Revisiting Campus--Do I Need to Inform the School?

[Anonymous]

My DC is having a bit of a panic attack about the school they chose, so we are heading there tomorrow to revisit. We've only been there once, and it was freezing as we rushed from building to building, and we didn't get a good sense of the campus. It's a small school. They don't want to go on an official tour; they just want to walk around. Most students are gone, but they are having graduation this weekend. Do we need to tell the school we will be on campus?

[Anonymous]

no

[Anonymous]

Of course you don’t NEED to. Omg. But I think there’s a benefit to calling ahead if you want the visit to go well. Assuming you want this to work out, you could call and arrange something. I would do that.

[Anonymous]

No. I frequently work from my alma mater because it is central to several customers. Literally no one cares about my presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is having a bit of a panic attack about the school they chose, so we are heading there tomorrow to revisit. We've only been there once, and it was freezing as we rushed from building to building, and we didn't get a good sense of the campus. It's a small school. They don't want to go on an official tour; they just want to walk around. Most students are gone, but they are having graduation this weekend. Do we need to tell the school we will be on campus?

No, you don't. However, if you are hoping DC attends this school and would like someone there to sell it to her, you should contact admissions and someone may be available to walk you through campus again or at a minimum, answer any questions DC might have after you guys do your ad-hoc wandering around campus (which is a good thing, IMHO).

[Anonymous]

Nobody will care if you walk around, but if your kid is panicking, going on graduation weekend might not be the greatest time to go. It will be crowded, it will be crazy, parking will be hard, all the shops/restaurants nearby will be overrun, there might be tents up....it's not going to make it seem calm and manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody will care if you walk around, but if your kid is panicking, going on graduation weekend might not be the greatest time to go. It will be crowded, it will be crazy, parking will be hard, all the shops/restaurants nearby will be overrun, there might be tents up....it's not going to make it seem calm and manageable.

Totally agree. And I have seen some families have horrible meltdowns on graduation day. While graduation is a happy thing, the actual graduation day is very stressful. I'm pretty Zen about almost everything and even I get stressed out on graduation day for my kids. Imagine if you're a family with some stuff going on below the surface. Anyway, just be advised that it isn't all rainbows and ice cream on graduation day. You'll probably see some short tempers and unhappy campers along with the skippers and smilers.

[Anonymous]

Graduation is a severely abnormal time at any college or university. There are many people there who haven't been there before, they are stressing each other out, students are emotional about saying goodbye to friends, folks are moving out of dorms, and staff members from all over campus are repurposed for graduation duties, so random things will be closed and locked. The faculty will be as far away from it all as they can legitimately get, except when they are hosting exhausting receptions for their units, and parking will be impossible. Try to pick a different day to walk the campus other than graduation day itself--the day before can be a good choice, when all of the optimism of celebration is getting set up and excited students are bouncing around. The day after is more like the day the carnival leaves town.

[Anonymous]

Might want to check on parking.