Prospective college question: observing a class

[distancia]

For those who have been there, done that--

 

My D has toured 3 colleges thus far and at 2 of them she asked the Admissions Department, in advance, if she could observe a class in session. This is a fairly common request among more serious students. D does not want a repeat of a high school or community college classroom setting. She is looking for a smaller environment with more of a "seminar" feel among intellectual students (as opposed to those who are there simply "because").

 

Anyway, she contact the last U on the list (a safety, 3rd tier school) and Admissions told her she needs to contact the College of Arts and Sciences directly. She did so. She was then instructed that she should:

 

1) get online and look at the course catalog

2) see which class(ses) interested her

3) send an email to all the instructors (for whom she has no email addresses!) that she is interested in observing their classes

4) wait and see who writes back so she can set up her own appointments

 

I couldn't believe this (for a variety of reasons) so I called myself and I was told by the receptionist that she had never heard of a student wanting to observe a class (?) and she checked with someone else in the office and they said, this is the only thing they can think of.

 

Has anyone ever done this, or has your child done the observing the traditional way?

[Blue Hen]

Last year my son sat in on classes at his top 3 choices. For college #1 they gave him a choice of at least 2 dozen classes to sit in on, on a particular day. He sat in on those 2 classes and the university set up several upper classmen to have lunch with him and the other dozen kids who were also sitting in on classes. DS really enjoyed the day.

 

School #2 did something similiar to school #1. This happened on the admitted students weekend/weekday event or in the late winter.

 

School #3 and the place where DS is now attending did not have a structured classroom visitation program like school #1 and 2. Instead I called the department DS was intending to major in and asked if it was possible for DS to sit in on a class or two. They said they had to check with a couple of the different prof to find one willing to do this but after a couple days they got back to me. DS was permitted to sit in on one class. The Undergrad advisor then gave him a tour of the department which we did not request.

 

Carole

[ChemMommy]

I have prospective students sit in my classes several times a year. Big U is just too big to arrange student visits. If you want to visit a class and it is a large class, just show up. They'll never know. If it is a smaller class, I'd email the prof. The email for the prof should be readily available from the website.

 

The better students DO ask to sit in on a class in an area they are interested in. It's definitely worth doing. In a smaller class, encourage your teen to stay for a minute after class to thank the prof for allowing them to sit in the class. Bonus points if your teen can mention one point from the class that they found interesting/insightful/compelling/important.

[regentrude]

Not having the experience with a student - but as an instructor, I would say she would probably be fine just showing up before class, identifying her self as a prospective student and asking the professor if it was OK to watch a class. Even better, she could make an appointment with the head a specific academic department and have her class visit arranged this way.

 

Now this said, her requirements sound very restrictive:

"D does not want a repeat of a high school or community college classroom setting. She is looking for a smaller environment with more of a "seminar" feel among intellectual students (as opposed to those who are there simply "because")."

 

I can not imagine somebody at the admissions officec going to the trouble of weeding out the class catalog to figure out which specific upper level non-required classes with "intellectual" students she might find acceptable.

For required classes, which have to be taken by all students, fact is there will always be students who take it "because", and there will be many classes who are not "small seminar", but large lectures. So if she has these very specific expectations then, yes, I agree, she should look through the catalog and find out what exactly it is she would like to observe.

The instructor's email addresses should be easily obtainable from the school's directory.

[Jane in NC]

Whoa. My son not only sat in classes on his visits, he also met with faculty.

 

How this was done: he flew up to one college for a senior open house, spending Sunday night on campus. Admissions gave students a list of classes that were open to visitors on Monday. Given that a group of prospective students was on campus, Admissions did not want the visitors disrupting classes that were having exams. But he was free to choose any course or courses to visit from the list. Admissions set up the appointment with a department chair whom he wanted to meet.

 

At another college, he flew up for a scholarship competition. Participants were offered tours and the opportunity to sit in classes--again all orchestrated by Admissions. Once again, my son requested a faculty meeting. Admissions arranged it.

 

There was a third college at a geographic distance. He had to spend two nights there. Admissions not only set up the appointments with the two faculty members he wished to meet, they chose a slate of courses that they thought tied in with his interests and cleared his participation in all of them.

 

It seems to me that scheduling visits is the role of admissions. Even at a larger university that we visited when school was out of session, the admissions department called the head of the department in which my son intends to major. Selling the school is the job of Admissions.

 

I am wondering, though, if more competitive schools automatically do this or if schools that draw students from around the country are more accommodating.

[distancia]

 

Now this said, her requirements sound very restrictive:

 

I can not imagine somebody at the admissions officec going to the trouble of weeding out the class catalog to figure out which specific upper level non-required classes with "intellectual" students she might find acceptable.

 

I think you may have misunderstood--I never asked Admissions to weed out those classes, never mentioned it to anyone.

 

I am saying that it is daughter's reason for asking to observe a class in session. She did tour this particular university in July and as much as she liked the small (4000 students undergrad, 8,000 total) campus and the location (directly on the water, in a medium-sized city with a lot of cultural events going on) she was unimpressed with the student body around her...her reaction (once we left campus and sat down in a cafe to discuss the tour) was that she felt very much like she was at a community college. The students did not seem as "intellectual" as those she had seen on other campuses (little details like baseball caps worn backwards, the girls wearing a LOT of makeup...poor grammar like "me and my friend like it here"). But the location of the campus, the access to all sorts of marine activities (she loves to sail), the proximity to home just a 50 minute drive, are all plusses.

 

We decided to tour the school once again when it was in session and for D to observe a class and see what the caliber of the students is like. She had very high SAT English scores--710 Critical reading 690 writing--and since the average English score at this school is 530 and average Math is 550 she isn't sure if she will end up being bored (bad), or conversely, have a manageable courseload and lots of free time to pursue her non-academic interests (good).

Edited September 17, 2010 by distancia

[creekland]

This is definitely strange, but maybe they are that way because the students who go there don't generally care what the classes are like? At every school we've visited to date, sitting in on classes has been an option as has been meeting with faculty within the desired major.

 

But, we haven't visited a ton of schools, so I don't really consider myself an expert. That said, I assumed what we've been experiencing was normal. Assumptions can be wrong.

[distancia]

This is definitely strange, but maybe they are that way because the students who go there don't generally care what the classes are like? At every school we've visited to date, sitting in on classes has been an option as has been meeting with faculty within the desired major.

 

That's what I am thinking. I posted a similar question over at College Confidential http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/999654-observing-class-prospective-college-question.html#post1065611183 and I got the impression that this kind of scenario--no procedure for classroom obs at the university level--is unusual. It does indicate a "blah" college and "blah" student body.

 

Caveat emptor!

Edited September 18, 2010 by distancia

[Halftime Hope]

what certain schools offered to prospective students that other schools never considered. The college my dd chose did not have a program for overnight campus visits. ??? Fortunately, we had an acquanitance who was willing to lend her the floor for a night. ;)

 

For the OP, it really sounds to me like your dd is the perfect candidate for an honors program within the student body of the uni she is considering. It doesn't surprise me that they (the uni) wouldn't have something set up, given the student body they are working with, but she may find *exactly* what she is looking for if they have a smaller, select group of students in honors programming. It was like this at the uni where two of my young adults have taken courses. The Honors College track students got all kinds of perks, including having seminar style classes, having priority access to registration, having honors-designated courses taught by the choice professors, having their own library/large study room/computer lab in the center of campus, having a standing invitation to lunch with speakers who were invited to campus, having summer study abroad opportunities scheduled only for honors students....you get the gist. Some univs also have honor dorms or housing.

 

Have her look into that possibility and see if she can attend some of those classes.