Accepted students day

[Hilltopmom]

Anyone have insight into if these are worth attending or not?

Ds has 3 acceptances in and has accepted student day offered for 2 of them.

For colleges you’ve already visited for Open House, can’t decide if we should go or not.

There’s currently no top choice for him- waiting on how all the fin aid offers shake out.

I was hoping he’d go back and visit again to sit in on actual classes and meet with dept heads 1:1

But no real classes during accept student day, they say. Sounds more like open houses, but for accepted students, I think.

[MarkT]

Try to get a detailed agenda for "acceptance day"

It might not be worth the trip.

 

Read the reviews on Niche.com

they are pretty good but NOT major oriented

 

After you get your financial aid packages try to set up a meet with the Robotics class instructor or TA (in your particular case).

OR a Prof doing some interesting research.

Forget the Dept heads IMHO

 

We didn't have any real live class sit-in on our visits either but New Mexico Tech - we were escorted by a Physics Major and met a Prof doing some interesting research for which he gave us an overview.

 

Mark

[Hilltopmom]

Good thoughts.

He wants to tour robotics labs that were closed on Open House days for sure at the two schools that have them.

I think he’s better off just setting up an individual appt at a different time.

[Milknhoney]

I work in an admissions office and coordinating our two big visit days happens to be my primary responsibilities. Of course every college does things differently, so bottom line is you should contact the admissions office and ask for an agenda or just ask them what's different from the fall event. I get your question all the time. The answer at my particular university is that the two event days are almost the same, except at the accepted student event, we offer the opportunity to have student ID card made and the opportunity to select fall courses. It is the first opportunity to do so. Everyone who doesn't attend has to wait another month to register. We also have a social event where students can start meeting each other. Whether or not it's worth it to attend a second time just for those added features is really an individual choice. For students who live within easy driving distance, I'd say it's totally worth it. If not, then, maybe. At my school, students who pay attention to their mail and hop onto course registration when it opens up for everyone will not have a problem enrolling in their classes. So to me it wouldn't be worth a second visit just to register. But I've spoken to plenty of people who found it worthwhile to be able to register with real people in the room to guide them through it. And talk to people in person about all their other questions regarding housing, meal plans, financial aid, etc. Sometimes the student is just so excited about being a student here that they are just thrilled for any excuse to be on campus again. So I could never really, truly answer for someone else whether or not attending a second campus event is worth it.

 

[Hilltopmom]

Thanks milknhoney- that was helpful.

Interesting about registering, will check on that

[GoodGrief]

We did a lot of those, and they were helpful. However, we had not visited the schools previously.

 

It can be nice to see the other accepted students, to get a sense of the sort of classmates one might have.

[Mom22ns]

We enjoyed accepted student's day at ds's school. They divided the kids up into groups by major (categories, not individual majors: science, business, education, humanities...) and took them away for several hours in which they toured, heard from/talked to professors, etc. Parents went to a couple of presentations the most memorable of which was a Q & A panel which included the freshman coordinator, registrar, someone who could speak to financial questions, a couple of parents, and I don't remember who else. His school had an absolutely amazing freshman experience coordinator, their program was winning national recognition, and she was a highlight, and also answered questions for me a couple of times his freshman year. Getting to know a few of those faces was really very helpful.

 

We were local and it was very worth it. There were people from much further away there, and I don't know if they would have said it was worth it or not.

[MarkT]

We enjoyed accepted student's day at ds's school. They divided the kids up into groups by major (categories, not individual majors: science, business, education, humanities...) and took them away for several hours in which they toured, heard from/talked to professors, etc. Parents went to a couple of presentations the most memorable of which was a Q & A panel which included the freshman coordinator, registrar, someone who could speak to financial questions, a couple of parents, and I don't remember who else. His school had an absolutely amazing freshman experience coordinator, their program was winning national recognition, and she was a highlight, and also answered questions for me a couple of times his freshman year. Getting to know a few of those faces was really very helpful.

 

We were local and it was very worth it. There were people from much further away there, and I don't know if they would have said it was worth it or not.

Sounds like you attended after choosing this particular college to attend

When are they usually held?

 

[We are holding out until all scholarship (and honors college acceptance or not in our case) info is received before pulling the trigger.]

[Mom22ns]

Sounds like you attended after choosing this particular college to attend

When are they usually held?

 

[We are holding out until all scholarship (and honors college acceptance or not in our case) info is received before pulling the trigger.]

 

This one was in late January or early February I believe. It was for those who had been offered a particular scholarship as well. While ds had already made a decision, we sat at a table with a girl who was didn't think she would come, but was trying to get more information to make her decision.

[GoodGrief]

Sounds like you attended after choosing this particular college to attend

When are they usually held?

 

[We are holding out until all scholarship (and honors college acceptance or not in our case) info is received before pulling the trigger.]

 

Generally late winter-early spring, though some of the very selective schools will go into April.

 

There's a theory that students tend to choose the school whose accepted student day they attended most recently, so some go quite late (plus regular decision Ivy acceptances don't happen until the very end of March.) A director at Ga Tech gave me that as a reason for them holding their scholarship weekend with just a couple weeks to go before the May 1 selection deadline (which was problematic for us.)

 

Some schools will offer financial incentives to attend their accepted student day program. Both of my daughters received offers to reimburse flight and travel costs from some of the schools, so watch for that, or inquire if you would be interested in something like that.

[Hilltopmom]

So far, ds’s are all in feb, March, or April and seem to be specifically for decision making.

 

No course registration which is during orientation at his schools... I checked.

Edited December 20, 2017 by Hilltopmom

[Grantmom]

I would think it would be really helpful if one is on the fence and doesn't have a clear and solid order to their choices.  I was surprised at how much visiting the schools really made an impact on DS before applying.  I have also talked to people who didn't have a great experience at one visit, but then visited again and it completely changed their mind about the school.  So, if nothing else, and it's doable within your budget of time and resources, I would think it could really help you decide where you want to be for the next four years.

[justasque]

I've been to quite  a few, and found them to be extremely helpful.  It's an opportunity to meet some staff and faculty members, to meet people who run various non-academic departments (housing, food, disabilities, etc.), to meet students and question them about the school, to dig deeper into curriculum differences from school to school, to get  deeper sense of campus culture, etc.  You have to filter out the generic stuff, but it's by applying this filter that the differences in schools become clearer. 

 

You're considering spending four or five years, and upwards of $200K (hopefully less, with scholarships and aid, but still  hefty chunk of change for many).  I believe in taking as many opportunities s possible to kick the tires before committing to the purchase. 

[ThisIsTheDay]

Anyone have insight into if these are worth attending or not?

Ds has 3 acceptances in and has accepted student day offered for 2 of them.

For colleges you’ve already visited for Open House, can’t decide if we should go or not.

There’s currently no top choice for him- waiting on how all the fin aid offers shake out.

I was hoping he’d go back and visit again to sit in on actual classes and meet with dept heads 1:1

But no real classes during accept student day, they say. Sounds more like open houses, but for accepted students, I think.

 

We only attended a day for students accepted into the honors college at the school my daughter had already chosen. It was well done, and we were both glad we went. It was a good way to be around potential future classmates. The day long session was mostly for selling the school, but not in a bad way.

 

I still laugh at the girl at our table who was very angry her mom had brought it. She made it clear that this was not her choice school, but she'd been waitlisted by the top public school in my state. lol  There were a few kids like that, but it was a really large group overall.

[bettyandbob]

My neighbor's DS went to one. He ultimately decided not to go to the school, but everyone attending the event got entered to win some giveaways throughout the event. My neighbor's DS won an IPAD. He thought it was worth going for that reason.