Visiting After Acceptances

I visited all the schools I applied to and got into most of them EA. The first time around I focused mostly on if I could imagine myself at that school, but focused on not “loving” a school too much because I hated the concept of a “dream school.” I was thinking visiting again would be nice as I would have a different mindset as an accepted student(focusing much more about feel, fit, imagining myself there, etc) without the burden of admissions in the way. I could do regular tours, accepted students days, honors student days, or “day in the life” programs. I was thinking of doing that last one since it would be the longest and maybe the best way to get the feel of a school. Am I right in that it helps to visit again, or does it not really affect most people’s decisions much?

Go to as many as you can. You will see things differently as an accepted student than you did as a potential applicant. Hang out in your department, visit any clubs you are interested in joining.

It definitely helps to visit again. My S went back to his top few schools after his acceptances (typically for accepted student days/shadowing a student days) and the visits really helped to make the final decision very clear in his mind.

I think you only need to revisit the top two or three. Surely you must have some favorites. If they are affordable, revisit them. I don’t believe revisiting schools that weren’t already at the top is suddenly going to make them more appealing. If anything, it will confuse you more, becasue you will just have a harder time narrowing down your choices. You can only attend one college. You have to cull the list somehow.

It’s expensive and time consuming to visit colleges in the first place. Do more research on them, decide which you like the best, and only revisit a few. Your parents will thank you.

FWIW, my D did both day-long customized visits and accepted students visits. One was an overnight. She felt the accepted student’s day was least useful (without overnight), because it didn’t feel like that was what the college was like on a daily basis. She enjoyed her customized day visit the best. And yes, all the visits helped her decide, but she only visited three schools out of nine as an accepted student.

I highly recommend post-acceptance visits to the top picks, preferably with overnight stay (though beware of impressions left by a limited subset of kids), class visits and some opportunity to hang out in dining hall, quad, student center etc. Whatever dog and pony show they do or do not do for accepted students can be telling, but it’s not the most important part of the puzzle of figuring out fit.

My kid visited/revisited his top four, and one he’d been excited to get into fell right off the list, for solid reasons. The other three remained in contention, but he’d learned a lot from the visits, and the final decision was, imho, the right one.

The benefit of accepted students days is that everything is gathered for you, so while they are not like a regular day, you’ll be able to talk to knowledgeable folks about athletics, academics in different departments, clubs, residential life, etc. Depending on what your original visit was, this can offer a lot of new information. And while they are “selling”, it’s geared to students they want. Shadowing is helpful and often part of an accepted student day. OV can help but is the most variable as it depends on who your host is.

But yes, go back. This is a big, expensive decision and you want to be as informed as possible.

Which would be a better option? An accepted students day or a “day in the life” where you go around with a student for the day?

My kids got a lot out of accepted student days.

I don’t think there’s a “better” really. They’re just different. I guess I’d maybe pick Accepted Student Days over random day in the life just because there will be more info to be had more efficiently but they’re just different pieces of the puzzle.

Accepted student days is a nice way to meet up with other admitted students you may have met on FB groups or groupme.

Accepted student days may also offer activities tailored to your major or interests. When my D went to visit the second time around, the engineering schools she was accepted into had programs where she had a great deal of small group or individual interactions with current students and professors, as well as meeting some of the other prospective students she would end up going to school with. She re-visited her top 5 choices for accepted student visits and, in the end, the order of her top schools was nearly reversed.

My S found the accepted student days helpful. But when the time comes look at the options available to re-visit each school and make a choice. You can usually find the schedule for each accepted student day online so see what is offered and compare it to other options (such as a day shadowing a student).