I will be visiting the School I will be attending. I have a few topics; Interaction of my scholarship, review of Honors college, Immunization, Residential (suite, traditional, learning community), AP credit, advisor(before or after receipt of AP scores), any test placement, job on campus, outside scholarship, payout if in excess, bank, best phone carrier, dorm furniture(rug), due date for transcripts and summer bridge program.
Any thoughts for adding or deleting questions.
Is any of that answered on their website?
April visits are mostly designed to gelp you make a yes or no decision to attend,
this is not orientation. You will have ample opportunity.
I think the most important would be how your finances work, whether you’ll have aid with an overage. I would worry less about the rug for your dorm than I would about paying for school.
Thanks for the responses. I guess my communication needs work. I was looking for insight of any overlooked things new students need to know for a typical college. The ends and out of a college aka the right questions. You can only ask or meet with the right people if your knowledgeable. Was looking for detail questions that can be specific to any College above and beyond their propaganda information. Only free weekend for the next 3 months.
@twoinanddone @blevine @thumpert
Financial aid/ Bursar’s office: Scholarships, payout.
Admissions office: Honors, Summer Bridge program, transcripts.
Academic Counseling Services: AP credits, test placement and Academic Advisors.
Health Services: Immunization, Insurance waiver, Clinical services.
Housing Office: Residential life, dorm.
Career Services: Jobs on and off campus
Associated Students: discounts on phone services, ATM’s, clubs and organizations
Community: Banks, shops.
Security: parking passes
And a LOT of your questions can be answered by sending a nice email to the departments listed above.
The only question I would really get answered…if younare not sure…is your financial aid one. You want to be sure you understand what the school financial aid is covering, and what your family bill will be. Truthfully, you should know that from your financial aid award information…but if you don’t…go and ask. But make an appointment.
Everything else…you can either find out at student orientation, or find out via email queries.
RE: immunizations…our kids colleges had that info very clearly stated on the website.
I would specifically ask if your scholarship covers study abroad options and/or summers.
Also some of the point of this visit is to get used to the campus and to meet other potential fellow students. Some kids have made up their mind and some haven’t.
Try to answer as much as you can by looking at the website or contacting the appropriate department. The event will likely be crowded and I expect that there won’t be a lot of time for individual questions. I would focus on just soaking in the atmosphere, digesting what you are hearing, seeing things that are available such as dorm options, and meeting other students.
I would eliminate from your list of things to ask that day…
–Immunizations - should be on Health website or you can call. Most likely you will get forms to fill in and submit at some point.
–AP Credit - the school policy is typically online. No need to worry about it until you get all of your scores.
–Test placement - don’t worry, the school will let you know if you need a placement test.
–Best phone carrier - assuming you have a major carrier it should be fine
–Due date for transcripts – they will tell you or HS guidance counselor should be aware.
–Dorm furnishings – can be found online and you will likely take a tour of some freshman dorms while you are there.
–Any in depth conversation about your scholarship and the impact of outside scholarships is probably best done by phone rather than in front of a crowd.
Here’s something that once was very valuable for me: if you will have a choice in housing preferences, review your options before you go, and use your time visiting to find out more about the various options. In hindsight this was a lifesaver for me - when I visited my college for a summer orientation session, I met an older student who told me that I was a perfect fit for a different dorm than the one I had signed up for. He took me to the housing office where I promptly signed up for the different dorm. That was the best decision I could have made – I ended up in a dorm filled with students who were kindred spirits, making lifelong friends.
Neither of my kids had much choice in housing – they just ended up where their college assigned them – so it might not apply in your circumstances.
But where there are options, it often ends up that different dorms have their own cultures, which might not always match up with what you read in college brochures. This is particularly true with specialty dorms or floors, such as an honors dorm, or a substance-free dorm - or a dorm program organized around a particular shared interest or course of study. Does the dorm program or environment live up to expectations? And someone might tell you about a great housing option or program that wasn’t mentioned or didn’t’ seem attractive from written descriptive materials. (Which is what happened to me - I had first picked the dorm that seemed to have the nicest rooms – and had really not looked into the special program that was in place in the dorm I found out about on my campus visit.)
If you have interests in any extra-curricular activities (sports, clubs, whatever), you might see if you can connect with some current students involved in those activities, to get to know a little bit more about the opportunities that are available.
My other thought is that Admitted Student day programs are often pretty heavily scheduled, so there may not be a lot of time to pursue answers to particular questions within the context of the program (depending on the nature of the program).
At some programs there will be a “Fair,” where all the different departments, clubs, activities, will be manning a table with the students and families milling around going to whatever tables interest them. This is a better opportunity to ask relatively detailed questions, rather than the large-gathering general Q&A session.
Many of your questions are things that can be found online. While you’re there I would ask current students the following sorts of questions:
You’ll need to talk to faculty/staff about some stuff, but you want a current student (preferably not a student ambassador, but that’ll do in a pinch) to really give you the lowdown. 