My son has been invited to interview for both Camras & Duchossois. Due to the cost & time, we can only afford to fly him there alone.
Does anyone have an idea of how scheduled the weekend is? Is it safe for him to be solo from Thursday - Saturday in the dorms or area around IIT?
I would feel much better if I could go, too, but it’s just not an option.
It’s been a few years, but when my daughter attended scholarship weekend, IIT provided a shuttle to and from the airport and there were plenty of scheduled activities for the group of visiting students. It was well-organized. Meals were provided, there was a city tour offered as well as campus tours and lots of information sessions. She stayed on campus, and I stayed with a relative in the suburbs. The admissions rep was great about answering questions and helping us schedule everything. I called and spoke to her admissions rep a couple of times while I was figuring out logistics and buying plane tickets. Thursday to Sunday sounds like a lot longer than we were there. I remember scholarship weekend being just one overnight. We arrived late the night before and stayed in a hotel near downtown Chicago and may have stayed with relatives for a day or two afterwards but I think IIT only provided one night housing on campus for the student. Again, it was a few years ago.
I recall the students had a group dinner at one of the pizza restaurants in Chicago. My daughter somehow ended up with a glass of ice water spilled in her lap. Stressful, but she was awarded a Camras scholarship and had a great four years at IIT. Good luck to your son.
As one of the Duchossois Professors who will interview your son, I can say that he will be well taken care of. He will stay with a current student and the weekend is completely programmed. The interviews will be on Thursday and Friday and usually students leave on Saturday. however, if he has to stay until Sunday, the Admissions office will help you work out a schedule that you can feel comfortable with.
Thank you so much for the guidance. He is excited about seeing IIT!
Our son is going to Scholarship Weekend as well, but for the Camras and LEAD scholarships. @xraymancs — Do you have a sense of how many students are in the running for Camras scholarships, and how many they award? I just found out that there are only 8 students being invited for the LEAD scholarship.
Sorry @TCochran I was traveling and then the semester began with the Chicago Regional Bridge Contest and the Scholarship Symposium taking up all of my time. I hope your son had a great time at the event and that the interviews went well. I Interviewed 13 students for the Duchossois Scholarship and we expect to offer 2-3. I think the LEAD will have similar odds. As for the Camras, they usually award several dozen.
Thanks @xraymancs. We had a great time on campus. Our DS especially loved the IDEA Shop and that there is the option of a music minor, and my husband and I really enjoyed Crown Hall and the talk by the new Dean of Architecture.
For future families:
• 175 students made it to scholarship weekend 2020 (for four different scholarships, but most are for Camras)
• ~20% of the applicant pool was invited for the Camras scholarship this year
• A financial aid person told me they will be giving out more than six dozen Camras scholarships this year (!!)
• the LEAD program is looking for some very specific things (which they do not delineate), and one of them seems to be executive function.
• They do a great job of showing off the school. It is a very full and exhausting event!
I’ll chime in, too, to say what a great weekend my son had visiting Illinois Tech. He had no problem navigating the airport, ride share, and train without any help from mom (ha!) He enjoyed hanging out with the current students and meeting other prospective students from all over the world.
I also want to say thank you again to @xraymancs. We would not have even known about Illinois Tech were it not for his contributions to this website.
Thank you for your kind word @GuineaHen and @TCochran - I have been swamped moving my courses online since mid-March. I hope you and your family are safe and that your students have made a decision on college next Fall.