When we visit OU what should we see to convince our daughter that OU is the place to be?
Ask your daughter to prepare a list of criteria for her decision making process. For each of it, identify if she got all the info/data needed and if not prepare a list of questions to get answered / clarified during the visit.
If major is known, meet the specific department resources to clarify any questions, opportunities to learn, intern, research and get a job after graduation.
In case NMS, attend the session from that office to know any details related to need or merit based aid.
Visit the dorms, residential college, food courts to get a feel.
Also meet and chat informally with students to get a feel.
Disclosure: My D graduating this year May. Went for a specific program and got free tuition and works for the NMS office. She is very happy with her selection of OU. Her situation is very isolated and hence do not want to generalize.
Based on your posting history, it seems that your daughter intends to be an education major. The obvious answer then is to have her look at the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education as well as any relevant departments if she wants to be a subject matter teacher at the middle/high school level. Just by looking at the website, it appears as though a woman named [Tammy Miller](http://www.ou.edu/education/contact-the-college) is the point of contact for undergraduate admissions at college. You may wish to reach out to her to see if any supplemental tours or information are availible for prospective CoE students.
Keep in mind that Oklahoma routinely ranks nearly last in the nation in terms of education funding which affects teacher morale in the state. Apparently other states heavily recruit good Oklahoma teachers because of how underfunded the state’s schools are. I’m not sure how this translates to studying education at the undergraduate level, but it is worth keeping in mind.
Beyond touring the college and supplemental departments, I can’t say with any certainty how you can convince her OU is for her. Some students are wow’ed by the football stadium and other athletic facilities. I didn’t really care when I was there. Others are impressed by Norman, which is a very solid college town with access to a larger city (OKC). That to me was a much bigger draw, but your daughter may not care how many Thai places there are within a few miles of the school.
If you posted about what she’s looking for in a university, then we can more accurately give recommendations.
@whenhen She is looking for a big university with traditions behind it. She will likely rush in the fall. We are from the largest high school in the state of Texas with a graduating class of over 1600. She loves people but wants to meet new ones. Her fear is that there are too many people from her high school going to OU.
If your daughter goes to Allen High School then there will be students who also attend from the school. However, OU has literally tens of thousands of students, including 4,385 first time freshmen in the fall of 2018. She will probably run into someone from her high school in passing, but unless she somehow deliberately makes her social group exclusive to those from high school, she’ll absolutely meet new people. Camp Crimson and rush are great ways for freshmen, before they formally start the academic year, to branch out.
As an added bonus to Camp Crimson, it teaches incoming freshmen about many of the traditions surrounding the school, and virtually everyone I know who attended it was a fan.
Since she does intend to rush, it’s worth at least walking by the Greek houses at OU. Most of them are right next to campus, and are generally beautiful which would likely impress her given your prior description of what she’s looking for in terms of a traditional atmosphere
Although the formal tours take students around the Union, you might want to spend a little more time there, since the place has a very stereotypical classical college feel to it, unlike some other student unions I’ve been to.
Like whenwhen said Oklahoma allocates less funds for education than most states and this is evident in the university. Professors are ok at best and the university is in major debt.
If she is after a social life she will be fine. It’s a big Greek school with plenty of opportunities for partying, etc…
Athletic events are always a good option, but do not try to convince your student to go to a school if their heart does not tell them that is where he/she belongs. OU is an ok education at best, lots of emphasis on partying and social… much of which is in conjunction with Greek life and local bars.