High end colleges with poorly planned open houses

[Hilltopmom]

We attended a visit day this weekend at well known a pricey private U.

There were maybe 100 or so families attending.

 

After registering online for it, we never got confirmation or info about times,schedule,where to checkin, etc. (neither did other families,i asked a few randomly during the day when chatting).

 

The departments didn't plan presentations,just each set up a table for questions, where they likely had to answer the same things over & over in a loud, crowded room.

 

The tour guides didn't have a key for any dormrooms in the freshman dorms! And seem surprised that rooms were all locked, but figured kids would be happy enouyghto just hear "well,it's a typical dorm room with 2 beds"

 

Many students were doing interviews as part of their visit day,but we didn't know we could've scheduled that.

 

All in all, I was not impressed by this event at all.

 

Imean,really, tuition is in the $60,000 range... You'd think a better impression would want to be made.

And no eval form at the end of the event for comments.

 

Boo.

[Bootsie]

I am not surprised that the departments did not set up formal presentations for this type of event.  Often at this point, students are exploring several different departments, making scheduling formal presentations difficult.  Having individual presentations may also mean that the presentations have to be spread across campus.  Faculty from departments may not be available to run multiple presentations.  

 

Of the campuses my children visited, they only saw a freshman dorm room at one campus.  For security and privacy reasons, they don't want a lot of people wandering through the dorm buildings.  In the summer, many campuses are using dorm space for camps and conferences.

 

Usually, however, I have had universities send a schedule, providing parking information, tell you where to meet, etc.

 

[Hilltopmom]

That makes sense for the departments, it was just that every other one of these we've been to this year had panels with departments that were really helpful. Most lumped different majors together, so, all engineering together, etc.

This was a small school without too many different departments.

 

On the dorms, I get that, I used to work college conferences (part of why I saw shocked that it was so half baked). But this dorm was empty and they took us in on purpose to see it,& then the tour guide went down the hall trying all the knobs to find an open room.

 

Oh well.

The state Us we have visited, both large & small had incredibly well done open house programs. I just expected comparable for this much higher end school.

[Arcadia]

The state Us we have visited, both large & small had incredibly well done open house programs. I just expected comparable for this much higher end school.

The high cost local private colleges has many outreach programs from 9th grade or before that. Maybe to them open houses become more of an afterthought since their outreach arm is already aggressively recruiting on high school campuses and through mailers. My uprising 8th grader had a advertisement mailer from Notre Dame because of middle school Talent Search participation. He attended Stanford Splash as a 7th grader and that is by lottery and has a long waiting list. We get generic outreach mailers from Santa Clara University because we are within commute distance. All three universities I listed have very high cost of attendance.

[Lanny]

Eliminate that school from your list.  

[Lanny]

Deleted: Double Post  

Edited June 27, 2017 by Lanny

[gstharr]

It is the privilege of being in demand.  When we were exploring private middle schools, the " IT" school had a very minimal open house.  The other schools in the area provided refreshments, tours, demonstrations, and classroom visits.

[MerryAtHope]

I wouldn't be impressed either. I'd find someone to email and give feedback even though they didn't ask for it. Up to them if they pay attention, but seriously, most of the things you noticed that were missing are not at all hard to do. 

[*LC]

Eliminate that school from your list.

I would be disappointed in the running of the visit as I love efficiency & schedules, however, I would not let this have any impact on my opinion of the school (other than it's ability to run a visit day.) I don't think visits have anything to do with a school's ability to educate students as they are handled by different groups.

 

That said my oldest ruled out a pricey, selective private school and a well-regarded in-state flagship after less than ideal visits. I was all for visiting again, however, she had decided on a major that was not available at either one. My next one visited the in-state flagship and liked it, but ended up not applying for differen reasons. There are tons of schools so unless there is a compelling reason to keep this school on the list, leave it up to your student whether to keep it on the list.

[Hilltopmom]

I would be disappointed in the running of the visit as I love efficiency & schedules, however, I would not let this have any impact on my opinion of the school (other than it's ability to run a visit day.) I don't think visits have anything to do with a school's ability to educate students as they are handled by different groups.

 

That said my oldest ruled out a pricey, selective private school and a well-regarded in-state flagship after less than ideal visits. I was all for visiting again, however, she had decided on a major that was not available at either one. My next one visited the in-state flagship and liked it, but ended up not applying for differen reasons. There are tons of schools so unless there is a compelling reason to keep this school on the list, leave it up to your student whether to keep it on the list.

Yeah,kiddo liked the school,regardless.

They'd have to give him a ton of $ for him to be able to attend,but you never know. It's definately a financial reach for him.

[creekland]

Eliminate that school from your list.  

 

Over a visit because it wasn't set up ideally?  Seriously?

 

We look for a lot more from colleges than how they handle a group visit day.  Those running these days have nothing at all to do with academic caliber or teaching or anything else.  Eliminating a school because of this sounds eerily akin to how some students (and parents) elevate a school because they sent a t-shirt or rolled out the red carpet and provided drinks for free.  Those reasons always boggled my mind.

 

There are oodles of reasons to eliminate schools - even good schools - but this definitely is not one of them unless "the show" is more important to one than "the bread and butter."

 

The fact that some feel this way is WHY some schools feel the need to spend money perfecting "the show" I suppose.  In some eyes they simply aren't as good as the one down the street who can put on an awesome party.

[regentrude]

Over a visit because it wasn't set up ideally?  Seriously?

We look for a lot more from colleges than how they handle a group visit day.  Those running these days have nothing at all to do with academic caliber or teaching or anything else.  

 

Yes to the bolded.

Admissions and Outreach may not be very organized, but that does not matter, because the student does not have anything to do with those entities once attending.

None of this has anything to do with the academic quality.

[MerryAtHope]

Over a visit because it wasn't set up ideally?  Seriously?

 

We look for a lot more from colleges than how they handle a group visit day.  Those running these days have nothing at all to do with academic caliber or teaching or anything else.  Eliminating a school because of this sounds eerily akin to how some students (and parents) elevate a school because they sent a t-shirt or rolled out the red carpet and provided drinks for free.  Those reasons always boggled my mind.

 

There are oodles of reasons to eliminate schools - even good schools - but this definitely is not one of them unless "the show" is more important to one than "the bread and butter."

 

The fact that some feel this way is WHY some schools feel the need to spend money perfecting "the show" I suppose.  In some eyes they simply aren't as good as the one down the street who can put on an awesome party.

 

I guess I don't see it as "showy-ness" at all to think of things like sending a schedule (that's kind of a "duh" thing on their part), saying you can sign up to meet with various departments, or to think of doing something as common-sense as putting together a panel. That's not glitz and glamour (or pomp and circumstance...LOL!). To me that's just basic organizational skills 101. While I probably wouldn't really eliminate a college for a poor visit only, the fact that they don't think of some really BASIC things makes me question whether they are too busy to think of them, whether the school is not well-run or well-organized, whether they don't really care about students (maybe they're too big to really pay attention) etc... It certainly didn't win them points.

[Bootsie]

I guess I don't see it as "showy-ness" at all to think of things like sending a schedule (that's kind of a "duh" thing on their part), saying you can sign up to meet with various departments, or to think of doing something as common-sense as putting together a panel. That's not glitz and glamour (or pomp and circumstance...LOL!). To me that's just basic organizational skills 101. While I probably wouldn't really eliminate a college for a poor visit only, the fact that they don't think of some really BASIC things makes me question whether they are too busy to think of them, whether the school is not well-run or well-organized, whether they don't really care about students (maybe they're too big to really pay attention) etc... It certainly didn't win them points.

I would not necessarily conclude that they did not think of common-sense things.  This may seem like common-sense but the university may have reasons for not doing it.  Some people, for example, do not like to sit in an auditorium listening to a panel talk about things that are irrelevant to their situation.  They would prefer to walk around and talk one-on-one with people from particular areas.  Also, the admissions office is not in charge of or in control of a lot of other areas of campus.  Faculty may be teaching a class, leading a study abroad program, working on a research project and not able to participate in a panel over the summer.  Most faculty are on 9-month contracts and are not paid to do recruiting type of events.  Maybe the faculty are busy doing the things I hope they will be doing once my child attends the school.  

[regentrude]

 Also, the admissions office is not in charge of or in control of a lot of other areas of campus.  Faculty may be teaching a class, leading a study abroad program, working on a research project and not able to participate in a panel over the summer.  Most faculty are on 9-month contracts and are not paid to do recruiting type of events.  Maybe the faculty are busy doing the things I hope they will be doing once my child attends the school.  

 

The bolded.

Many of our faculty spend their summer attending conferences and working with collaborators in other states and countries on joint research - because they can't do this during the semester. Some lead study abroad trips. A handful teach summer classes. 

[MerryAtHope]

I would not necessarily conclude that they did not think of common-sense things.  This may seem like common-sense but the university may have reasons for not doing it.  Some people, for example, do not like to sit in an auditorium listening to a panel talk about things that are irrelevant to their situation.  They would prefer to walk around and talk one-on-one with people from particular areas.  Also, the admissions office is not in charge of or in control of a lot of other areas of campus.  Faculty may be teaching a class, leading a study abroad program, working on a research project and not able to participate in a panel over the summer.  Most faculty are on 9-month contracts and are not paid to do recruiting type of events.  Maybe the faculty are busy doing the things I hope they will be doing once my child attends the school.  

 

The OP stated that there were faculty having to speak in a noisy room and likely answering the same questions over and over. Presumably those same faculty could have spent the same amount of time (or even less) doing a panel discussion (answer general questions first) and then been available after to for those who wanted to talk one on one. Obviously these people either were paid to be there or wanted to be. I've been to similar open house type situations that were structured in a more conducive manner to visitors, that's all. (For example, one school we went to did a rotation of panels--it wasn't a big stuffy room because we were divided into groups and visited various rooms and departments, got great info in a fairly short amount of time combined right into a campus tour and were able to ask specific questions--I really liked how that one was done). But I get that this school may have been going for the convention-hall type of feel and thought it was their best option--and I probably wouldn't have commented if that was the only issue.

 

But the lack of schedule, confirmation, check-in and other directions to people coming is more what I meant by a lack of organization. It just shows a lack of care towards people who may be traveling a great distance to see the campus, that's all. (And if I travel to see a school, I don't want to just walk into the front of a dorm building--I do actually want to see a room. I'd think a lot of people would.) It makes me wonder what else the school won't really think of administratively. I agree though that if the academics are great, that likely would win out (but on the other hand, if the administration has issues, that affects how faculty feel about being there, affects turnover, may affect how dorms are run or various issues are handled etc...). And I do realize one event may not be at all indicative of how things are run at a school. It's going to make me look more closely at how things are run though. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by MerryAtHope

[creekland]

Honestly, talking with current students, alumni, and seeing what recent grads have done are all far more important to us than how admissions runs their "days."  We talk about pros and cons of all the different things we see "protocol-wise," but those just don't factor into whether a school remains on a list or not in the same way their mailings or offerings of free water don't.

 

But then again, when we went to URoc one of the things we liked that was stated quite plainly in a group session is that they don't hold students' hands.  They expect students to be the ones who initiate contact with professors about research and similar.  They expect students to go to tutoring session offered if they need them.  They consider a bit of that training for real life.  That sort of stuff appeals to us far more than red carpets in an attempt to woo students/parents - that and students/professors who are eager to share about their classes and research and similar.

 

YMMV

[Arch at Home]

A poorly run showcase does matter to us if all other things are equal. There are too many colleges vying for my student. A poorly run showcase may mean that we would need to make another visit to that college once acceptances are in and at a time when we are looking for reasons to eliminate schools - the need for a second visit could be that reason.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

Based on our experience--anything that happens during the summer isn't as good as what happens during the school year.  Summer was all we could do so we went in expecting this and that was the best we could do.

 

During the summer faculty members are off on vacation, pursuing the own research interests, teaching in summer programs around the world.  They are not as available or behind their desks at regular hours.  Courses to sit in on are minimal to non-existent.  Student's are home, on internships, study abroad programs, working full time, and so on.  Therefore the campus isn't as vibrant, the most of the top students who help run admissions events are not on campus, dorms and facilities are closed, on limited hours or being used by contracted summer programs.  Facilities are restricted by cleaning and remodeling crews. Some campuses don't offer summer semesters so they are really limited.  If you understand this then you can properly evaluate a summer visit.  

 

Some schools do a poor job of welcoming prospective students in general.  One school was so disorganized with our dd that she didn't want to apply.  By the time the admissions officer had forgotten to show up to interview her she was pretty upset and after the rescheduled interview she swore she wouldn't attend no matter what they offered.  Felt she had wasted precious visit hours by choosing their campus over some others we never visited.

[Guest]

I don't know that I would immediately eliminate them from my list, but they would fall way down in favor. It's like: if I'm going on a first date with a guy (LOl, haven't done that in 27 years!) and he is twenty-five minutes late, shows up with his sweater on backward, doesn't have any gas in the car and realized at dinner that he only has two dollars for the tip, he's fallen from favor. He has a lot of strikes against him. This WAS his chance to show what he has to bring to the relationship, but he brought a disorganized, disheveled and poorly planned mess.

 

Things that happened on different tours that put a particular college way down to the bottom for us:

 

We showed up and there wasn't a soul in sight. We had to ask a janitor if there actually WAS an open house that day.

The tour sign-up gave no indication of WHERE on the 3 square mile campus we needed to be for the tour.

We had no parking permit at a college where parking is scarce as hen's teeth.

A tour guide who couldn't think of a thing to mention about the college except how "fun" eveything is.

The student activist sporting a marijuana shirt, who approached us asking us if we wanted any info on drug policy.

 

It might not be the last word on a particular college, but I do care how a visit is organized; I would care far more for an expensive, private school.

[*LC]

I'm laughing over the first date analogy, because my first date with my husband was a disaster. It ended within minutes of starting. It was all my fault, based on a misunderstanding. I'm glad he gave me another chance.

 

My oldest's first visit to the college she ended up attending started off awful in awful weather. The engineering tour guide was a sterotypical engineer who mumbled and showed us in lots of detail everything all the contest projects she was not interest in. Next we somehow missed the housing tour even though we walked in the building at time it was scheduled. There was another issue too, before we went on the general tour. That went great; and the school became her first choice.

 

That said, there are lots of schools, so if your child doesn't like a school, because of the open house, the food, the mascots, the core requirements, whatever, that is a fine reason to drop it off the list or down the list if your student has other choices that will work for your family.

 

To the OP, I hope the school comes through with enough money to make it affordable for your student.

[MarkT]

IMHO you should try to visit a college while the students are "in session" so you get a feel for the place.