<p>In and amongst all of her college mail, my D (HS junior) received an invitation to a reception/information session at a hotel for Johns Hopkins, Davidson, Swarthmore, and Wesleyan. She is interested in Johns Hopkins (wants to major in IR), and we are planning on a campus visit during our DC college trip over spring break. </p>
<p>Im sure many of the parents here have been to these - are they worthwhile? What should we expect?</p>
<p>When son was a sophomre, we went to a reception he was invited to for Yale (he was interestd at the time). It was, as expected, a very polished presentation, with enthusiastic adcom & supportive alumni. Son did NOT come, as he had an exam to study for the next day. He said that they have similar presentations on campus frequently & he couldn't fit it into his schedule.
By all means, go if you have any interest. YOu may get a different perspective from the one you'd get visiting. Hubby & I found it interesting, since we were never courted like this when we were in HS. Son is generally NOT impressed with these presenattions, as he expects colleges to be wonderful & beautuful & expects that each adcom will do a good job presenting its campus.</p>
<p>These sessions are pretty much identical to the info sessions you will get at the colleges. An adcom briefly talks about the school: academic environment, social environment, residence life, safety etc, and then talks about the admissions requirements, including some stats about the previous year's accepted class. Then they answer questions. It's a good start and, more importantly, may take colleges OFF a kid's list if they find out something about the school that doesn't fit what they are looking for.</p>
<p>You can get some good info from the adcom, and the reception food is usually pretty good. However, the adcom is usually assisted by a local alum or two, and those can be highly variable in quality and usefulness.</p>
<p>Hopkins is a school that tracks demonstrated interest, so attending is a plus. However, you might check their website to see if they are in your 'hood solo -- I found the solo presentations much more valuable than the groups.</p>