College info sessions - questions

[regentrude]

DD has signed up for two info sessions, held by two groups of selective universities, in the big city closest to us.

I am not sure how much valuable information to expect, but at any rate I see it as a way to demonstrate interest, especially since travel be will difficult for us due to our inconvenient location.

Has anybody attended such an event? What should we expect?

Will the students have an opportunity to talk individually to admissions people?

Should the student bring a resume, or transcript?

I think most pertinent information is available on the school's websites, so what would be the most important questions we should ask at the meeting?

 

Thanks for all your help.

[AngieW in Texas]

We only went to one college fair and didn't find it at all helpful because the representatives they had there didn't seem to be able to answer any of our questions. I think you're talking about something smaller, so that might work better. The one we went to had well over 100 schools represented and was a waste of time.

 

We went to several info sessions that were put on by individual colleges and those were extremely helpful.

[Barbara H]

If you are talking about a program such as Exploring College Options. A typical format would be: There will be a panel school has an admissions representative that makes a presentation, pictures projected up on the screen, tells about some of special programs or features of the school. After all present they may at that point answer a few questions from the audience. Then the admissions representatives will divide up to different places and students will line up to speak with them. Some representatives will be more popular than others. Particularly for the schools that are really "hot" for students from your region, it will likely be hard to get much in the way of real personal interaction. You can though get the representative's card and contact them later. I'd say the main value of the event is 1. Exposing your child to some schools that they maybe haven't thought about. So, maybe they went to the presentation to hear about Stanford but came away interested in researching Duke more. 2. It gets the college conversation rolling.

 

If you have to travel much of a distance I don't think it is worth it though. There won't be much in the way of personal interaction and a lot of the information will be pretty general or stuff you could have figured out from the website. That said, I am always impressed with the admissions representatives. Schools know how to get people who can really speak and do a good presentation.

[regentrude]

If you are talking about a program such as Exploring College Options. A typical format would be: There will be a panel school has an admissions representative that makes a presentation, pictures projected up on the screen, tells about some of special programs or features of the school. After all present they may at that point answer a few questions from the audience. Then the admissions representatives will divide up to different places and students will line up to speak with them. Some representatives will be more popular than others. Particularly for the schools that are really "hot" for students from your region, it will likely be hard to get much in the way of real personal interaction. You can though get the representative's card and contact them later. I'd say the main value of the event is 1. Exposing your child to some schools that they maybe haven't thought about. So, maybe they went to the presentation to hear about Stanford but came away interested in researching Duke more. 2. It gets the college conversation rolling.

 

If you have to travel much of a distance I don't think it is worth it though. There won't be much in the way of personal interaction and a lot of the information will be pretty general or stuff you could have figured out from the website. That said, I am always impressed with the admissions representatives. Schools know how to get people who can really speak and do a good presentation.

 

 

Thanks, Barbara, this is the kind of event I am thinking about.

Traveling to the city is not much of a hassle, it is only 100 miles. What I meant was that traveling to many of the schools would be difficult, because we are in a small town in the Midwest, two hours form an airport.

[regentrude]

Thanks, Angie.

We only went to one college fair and didn't find it at all helpful because the representatives they had there didn't seem to be able to answer any of our questions. I think you're talking about something smaller, so that might work better. The one we went to had well over 100 schools represented and was a waste of time.

 

These are info sessions with 4-5 schools represented at each.

 

We went to several info sessions that were put on by individual colleges and those were extremely helpful.

 

 

What was the most helpful information you got from those? I don't even know what I should be looking for (aside from specifics of the academic program in DD's field of interest, which is not info I expect to get from admission people)

[Brenda in MA]

What was the most helpful information you got from those? I don't even know what I should be looking for (aside from specifics of the academic program in DD's field of interest, which is not info I expect to get from admission people)

 

We've gone to the big college fair at a local prep school and have found it to be helpful. In addition to showing interest (which is always important), we were able to speak with our area's admissions reps at many of the colleges.

 

So -- a lot of colleges have all the applications from one region -- say PA, OH, etc. -- reviewed by one person, and often, they send that person to the college fairs in PA, OH, etc. I definitely think there is value in being able to put your dd's face with her name for that person, and also, you can get that person's card in case you have specific questions later. If it isn't too crazy/crowded, I've also taken the opportunity to discuss (from a guidance counselor (GC) perspective) what documentation (transcripts, # recommendations, etc.) they want from homeschoolers. I'd let your dd start the conversation, but if you're there and have the chance, you could step in and ask the GC questions.

 

I agree that if you've read the school's literature and/or website carefully, you're probably not going to learn a ton of new information, but I definitely think that the networking opportunity is worth it.

 

Best wishes,

Brenda

[Nan in Mass]

Every few months, our community college has representatives from colleges come and sit behind tables. I have spoken with them about what they want from homeschoolers. Some are able to be helpful and some are not. They have binders in front of them with regulations and sometimes those binders contain what the school wants from homeschoolers and sometimes they don't. One college even called back to the main office to double check to make sure the information was correct. I have had colleges say that as homeschoolers, we need to contact the main office on campus, which wasn't helpful. At the other end of the spectrum, there was one college there last spring with a poster that said they would assess students' applications on the spot. I watched them help one student fill out their application and be accepted. She was jumping all over with excitement. They printed out her acceptance letter and then they set off some of those champaigne bottle party poppers with her lol.

 

You could ask questions like:

What paperwork you would like from homeschoolers?

Do you have many homeschoolers apply?

Do you accept many homeschoolers?

Is your uni a place where homeschoolers thrive or is it a big adjustment for them?

Do homeschoolers have to take any extra standardized tests?

Will taking extra standardized tests increase my daughter's chances of being accepted?

Would you prefer the transcript to be ordered by date or by subject?

Which of my daughter's college classes will transfer?

Would it increase my daughter's chances if she applied early action, before her first semester senior year university grades are in, or regular decision, after she has those grades?

 

The most useful questions are the "which do you prefer" and the "will it increase my chances or shouldn't I bother" type, but those are also the ones that are the hardest to get colleges to answer. Whether or not the college answered the question was in itself useful information. My sons prefered the colleges which gave straightforward answers to questions like this and weren't afraid to say things like don't bother taking those extra tests and we will need to see those grades so it would be better to. If there is anything odd about your daughter, you can ask questions about that, also. I had an ungraded transcript. It was interesting to see colleges' reactions to that bit of information. We also found it useful to see which college understood that I was the guidance counselor and would talk to me in that capacity, and which colleges brushed me off as a helicopter parent and went into "give no useful information and maybe she will go away" mode.

 

Nan

[regentrude]

Thanks, Nan, these were very helpful suggestions.

 

I had to chuckle about the applying/being admitted on the spot story.

This is not most definitely not going to happen with the schools in question, LOL.

 

Is your uni a place where homeschoolers thrive or is it a big adjustment for them?

 

I am curious: how would they know? Typically, the admissions side is disconnected from the teaching side; the instructors who see the students excel or fail usually have no information about homeschooling, and the people who admit the students don't follow up on their later academic standing.

[Kareni]

Every few months, our community college has representatives from colleges come and sit behind tables. I have spoken with them about what they want from homeschoolers. Some are able to be helpful and some are not.

 

 

We also attended a local community college event with similar results.

 

One suggestion, you might take along some adhesive stickers with your daughter's name and address. That way she can easily put herself on the mailing lists of any colleges that interest her.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Barbara H]

Particularly at big college fairs or at these five college at a hotel type of events, I would not take anything anyone tells you about homeschooling as the final word. They may know the policies or they may not. At the big college fairs (conventional hall events) it is sometimes the regional representative for your area but not always. Some out of area schools staff their tables with alums who may know next to nothing about admissions policies.

 

At these five college type hotel events it may be a person who is a very good speaker but not someone who represents your area. I would not count on it for any personal contact or accurate homeschool information. You might get it, but no guarentee. At the last one of these O attended the line to meet he rep from the most popular college was probably 75 students deep. Nobody was having a deep discussion.

[Kathy in Richmond]

We traveled 100 miles to one of the Exploring College Options sessions when dd was a junior. We really didn't learn anything particularly useful that we didn't know already or couldn't look up on the college websites. Dd and I would have liked to talk to the rep from the school she was interested in, but the lines were as long as Barbara described. Since it was a work night for my husband, we just got into the car and went home. Btw, you can check in the Common Data Set for various colleges to see whether or not demonstrated interest counts. For very selective colleges, it often makes no difference at all.

[AngieW in Texas]

Thanks, Angie.

 

These are info sessions with 4-5 schools represented at each.

 

 

 

What was the most helpful information you got from those? I don't even know what I should be looking for (aside from specifics of the academic program in DD's field of interest, which is not info I expect to get from admission people)

 

 

We got a lot of specific information about that school including:

how the dorms worked

what they wanted hs transcripts to look like (that was a question I asked during the Q&A part, but they actually knew the answer and didn't have to check)

what all the deadlines were

new programs at the school

how financial aid and merit scholarships worked at that school and how to apply for them and whether or not FAFSA was required for merit scholarships

[Nan in Mass]

Thanks, Nan, these were very helpful suggestions.

 

I had to chuckle about the applying/being admitted on the spot story.

This is not most definitely not going to happen with the schools in question, LOL.

 

 

 

I am curious: how would they know? Typically, the admissions side is disconnected from the teaching side; the instructors who see the students excel or fail usually have no information about homeschooling, and the people who admit the students don't follow up on their later academic standing.

 

 

Well, I wasn't so much thinking you would get a good answer as that it would be a good question to ask. : )

 

Some schools have an admissions person who is in charge of homeschoolers. We found at one particular school, that person was fairly knowledgable. She was certainly more helpful than some of the admissions people at other schools. The guidance counselor at our public high school had a list of "homeschool friendly" colleges, whatever that means.

 

Nan

[Beth in OH]

I think I must be road weary. :closedeyes: I have never felt that attending any college event helped my student get admitted; you should go if there's a reason for you and your dc to attend based on your own cost-benefit analysis, but nothing more. The schools that my dc have applied to have never cared one whit about my dc's demonstration of interest (YMMV). They have received solid scholarship help from schools that offer merit aid. We have done only the minimum--good test scores, good applications, and where applicable, good auditions. If we had been required to demonstrate the appropriate amount of interest, we would have gone mad! We did what my dc could handle emotionally and financially, and nothing more.

 

My advice is to not place expectations on yourself or your dc that are perfectionistic. Do what you feel is right in the given circumstances, and believe in your decision. There is more than one way to travel this road.