Virtual sessions can be good for the student to not only get a sense of the school, but also
give the student things to write about in Why Us? essays (these essays should not be able have any school’s name pasted in)
hear guidance on what test scores to submit (or not)
potentially receive app fee waiver code
demonstrate interest at schools that consider that in the admissions decision
ask any questions the student might have (and hear others’ questions)
Some schools also offer virtual programming including student panels, mock admission exercise, live walking tour of campus, essay writing tips, etc. Take advantage of these too.
We have found them helpful. Because we didn’t have much chance to do visits this summer, we took advantage of the virtual sessions. You can definitely feel some of the vibe, aside from the info you can get.
Like another commenter said, it’s usually all info you can find on the website, but a couple schools fell off the list or moved up based on the virtual interaction.
Definitely also look at virtual student chats as well
Call us cynical, but we attended a ton of info sessions and tours for our first kid (and a lesser but fair amount for our second; none for our third who refused) and overall the colleges seemed to over-estimate their own uniqueness and the info ended up sounding very redundant. Haverford: What really sets us apart is our honor code; Davidson: One thing that makes us unique is our honor code. Etc. If I were in my kids shoes and doing it over again, I’d browse or start Reddit topics in the forums for each school I was thinking of applying to. The current and former student responses there are more enlightening, though you have to learn to filter through the noise of sometimes snarky or bitter responders.
I’m only on kid #1 and already it is clear most of the information provided at the information sessions from even remotely comparable schools is very similar, and also mostly duplicative of what you could learn from their admissions websites.
That said, I think there has usually been at least one, sometimes a few, pieces of information that have caught my S24’s attention and been meaningful to him. Amusingly, not uncommonly that might well be something I basically already told him. But I think hearing it from someone at the school can have more of an impact on him than just hearing me say it (if in fact he heard it at all when I said it . . . ).
Anyway, that’s all very specific to my kid, but I do think those moments when something has clicked with him (sometimes good, sometimes bad) have helped him move along in the process.
S24’s experience with virtual sessions has been very similar to that described by @NiceUnparticularMan
Most of the information presented in the sessions is available on the websites, but I think it is easier for S24 to get the flavor of the school in these sessions than independently digging around in these sites. After attending a few of the sessions, things start to click and S24 was able to make comparisons between tone and focus of the schools and what he liked and didn’t like. He actually eliminated quite a few schools on his list after virtual sessions. Also added one school as a huge favorite that I hadn’t even considered seriously.
Finally, I think it helped S24 to feel more engaged in the process and start taking charge of the direction. The unknown causes anxiety in my kid, and going to a bunch of these sessions and listening to students talk about their experiences removed a lot of the mystery and uncertainty about what college life actually entails. I think S24 was reassured that college kids pretty much sound like motivated high school kids!
I hadn’t considered virtual sessions before this discussion. I’ve just looked at a number of the colleges S24 is interested in, and most of them are done with their summer virtual sessions and don’t have a schedule up for fall virtual sessions yet. However, most of them do have recorded sessions. Do you think there’s any value in the recorded sessions? Or is the value of these events, largely in the “live“ nature of them?
I am sure schools will be putting up a a new slate of virtual sessions very soon now that the common app is open. Also look for Department specific virtual sessions.
While recorded tours are useful, S24 got a lot more out of the live sessions. Reading the questions posed by other prospective students, live Q&As by students from their dorm rooms, department specific virtual sessions, even sample classes taught by professor for an hour have all been great for S24. He even benefited from the boring sessions where he didn’t click with the school.
I think that depends on the kid, because I think the possible value some of us are describing really depends on the kid being engaged. So I think the question is whether they would be sufficiently engaged by a recorded session.
Interestingly, I would say while it may help with my S24 if a session is live, even more if it is in person, I think a lot of it also comes down to the admissions officer leading the session. Some of them are just more lively, more interesting, and more engaging than others. Not because they necessarily have more important content to share, they are just the sorts of people who are funny, or warm, or some other variant on being good at connecting with an audience.
Anyway, I guess I am suggesting just feeling it out. My S24 actually became pretty self-motivated once he got started on this stuff (to the point he would be doing a session for a college I didn’t even know yet had gotten on his list). If someone had been making him do it, I am not sure it would really have been as helpful. And as another poster said, I think that is just reflecting how it really helps for the applicant to feel like they are taking charge.
Here’s some gossip: the virtual visit at U of Denver was so bad that we completely ruled it out. There was a student panel, and the two female students obviously really disliked the “ski bro” who was on the panel with them. I could see my artsy but cool daughter occupying their position in a few years (she goes to school in the city and met her first bro last year). No U of Denver for this particular kid! P.S. not all athletes are bros—don’t hate on me.
That is the one thing I worry about with S24 crossing schools off based on virtual visits. But it is probably no different than a bad in-person tour guide. He would probably have crossed of DU too after such a vibe - but we visited in person and he absolutely loved it!
Yes not to derail the 2024 thread but we loved our tour guide at DU and my daughter might actually apply purely based on how good the tour guide was (pretty disinterested in DU before that).
Lol, kid here is stepping out on some mandatory Senior lock in thing tomorrow because she’s doing a virtual University of Denver visit. I’ll let you know how hers goes.
I don’t know if this helps, but my feeling is that while visiting and such can have effects that vary based on trivial things like who you get as a tour guide, the weather, whether the applicant is tired or hangry, and so on, there are typically so many objectively comparable schools that it actually doesn’t matter if the list gets trimmed for unreliable reasons. Instead, what is actually valuable is the applicant ending up excited about their list for whatever reasons make them feel excited.
So, if between equally suitable and objectively great colleges A and B, A gets on the final list and B doesn’t because the tour guide was more charming, the weather was better, the applicant’s blood sugar wasn’t as low, or so on–so be it! Perhaps B would have been as exciting too under other circumstances, but as long as the applicant is in fact excited about A (and of course it is potentially attainable and affordable), that’s fine with me.
And the only college that asked “how much are you willing to pay for college each year?” I put $21K. My kid was waitlisted. LMAO. Even though, his academic credentials were at or better than the 75th percentile. And that excludes 50%+ that do not submit scores.
the virtual info session we attended for Wheaton (MA) was helpful in finding out about a few things - one, the difference between info sessions, preview days, and open house, and also learning about “student conversations” - you can request to meet with a current student to ask anything (and they report the meeting back to admissions so I assume it is considered for “demonstrated interest” - the student presenters were both international students, and talked a lot about their experience, so I am not sure if they knew most of the attendees were international (we are not) and considered that in their convo. My daughter has a random Friday in september off, so we will be going down for a tour and may go for an open house depending on how that goes. (Also going to visit Lesley while we are there.)
D24 completed 2 apps on Common App. She got an acknowledgement from Common App, but not from the 2 schools. Is this because it takes a while for them to process the app–or because she won’t get a notification until her recommendations and transcripts are in?
My son last year typically got an email from the school within 24 hours. That email usually had a link/login info for the school’s online portal to track things like recommendations received etc.
ETA: schools don’t download apps from the Common App Site immediately. They typically do it on some kind of set schedule. I feel like it was always daily at the time my son was submitting applications in late fall. But I guess it’s possible that this early they don’t download applications every day?
Lots of sites popped up today to change your SAT location! I think it might be because a reminder email went out about the August test today and maybe there were cancellations. We’ve been checking every day because I wanted to find a closer site.
P.S. not all athletes are bros—don’t hate on me.
Lots of sites popped up today to change your SAT location! I think it might be because a reminder email went out about the August test today and maybe there were cancellations. We’ve been checking every day because I wanted to find a closer site.