<p>Wow, you daughter has gotten some great acceptances. It is too bad that she has not gotten as much out of the visits as one might have hoped. Congrats to her & the family on these great options; I'm sure she will chose well since it sounds like she has amazing schools to choose among.</p>
<p>I think it the value of the visits really depends on the kid. Post-admission overnights were helpful to my son; he had no interest in visiting colleges before he applied. My daughter was the other way around: she wanted to visit campuses in the fall of her senior year - and wanted to revisit in the spring but had no interest whatsoever in spending the night. She did do one overnight at a suburban LAC during the fall -- and pretty much figured out that she didn't want to be at any small LAC as she found herself getting bored rather quickly. I think the outcome of her visits was that she didn't care too much what the campus or college atmosphere was like, as long as the college was in the middle of a big city where she could easily get off campus when she wanted.</p>