? about departmental tour

[Miss Marple]

Ds received a favorable reply from Texas about a possible transfer into their nuclear engineering (radiological health physicist) program. We were shocked that he received a reply in less than 2 hours (maybe they are bored down there this summer :) ) It looks like he would head there for the spring of 2013. But he would like to go down there to meet/greet/tour etc before making a commitment. We also know that there is a program in Missouri which is a bit closer, but not rated as highly.

 

We have never done this before :D For both boys, they opted to go to the state univ. because it was the one with the available degrees they wished to pursue. So they just did the basic freshman tour.

 

How does one go about requesting a more specialized tour? Is that a weird thing to request when one is just an undergraduate? The tour would have to be in the summer so there probably wouldn't be any classes in which he could participate.

 

Also he was told that if he were to get a scholarship (transfer, departmental) from Texas, he would automatically get in-state tuition. So while I wouldn't balk at begging ;), I don't think it would look too good; so how does one go about working toward that other than just filling out the application?

 

Any thoughts, guidance, types of questions he/we should ask, what to wear, who should go, etc would be appreciated.

[regentrude]

I would suggest that he contact the academic department directly. He should call the department office and explain his situation. The admissions department is handling generic campus tours and will also schedule some departmental visits, but more subject specific information for his field would come from the academic department, so I'd contact them directly.

 

I know that if students express an interest in our department, the chair will be happy to meet with them and their families, show them around the building and answer specific questions. They can also walk around and knock on doors (but summer is a bad time since many faculty members use the opportunity to attend conferences and travel for research).

[Starr]

I would suggest that he contact the academic department directly. He should call the department office and explain his situation. The admissions department is handling generic campus tours and will also schedule some departmental visits, but more subject specific information for his field would come from the academic department, so I'd contact them directly.

 

I know that if students express an interest in our department, the chair will be happy to meet with them and their families, show them around the building and answer specific questions. They can also walk around and knock on doors (but summer is a bad time since many faculty members use the opportunity to attend conferences and travel for research).

 

:iagree: This worked well for dd. They have also found students in the department to talk with.

[SkateLeft]

Contacting the department directly has worked well for us.

[MIch elle]

I contacted the undergrad. advisor in ds college/major that we met at the fall open house. She made an appt. with us during accepted students day to answer our questions because my ds had a hard time deciding between 2 universities. We also met 2 students in the dept at that time. It did the trick to help my ds to decide.

 

No, it's not weird to me for your ds to ask for a dept tour and speak to some professors. Go for it! :D

Edited June 22, 2012 by MIch elle

[creekland]

Contacting the department directly has worked well for us.

 

We may be unusual, but I also do this for freshman admission - not just transfers. We always try to meet with someone in the actual department to ask questions, etc, and many times I get there by e-mailing someone from a faculty webpage.

[SkateLeft]

We may be unusual, but I also do this for freshman admission - not just transfers. We always try to meet with someone in the actual department to ask questions, etc, and many times I get there by e-mailing someone from a faculty webpage.

 

That's exactly what I've done as well since I've got a freshman applicant. I didn't realize it was unusual! :lol:

 

We've found that faculty and staff are very helpful and often go out of their way to give us information, but we're primarily focusing on small-midsize schools. Maybe things are different at large public universities. We've been able to tour facilities that aren't on the standard admissions tour, and talk with undergrad and graduate students and faculty.