<p>We have a stack of invites that need to be returned for various Scholar Days events at the schools the kids applied to. Is there any strategy for attending these things, like you usually have better luck if you attend the first session, etc.? Most of them overlap with each other and we are trying to figure out when to attend them. These are for the competitive merit awards at various schools if you know them by another name:D.</p>
<p>Try to visit the colleges before the accepted student days, if they are not far away. That may help you narrow down your choices, so you can go to the accepted student days for the top choices. </p>
<p>At some colleges, the accepted student days are extremely overcrowded, and you might be better off with a visit on a regular day. At other colleges, the accepted student days give you great opportunities to spend time with faculty and students in a student’s major, which is valuable.</p>
<p>At some larger colleges, the accepted student days fill up fast - and you need to make a reservation as early as possible for the preferred day (and for a hotel room if it is not a highly populated area).</p>
<p>Try to go to the earliest day available, if multiple days are offered, to maximize your decision-making time before May 1.</p>
<p>Often, the dates for the accepted student days are set months before they are publicized. Do a little research to find out the dates if you don’t know them already, so you can plan ahead.</p>
<p>Assume that the food at an accepted student day will be better than is typically offered to students, and that the housing that is shown to you is better than average. If possible, try to see some average housing, as opposed to the one model room in the newest building. Try to see the facilities for your major, as opposed to just seeing the newest flashiest buildings that are on the tour.</p>
<p>We’ve visited all the schools already and his final choice is coming down to who wants to give him the most money to show up :D. This isn’t an accepted student day, they are by invite only to come and compete for more scholarship dollars, everything between $1000 to full rides.</p>
<p>My niece was HS class 2011 - Some of those she was invited to guaranteed X amount if you went. She narrowed down her visits that way.</p>
<p>It seems odd to have students spending money to compete for money at schools that they dont even know they will be accepted to.
Why not wait until acceptances are in?</p>
<p>DS went to several and had to turn down a few more due to time. he mainly applied to schools that required Scholarship Days for consideration. Better to go to the earlier session. Even better is to arrive the day before if possible for an overnight or so student can attend a class or meet with a professor. Often there are essays that are written on the spot so familiarity with the campus, departments, etc can come in handy. </p>
<p>Dress well. These are not normal interviews. If one of the competitions involves a presentation, take it seriously. Have Powerpoints, movies, etc and be prepared for questions. </p>
<p>If part of the judging involves group discussions, strongly encourage the student to stand out. It is not a time to be a wallflower. At one event the “loudest mouths” were the winners of the competition, even if they were the most obnoxious (though try not to be obnoxious).</p>
<p>Do these schools have active forums here on cc? If so have you asked previous attendees the in’s and out’s? You seem to be very on top of things (a compliment not sarcasm…the internet doesn’t allow for tone of voice, etc. so I’m just making this clear), so you have probably done this already, but that’s what we did…go to the source since each school could be different. Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>Well–my son attended and got a large merit scholarship back in 2007. He called the admission department contact that he had made at the college night at his school once he got his EA acceptance to discuss the fact that he was coming to visit on President’s Day weekend. She informed him that he was going to be invited to Scholars Day in March and suggested that he might wait since they would be paying for his roundtrip airfare for Scholars Day. </p>
<p>Once he got the actual invitation, he called her again. She worked with him so that he flew out to the college on Thursday in the afternoon and she got his return flight extended to that Sunday. That way he got a three night experience. The Schoalrs Day activities were on Friday. He spent Thursday night in the dorm room of an assigned host, but crashed in dorm room of a soph girl he had met at a camp they both worked at in the summer for Friday and Saturday nights.</p>
<p>My suggestion is the student use this to try and visit the place(s) he or she thinks might be on the ultimate yes list. The student should use any connection with the admission person to show “real” interest and to take reasonable advantage of all the college can provide as part of the sale the college is attempting to make to the student. </p>
<p>The student should go alone to show maturity and should arrange to stay on campus to get a real feel for what being a student there would be like. My son told me he felt that by telling the adnission contact of his intention to stay longer, he upped his chances at getting one of the top 2 largest scholarships (which he ultimately did).</p>
<p>emeraldkity4–acceptances are in</p>
<p>MizzBee–thanks. That is the kind of info we were looking for. So far no presentations but essays, interviews and group discussions at all of them.</p>
<p>So far DS has been invited to a couple of these. Has to request a packet, write essays, do interview and perform group activity. The on site activities sound kind of intense. Any insights on how stressful or challenging these interviews and activities are?</p>
<p>07DAD–thanks for the info. For DS’s non-lottery top pick, I think they want him pretty badly. They’ve thrown a lot of money at him already :D. We have geographic diversity on our side there and his sister has already committed to that school (recruited athlete). Interest isn’t a huge issue there. His next choice after that he has had frequent contact with the ad rep as well as spending a week at a camp this past summer there. </p>
<p>As for going alone, all of the invites specify that the parents should attend as well.</p>
<p>What my daughter learned from her similar visits.</p>
<p>-- Yes, you want to look nice, but wear shoes that don’t rub/hurt your feet. You will probably be walking quite a bit.</p>
<p>-- Don’t allow the schedule to fluster you. She felt she was rushed due to the schedule before one interview. I know she would have done better if she’d spent a minute around the corner from the room taking some deep breaths.</p>
<p>-- She had one interview scheduled concurrently with the beginning of the club fair (their choice, not hers – she was just unlucky enough to be the first interview) and then felt at a disadvantage when asked what she could see herself participating in at the school. Not sure how to mitigate this other than up-front research and/or calling them on it.</p>
<p>-- She was also told for one that the students who came without parents got to meet/interact with other students (both already at the college and the potential scholars) more than those who came with their parents. So, she went by herself. She’s on the shy side, though, so she needs every little push in that direction.</p>