<p>I often hear people say that it's a good idea to sit in on classes during college visits. I'm curious to know if others really found this useful in distinguishing one college from another. I have some skepticism about how useful this would really be. If you heard a boring lecturer at one college, and an engaging one at another college, what does that really tell you? It think it's especially not likely to be all that useful if the student bodies are similar in terms of academic background (if they're not, you might see some differences in qualify of classroom discussions).</p>
<p>I can tell you why my D found it helpful (and she visited 3 classes, not just one). The first reason was that is reassured her that she could handle college work. The second was to see if she’d feel comfortable in the very small classes (8-10) which are the norm at her college. The third was that it was fun; it made her feel grown up. And the fourth was that it helped her to picture herself in college, and made it very real all of a sudden.</p>
<p>LasMa, those are good reasons to visit college classes, and maybe to visit classes in different types of college–what I don’t get is the idea that you can learn something by visiting classes at two colleges that are similar to each other–i.e., as a way to help make tough choices.</p>
<p>Yep, I see your point.</p>
<p>Well, presumably a student is applying to a range of colleges, and visiting many of them. Even if the students have similar academic backgrounds, the schools themselves will have very different feels. The points that LasMas brought up apply everywhere; the student needs to experience these environments, needs to visualize himself there.</p>
<p>Seriously, it’s hard to even understand the question. What’s the downside of attending a class, given that the student has made the effort to visit?</p>
<p>There is no real downside to sitting in on a class, if the student realizes that a sample of one session of one class may not necessarily be representative of the entire school.</p>
<p>Albeit in my mind it should not be the main reason to attend a class, college counselors comment that it helps to personalize the “why our college” app question and adds to the " demonstrated interest" category. LasMA hits on many points why S2 has found it very helpful so far, especially recognizing that he felt more comfortable than he had anticipated in a larger college/univ environment- intially he thought he would prefer a smaller LAC.</p>
<p>You might find that two colleges that are similar in terms of academic reputation differ in terms of classroom culture.</p>
<p>In the Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Swarthmore consortium, there’s an open shopping period, so I went to probably a dozen first classes every semester, mixing all three campuses, before I picked. To me, every single Swarthmore class felt different from every single Haverford class. (BMC varied wildly by department and level.) Haverford is way more relaxed, even happy-go-lucky, compared to the seriousness of Swat. It was like there was Force lightning connecting the Swatties to their professor. The closest thing to an exception was intro Japanese at Haverford, which, not surprisingly, had some Swat-esque intensity from the word go. (“Memorize these two 46-character alphabets by Wednesday.”) So I think someone might actually get useful information from class visits if those were the two finalists.</p>
<p>But can you draw reliable conclusions from going to one randomly selected English class at Yale and one at Brown? No.</p>
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That was my thought as well, Hanna, but you raise interesting points about the smaller LACs.</p>
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<p>If there is a downside, it would be getting an unrepresentative view of classes at the college.</p>
<p>Isn’t sitting in on one class a little like the overnight visit - so much of how the experience goes depends on the professor you observe - the type of kids in that particular class - what they happen to be learning the day you are there, etc. just like an overnight depends heavily on who your host is and what they like to do and what is happening on campus that particular night?</p>
<p>I think visiting college classes gives one the chance to view how the <em>students</em> are more so than how the profs/lecturers are. You will only see <em>one</em> prof, but, there will presumably be a cross-section of different types of students within a class. It lets you observe how engaged/interested <em>they</em> are, what sort of a percentage of the students actually participate in the discussion, get a sense of how prepared they are in general (is it obvious they read the assignment or articles or whatever), are they sleeping in class (ha ha), how do most of them take notes. </p>
<p>When we have visited classes I have spent a lot more time tuning in to the students.</p>
<p>I will say that I agree with the above poster about confidence. Attending a couple of intro level classes made my ds feel confident that he has the capacity to grasp the material. Higher level classes have made him realize that, yes, college work <em>will</em> be more challenging as he gets into upper-level classes.</p>
<p>My sons found it very useful and really a decisive factor. It was most helpful to sit in on classes that were similar to classes they had in high school. For example, they could compare college level calculus to their AP calc classes and see how easy/complex/advanced they were in comparison.</p>
<p>But what was the most important factor was observing the students in the classes. My sons could see if they felt comfortable with the students in the classes, with how involved they were, how open they seemed with discussion, they types of questions they brought up, etc. </p>
<p>My older son was completely turned off by one school where students were consistently on their Facebook on their computers during classes, and seemed very disengaged. This was at a very competitive, high reach school that competes with ivy-level schools. Neither of my kids witnessed this at any other schools, but it was very useful for my older son to have gotten this information about the one school when visiting. </p>
<p>Both of my kids were aware that they were not going to at least consciously hold it against any college if a particular professor seemed boring. The purpose of sitting in on classes was just to get a feel for the students and the level of instruction in general. Of course, they sat in on classes only when it came down to the final decisions - not when just visiting for the first time.</p>
<p>I think if you are considering applying ED and you have the time and foresight to schedule a class visit, it would be indispensable to your overall decision. Personally, S got just as much from walking by classrooms where classes were in session and glancing to see if the majority of kids were bored, or texting, or were engaged, talking and asking questions.</p>
<p>Where schedules allowed, DS sat in classes. It was usesful, but it’s just one datapoint… and you don’t get precise cross-comparison. A lot depends on the class. But it gives more clues on the vibes of the school and student body.</p>
<p>There was one school where DS had a chance to sit in on a class that was particularly for differentiating the college’s project-based approach. After that, he was sold on it.</p>
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<p>Good pun! :)</p>
<p>I’ve always thought that attending classes is probably most useful as a way to judge student engagement. In small class by the nature of the discussion, in lectures whether anyone talks about the lecture after they leave. That’s why I’m not a big fan of fake classes that are organized by some colleges for their accepted students days. Those are usually filled by parents and a bunch of high school kids who may or may not attend the university.</p>
<p>My daughter sat in on two classes at the university she has committed to, but both classes were “boring” and too easy. She will be attending there anyway, but I learned from that experience not to advocate for her to sit in on a class.</p>
<p>I agree that visiting classes is just one data point—but it ended up being a data point that held more sway than we expected. The best class that my daughter attended was so much more engaging than the others that it was hard to ignore. At one college, she went to a class where several students were texting while the professor was speaking. Now this is a girl who loooves her phone, but she found it rather off-putting. </p>
<p>At another college, the class she attended was taught by an elderly professor who delivered a dry lecture to which the students were scarcely listening. My daughter’s student host warned her on the way into class, “Do not view this as representative of the school’s academics! This class is barely tolerable.” I’m sure that student was correct—most of the courses were probably great. More than anything else, it made us question the savviness of the Admissions Office. It was a very small college so you’d think they’d have some sense of the classes and try to steer prospectives into those with a little more appeal.</p>
<p>I would not recommend class visits after committing to a school. At that point, why risk dampening enthusiasm as a result of attending a class that may be atypical?</p>
<p>Ok, so here’s the deal …sitting in on a class is just like any other part of a college visit … whether there are students around or not… the personality of the tour guide… the weather … etc. Just another piece of information, not the be -all and end all of everything.</p>
<p>Ps: my first post using my Kindle Fire … a HUGE pita!</p>