<p>Ds is in at a bunch of schools and waiting to hear from three more, one of which he's never visited. I've told him he could go out there if he gets in (mega-reach, not holding my breath), and I'm thinking if he doesn't get in there then maybe we could send him back to the school he commits to. In other words, he's going to get ONE flight before he makes up his mind.</p>
<p>The Admitted Students Days sound cool, but they conflict with his sports schedule. How important do you think it is to go to one of these? I can see pros (actually seeing potential classmates, maybe finding a roomie), but he is loath to miss a game. I'm just wondering what the consensus is on how valuable these special days are, as opposed to any other day.</p>
<p>Oh, and if he does an admitted student day I'd probably go, too, as I haven't seen several of his schools.</p>
<p>We are in the same dilemma, so I’d love to hear what people have to say about admitted student days. Is it better to do that, or to attend on a day when S2 can sit in on a class? Should he use his one trip to confirm his top choice, or test one of the others now in consideration due to scholarship offers?</p>
<p>If you’ve already done a visit you can probably skip it. My older son hadn’t seen any of the schools that accepted him so we went to four visit days (two of which included overnights). I can’t imagine finding a roommate at one. My son is not very talkative so he barely met potential classmates at least where I was with him. (A bunch of lunches where there were parents and kids at big round tables.) In fact, I think in every case I was the one who got everyone started talking. Most schools also had current schools join the prospies for lunch. I think all the schools had their clubs have sort of a fair so you could see what was offered and meet some of the kids involved in them. A Capella groups (too many) generally performed at some point during these events. There were tours. Most schools had opportunities to talk with students and or professors from the various departments or sub-schools. The schools with overnights all included the opportunity to sit in on classes. The one day affairs did not. For my older son who had been loathe to do visits earlier, they were invaluable. I thought they were more informative than the visits we had done junior year.</p>
<p>Younger son is going to an honors college visit in a couple of days to a place where he’d done the basic visit. Hopefully he’ll get a sense of how much of a bonus the honors program is.</p>
<p>If it means missing games, and you don’t plan to go with him, he can probably skip it. It’s unlikely he’d meet real friends or even potential roomies at admitted student day, since many of the kids that go won’t ever end up going to that school. </p>
<p>Admitted student days can be good, especially if you’ve never visited. There are special panels and events where parents can discuss and learn things with other parents, the faculty sometimes comes out so students can connect with professors in certain disciplines who they might not otherwise be able to see. Usually there’s some kind of club fair, so you can get a jump start on what activities are available. And lots of other programs you couldn’t see on a regular visit. That being said, if you miss one, it’s not the end of the world, and doesn’t handicap you more than a regular visit.</p>
<p>My son could not miss games last year and so as soon as he had acceptances in hand we figured out where we had to go and booked the flight pronto. It did not coincide with student days, but I think he was better served (although I have nothing comparative here). We went to see two schools and managed to set up a meeting or two with students, professors and some others AND the other school he had friends from his HS who were freshman with whom he stayed. Anyway… I think it worked not to have the dog and pony show of admitted student days. He saw the school as it is… one on a typical Weds night - so I felt he had a really honest look at the school and while I thought his staying with friends might give a little extra weight to that particular school, he ended up being very smart about it and chose the better fit for him. </p>
<p>My point is only… if the kid is crucial to a team’s success, it is important that he not let the rest of the team down by being gone. Some people will totally disagree with me, but having had been on the team for the past four years and being a capt, son just didn’t think a party at a potential school that is being thrown specifically to convince him (and a thousand other kids) to attend was the best use of his time. And too… roommate and schedule stuff wasn’t sent or determined until deeper into the summer.</p>
<p>S attended the admitted student days at his first choice school from among those that admitted him. The goal was just to be absolutely sure he really liked it before he committed to attend, since he had already visited once. However, he asked for and was given some financial help to attend. I don’t think he would have gone otherwise due to the expense. It was helpful as a confirmation, but the experience is certainly not representative of “real life” at that college. Also, the people you meet may not be your future classmates. The kid S met on the plane and got to know best during those days did not utlimately decide to attend.</p>
<p>As of now, D will probably not attend hers for reasons of sports schedule and finances. If the school were to offer her a travel grant, we’d reconsider. However, I doubt they would since she took a university-paid official visit there as a recruit and is already committed. The kids on the team that she met while there told her not to bother to come back for accepted student days (its really far) since she wouldn’t really see or learn anything new.</p>
<p>Yes, students are still kicking the tires. DD went to admitted student days at what she thought were her 2 favorite schools (one on east coast, one on west coast). Thank goodness we visited. They were not a fit in many ways. She made the decision. DD very happy at top tier LAC. So if you can go, do visit.</p>
<p>My oldest was definitely tire-kicking. He ended up turning down Harvard in favor of Carnegie Mellon. It was absolutely the right decision for him.</p>
<p>Younger son has deliberately not put all his eggs in one basket. He loves his safety, but all the other colleges were reaches and he didn’t want to fall in love with a school he was likely not to get into. In addition, he got tired of looking at schools. He’s seen five of the seven schools he’s applying to, but some he visited so long ago, he’ll want to see them again anyway.</p>
<p>My kid had already decided on his school, but he still found going to the admitted student weekend quite valuable. He made contacts with student groups and met a lot of people.</p>
<p>(I would just add that I’ve always thought that the value of sitting in on a class is overrated, because of the variety.)</p>
<p>D was given permission to miss a sports practice to attend a prospective students weekend (not admitted students, but all her expenses were paid). Definitely, if your S is undecided about a particular school that’s high up on his list and hasn’t visited, then definitely try to visit. S visited what turned out to be his alma mater after getting accepted because it hadn’t been on our visit list before applying. He loved the school, and the rest is history!</p>
<p>I wouldn’t miss a game for Admitted Students Day. I would let him go on another day when he can get individual attention, sit in on classes in his major, talk with other students and profs, etc.</p>
<p>I’ve heard Admitted Students Day can be more of a pep rally type atmosphere. Yesterday d got a recorded phone message from a school, telling about all their great activities, rah rah rah. </p>
<p>My d hasn’t done an Admitted Students day, but she feels she knows really well the school she’ll attend, from talking with other students, meeting with the head of her department (gotta love LACs ;)) and sitting in on 3 classes.</p>
<p>If you’ve already visited, missing it would be less of a problem, but if you haven’t, I suggest really trying to go. A college campus is like a small company town. Would you want to spend four years living in a town that you had never visited beforehand, in a previously-unseen home, working at a job where you’d never set foot in the company and only had a vague idea going in of what to expect and what would be expected of you on the job?</p>
<p>A previous visit to one place plus attendance at another’s admitted students’ weekend made the difference in my decision about where to go. I think actually visiting the school, whether through an admitted students’ session or not, is tremendously valuable. Such sessions also have the advantage that clubs, teams, academic departments, etc, tend to come out in force so that prospective students really have a chance to check them out.</p>
<p>My daughter did two Admitted Student Days, and it did help her chose which to attend. That said, these were both big school, and though the schools did give her lots of love and goodies, it would have been impossible to find room mates or potential buddies at accepted student days. That might be true of the smaller schools.</p>
<p>My DD visited her two top choices over a year ago. She is still not sure which one to choose, so we are making another trip to each school to finally decide. One visit will be an official admitted student day, and one not. One school provided airfare for her and we used miles for another. I think what you look for in a school when you are a fall junior and when you are a spring senior and actually think about living there for four years can really change and make a difference in your decision.</p>
<p>I would not worry too much if it is an official day, the campus will be filled with visitors either way.</p>
<p>Neither of my kids went to admitted student days. Neither felt they missed anything because of it.</p>
<p>I am not a big believer in visits in general. I think they convey a lot of vivid, but random and potentially misleading, information. On the other hand, it’s hard to choose someplace you have never seen over someplace you have. So there can be real value in visiting a school that is a serious possibility if the student hasn’t already, and admitted student weekends are a great way to do that.</p>
<p>I think he’d be relieved to hear general consensus on cc is that admitted students day aren’t that important. He’s a starter on his team, and one special weekend is the last game of the season so he doesn’t want to miss that. If he gets into the mega-reach, then we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. </p>
<p>YDS, S1 felt that the Admitted Student Days were a big PR push on behalf of the school and not as good for what he wanted to know. However, he had visited his top three prior to being accepted and had already sat in on classes, so when he back in April (not at the accepted events), he was sorting out his final priorities and weighing apples to apples. </p>
<p>I find it amusing that he is advising his friends who got into MIT this year to attend CPW – after he assiduously avoided it!</p>
<p>My ds has gotten amazingly astute at seeing through the dog-and-pony shows. I think he’d prefer to head out on our own without all the rah-rah around. ;)</p>
<p>As I said before, the mega-reach neither of us has been to. The excellent LAC where he’s been admitted, he visited alone (well, with a friend and friend’s mom) over the summer. I’d like to get him back on campus during session so he can just make sure. Another LAC we’re waiting to hear from (seen on that same trip w/friend) he went back and visited last fall and still loved. There’s one other school he’s seriously considering that we visited as a family last summer and we all loved. I’d make him go back to that one, too, before he committed.</p>