Hi–trying to decide if it is worth the drive to Indiana to attend a red carpet day. We attended a Discover IU day last March and I cannot tell what would be different with this event than the one we already went to. Thanks in advance for your help, Ilisa
My daughter is a junior at IU. We did both when she was looking and they are very, very similar. Not really worth it in my opinion unless you are going to add a visit to a certain school/major or something helpful in making your decision.
Thanks-that is what I was thinking after I read the details but it originally made it sound like an accepted student day so I thought maybe I was wrong.
Yeah most IU visit days are very similar and probably not worth driving a long distance if you’ve already been on a visit.
The only thing we found different between the two was the tour. In my opinion, the tour we had on Red Carpet day was a lot better than the general visit tour we took. The sessions we attended were very similar. Not really worth it if you have to travel any long distance. We are only 60 miles away so wasn’t a bid deal for us to do both and we used the time to also explore a little more of Bloomington.
My son attended a Red Carpet day on Monday and drove in all the way from Connecticut. While he loved the IU campus and Bloomington in general,he was REALLY disappointed in his tour. The tour leader was a freshman whom my son described as a bit “flighty.” She actually couldn’t handle many of the questions which came her way from the students and parents on the tour. For example, “Where is the nursing school?” Answer: “Um,gee, I don’t know.” The shocked looks on the parents in our tour group spoke volumes. This lack of command and insider knowledge perpetuated some of my son’s concerns about IU’s size. The guide’s lack of competence was in stark contrast to many we have seen on his college search who possessed an intimate knowledge of their school (regardless of size) and were able to talk about their school beyond their major, areas of interest etc. I was really surprised the guide did not seem well-vetted by the IU admissions team and was so unprepared to take on the questions of anxious students making their final college decisions. After the tour we ventured off on our own, did our own touring and randomly asked students questions. We found that more helpful than many aspects of the day.
I’ve been an IU Bloomington parent for 2 years, visit Bloomington once or twice a month, and can probably tell you more about the squirrels or Mother Bear’s Pizza than the academic buildings. We did the tour too and weren’t impressed, but it takes a while to figure out where everything is…
We did two tours of IU and in both of our groups the main questions were usually all about Kelley. Honestly, as much as I’ve been around IU I couldn’t even tell you where the school of nursing is either. I will agree that out of all the schools we’ve toured over the past two years, IU was probably the worst of the tours. Doesn’t seem to hurt them though in getting students. What we found to be most helpful at Red Carpet days was the break out session where we actually met with people from the School my D was interested in and then they also took us to the LLC she was going to be in so we saw an actual dorm room on the actual floor of the dorm she was going to be in.
My advice to anyone that is going to come in from a long distance is try to make an arrangement before hand to actually meet with some one from the School you are interested in. My D’s LLC specifically has people that will meet with visitors interested in the program and spend some time with them.