<p>For those students and parents who are on the campus-visit circuit (or have been in the past), do you feel that you get more out of your college trips if you visit on an official prospective-student preview day, when there are organized events like panels and special-interest tours, or do you find that these "cattle calls" leave you lost in the shuffle and lacking the individual attention that you might get on a quieter day?</p>
<p>Beyond disliking the lost-in-the-shuffle aspect of preview days, the benefits of seeing the school on a regular day, as opposed to a day when they're putting on a show, have stood out for us. Anybody can show you their absolute best when they know you're coming. If you want to see what the school is really like, do a private visit - with school in session.</p>
<p>(I don't mean to sound strident, or as if preview days and summer visits have no value, just that they don't give nearly as accurate a picture.)</p>
<p>You don't sound strident, HarrietMWelsch, and I tend to agree with you about the pluses of the quieter days. However, I've also heard some parents (and students) tout the benefits of student panel discussions and other preview-day perqs. Some, too, say that the biggest plus of preview days is the chance to eyeball prospective classmates. However, that can be misleading since it's hard to predict how many of the preview-day crowd will actually show up in September ... perhaps very few.</p>
<p>Wesleyan (CT.) is having two Open Houses this fall, one on Columbus Day and one on Veterans Day. I am taking my juniors to one of them. It will be their first trip to a college campus other than their visits to older brother's campus. I like the fact that there are panels, tours of specific buildings, tours of all the residential dorms, class visiting permitted, etc. The first "regular" tour of campus begins at 7:45 a.m. and the last scheduled event ends at 4:15 p.m. I am choosing to take them to this "cattle call" because the school is within reasonable driving distance of our home and it is a well-regarded academic institution. I agree that this wouldn't be the way I would want them to see most schools, but for an "opening day," I'm expecting this trip to be very useful in getting them "psyched up" for the process. Wesleyan</a> University : Admission</p>
<p>Actually, momof3sons, we've done the same sort of thing with close schools, including Wesleyan and Vassar. It's a great point you're making - when you have the option of going twice, the dog & pony shows can be a good introduction, especially for juniors.</p>
<p>Indeed, for some kids, the all-comers events do work well in the "Get Psyched for What's Ahead" department. (A few, of course, may be traumatized by the stampede, so you have to know your own children on this one.)</p>
<p>The best 'all-comer' events are those that target specific sub-groups of students because the school really caters to their interests. For example, Columbia held two events for prospective engineering students that focused on their school of engineering that was useful. Otherwise, we've found it more useful to not be part of the crowd. Everyone at the school has more time to talk to you if you are not part of a stampede.</p>
<p>How about events for students of color--usually dubbed "Multicultural" previews or "Diversity Days." Do participants find those helpful or is it better to see schools with what is truly a "diverse" crowd (i.e., anyone who shows up) or when the school isn't self-consciously rolling out the welcome mat to attract underrepresented minority applicants?</p>
<p>Sally - in answer to your original question, we had plans to visit a college on a preview day until I realized that they don't offer interviews that day. I understand why they can't, given the number of prospective students on campus, but when you are traveling a great distance and can only spend one day on a campus, a day when interviews are available is preferable, IMO.</p>
<p>PRJ--Good point about the interviews. Most colleges don't offer them on the Big Event days, although some colleges actually do. So, like most things in college admissions, there's little consistency, and you just have to ask as you make your plans.</p>
<p>We liked "little event" days, when there is a one hour info session and then a tour of campus. Some schools do this every day. :)
Then you have time to look around campus more on your own or schedule a visit with a professor or sit in on a class before or after the tour.</p>
<p>My d just got invited to a preview day based, I think, on her standardized test scores which she'd already sent to the school. All the stuff on that day will be focused on things like the honors program, merit scholarships, women in science/engineering panels (which will decidingly help her). We're looking forward to the day, as it appears as though all the panels, seminars, topics are very much geared toward what she's needing to find out about. She also is someone who likes structure. She likes having a day where she can pick and choose the things that pertain to her, but doesn't have a lot of down time. She won't go and initiate ... she's quite shy, and so this allows her to remain more in her comfort zone. We told her that if she likes what she sees during preview and wants more of a feel for the place, they also having an "overnight" stay that goes into more detail. At this point, she's vehemently opposed to that. <g></g></p>
<p>zebes</p>
<p>What worked well for us was to do the info session/tour/interview visits at schools my D was seriously considering so that she could scope out everything independently and determine which colleges she would apply to. Then we attended the spring admitted student events for the two colleges she was deciding between which allowed her to attend panels, see potential classmates, and compare how effectively and in what ways each of the schools presented themselves. It was the differences in these larger events and her interactions and observations during them that informed her ultimate choice. I think it would have been too much flash and just a jumble of information had we attended event days for each of the schools to which she applied; but when the field narrowed to her actual choices, it was most enlightening, as well as being almost celebratory to be part of the big event.</p>
<p>Agreed that when your student is interested in a specific school, it's great to do the formal tour, info session, sit in on a class, wander around in the library, have lunch in the student cafeteria, etc. That's what we did with my older student when he was looking at colleges. The Wesleyan Open House is attractive to me because I can see my kids being interested in liberal arts colleges, and Wesleyan is the largest of those, as well as being such a solid academic school. Never having done this type of visit before, I will be very interested to see how chaotic it actually is!</p>
<p>As someone who did a lot of work in recruitment while an undergrad, I can tell you that you'll get more bang for your buck at the preview days, especially if parents and students split up to cover more ground during the information sessions. My school had sort of an organization fair in the morning as people were checking in, which allowed students and parents the opportunity to find out about things they were unlikely to have known about (which makes it hard to set up a meeting/informational during a private visit). It may mean finding a new major or continuing a high school passion that a student assumed they were going to be giving up.</p>
<p>Ideally, if you're really interested in a school, you'll follow up the preview day with a private visit which can be tailored to your student's needs, as well as allow you the opportunity to explore campus on your own. </p>
<p>So that's my 2 cents: first do the preview day, then follow up with a private visit at the colleges you're really interested in. If you can only do one, do the preview day.</p>
<p>What do you guys recommend for schools that are far away, and this will be the only visit?</p>
<p>I recommend you do a private visit on a day when the school is in session. For me, it didn't matter so much whether or not I was taking the tour with lots of other people (I, personally, prefer the attention of a private visit) but what mattered was seeing the people on campus, seeing a class in session, watching how professors act. Sometimes, on preview days, things tend to be a little too perfect.</p>
<p>My son and I have visited many schools, and only one on a Preview Day. It was the one school everyone "knew" he'd love - perfect fit. The big "show" effect and long, drawn out panels actually squashed his enthusiasm. We attended a 1+ hour info session - followed by him going to a mock classroom and I went to a parent session on finances which also lasted over an hour. By the time the tour began, and he had been sitting for 2+ hours and was ready to leave. He has kept the school on his list but I'd be very surprised if he ended up attending. In sum, my advice would be to visit the schools you think will be a great fit on a normal info session/tour day first and later visit on a Preview Day for more in depth information if at all possible.</p>
<p>We've done both and liked both. We did a "First Look" day at Fordham and fell in love. We did the preview day at NYU and hated it. For the amount of money NYU spends on print marketing and postage, it was shocking that there was so little attention to quality when they finally had us on the campus.</p>
<p>We've also done info sessions and tours and felt like we got a lot out of them.</p>
<p>Some schools maximize the opportunity that comes with hosting visitors and others don't.</p>
<p>For our family, getting the most bang for our buck has been a priority during college visits. I believe that the "preview days" are full of very useful info and often answered questions about the university that we did not even know to ask. Just so you keep in mind that you are at a dog and pony show, I think the preview days are quite valuable. I believe that a "campus vibe" can be very different from day to day, week to week, and season to season-I would be careful not to give a thumbs down to a school based on the campus climate on a particular day. All that being said, DD and DS are both at schools which we visited on the fly with no planned events- overly enthusiastic sales reps were not necessary for them to make their choices.</p>