Setting up appointments when visiting schools

Parents Forum
1

<p>My d will be a high school junior this fall and we will be visiting schools.</p>

<p>For those of you who have done so, how did you set up appointments to check out the department of interest to your student? Did you generally go through admissions? Or did you just contact the department of interest and see what they said?</p>

<p>Finally, how often did you find it impossible to set up such an appointment, or in the end found the meeting so awkward you wished you hadn't bothered?</p>

<p>(I am assuming my daughter would meet with the department on her own.)</p>

<p>The area of interest in this case is filmmaking.</p>

2

<p>D contacted profs at three schools directly, simply by e-mailing them (the names were suggested to her by one of her teachers, although he didn’t know them personally). They were all delighted to meet with her, and very informative.</p>

3

<p>The boys asked admissions the best way to set up appointments. Some schools did it for the kids and some gave them the names of dept heads to contact. I think the kids found the visits very beneficial although I do remember one reporting a few awkward moments. It couldn’t have been too bad though since that is the school he chose in the end! A few of the profs included H and I in the tour of the facilities, but if they didn’t specifically invite us, the kids met with them alone. I would think visiting the departments would be very helpful in evaluating film programs.</p>

4

<p>I’m guessing that the super selective film programs (USC, NYU Tisch) will not be interested in meeting with her, but I could be wrong.</p>

5

<p>We emailed the department heads at each school we were visiting and they always found someone to meet with our daughter. We attended all the visits and were welcomed everywhere along with our daughter. These were the highlights of the trips to each campus.</p>

6

<p>Even if you schedule a meeting directly with the department, make sure that admissions knows that you’re visiting the campus. Some schools use the fact that a student visited as an indication of the likelihood that the student will come to the college if admitted. It’s just another “plus” on your app.</p>

7

<p>My older son did this for each college we visited. He set up the appointments by first contacting the admissions dept. They were able to either set up the appointment, tell him who to contact to set up the appointment, or give him the go-ahead to set up the appointment on his own. He met generally with the head of the dept. he was interested in. If the head of dept. was not available a professor in the dept. would be willing to meet and answer questions. There was only one school that made it difficult and discouraged my son from the meeting.
One important facet for my son, he did not want either his mom or me in the office during the meeting. Several times after the meeting, the professor would come out to meet us. Their impression was that at most meetings, the parents dominate and do not allow their children enough space to speak their minds. They told us it made a strong impression that my son wanted the meeting alone.
Another point- most of these schools were top tier, the dept. head always asked my son his gpa/scores and which other schools he was looking at. Once they were sure he was a viable candidate for admission, they were more than generous with advice and time, average meeting, 45 minutes.
These meetings were very informative for my son, about the program/dept., and about the college search itself.</p>

8

<p>If I had to choose one defining factor during college visits for my daughters, departmental meetings would be it. Towards the end of the college search, they even avoided “special recuitment days on campus” if at all possible. Typically they would meet with admissions and take a campus tour. Then, they would have a schedule of the different departmental meetings (don’t forget lunch on campus). Many of the schools also had a current student present from the department available to answer questions and to introduce them to others. Do meet with the departments if your d is interested in a specific area. A few times, the girls quickly realized that their department of interest was little more than an administrative assistant that coordinated professor’s from other departments to teach specific classes.</p>

<p>The process for setting up this type of a day varied by school. The girls had the “day of their dreams” coordinated by one outstanding area admissions counselor that they met at a college fair, to being entirely on their own. Start with a call to the admissions office and you will know rather quickly if you and your daughter will need to make calls to the various departments. Most departments were very accomodating.</p>

<p>One final note. My daughters did not always do all of the planning and coordinating on their own. Though I applaud the students that do take control of this process, we found that high school demands (particularly athletic practices and meets on the weekends) made time for college visits precious. So, in many cases I was the one coordinating the schedules of the girls, schools, professors and hotels to make it all work (often many months in advance). Was it the perfect situation…probably not…but it worked.</p>

9

<p>My daughter e-mailed the chairmen and women of the departments she was interested in and asked whether someone would be willing to talk to her. She had great success. One professor asked where her parents were and she told them we were wandering around campus. He told her to tell us hello and to thank us for not coming with her! We figured out pretty quickly that for our daughter, it worked better for her to go alone. She tends to not ask questions with us around ( and I ask too many questions). I was very surprised at the amount of time people were willing to give a high school senior.</p>

10

<p>Our approach was to email the secretary of the department in question.</p>

<p>It all turned out to be moot, because like many kids, both my kids radically changed majors once they got to school. We were fortunate that the schools they chose were strong in their new departments, too.</p>

11

<p>Both my kids sat in on classes as well as visited departments. They generally contacted profs in advance – looked up what was offered that term, found interesting stuff, contacted prof. Sometimes they got HW assignments or a summary of what the class would be discussing. This was usually done without the assistance of admissions, though. S1 made it clear in his essays that he had sat in/talked to Prof. X, etc. He woud also drop by admissions and at least sign in. </p>

<p>S1 (math/CS guy) had much better success with this method than has S2 (int’l relations/polisci). Maybe it’s that the math and CS profs like hanging out in their offices while IR folks are out doing things – who knows.</p>

<p>If noone is around to visit – still wander through the halls of the department your S/D is considering. S1 found lists of where recent graduates were working/attending PhD programs, what kinds of internships/study abroad programs were available, the general vibe of the dept. as evidenced by posted office hours, cartoons, etc. S1 decided against one school because the department looked like noone ever spent any time there (and he had just visited a nearby competitor where a math prof literally pulled him into her office to talk to him about the program!).</p>

<p>I think gathering one’s own intelligence is far more useful than the info sesion. We usually divided up – parents to info session, S to independent investigation/classes, both on the campus tour. We tried to be visible (as in to show support for the student’s choice) but a step removed (letting each of them make the contacts, visit the profs, etc.). We arranged travel and hotels as needed, but the guys handled all contacts with admissions, profs and on-campus overnight visits.</p>

<p>My kids also recommend that –</p>

<p>1) If the school is known for a particular focus or methodology (i.e., UChicago’s Core), it’s a good idea to check out a representative class to see if it’s appealing. Some folks love the Core; others hate it. </p>

<p>2) Sit in on an upper-div class in one’s intended major to see if it is challenging/whether students are engaged, etc. S2 found out on a departmental visit that only two folks graduated in the program he was considering as a primary major. For everyone else, it was an add-on to a more technical major. The school hasn’t come off his list, but he knows a lot more about the vibe and emphasis now, both pros and cons. At another school, he found out that an IR prof gives current events quizzes every week to make sure students are keeping up with the world around them. S2 was surprised – he expected IR majors to eat the news for breakfast every am the way he does. At yet a third school, the upper-div history course was interesting, but he felt the level of discussion was comparable to the IB course he was currently taking. All three of these experiences were at highly-regarded schools regularly mentioned on CC.</p>

<p>3) If one is planning on majoring in engineering, for example, make sure there are acceptable alternative majors should the student realize it’s not for him/her. Asking about retention rates in the major may be a good way to find out how much weeding (self-selected or through tough courses) takes place.</p>