Overnight College Visits

[Anonymous]

What do you think of these? What can a prospective glean? How many of these are suggested? I assume just focus on the top 1-2 choices. I'm actually nervous about it. My DC really wants to go. The school is a perfect fit. We also anticipate substantial merit aid. My fear is that DC will have a bad visit (for some random reason - like maybe a bad guide) and we'll be back at square one.

[Anonymous]

I did this years ago, but as a recruited athlete (D3 so no direct scholarship.) A lot of it was about being comfortable with the team and athletics at specific SLACs. Was very helpful for me. As a general studies type student, not sure what would be gained over and above the regular tour, classroom visits, and meals on campus.

[Anonymous]

You would rather have a bad overnight visit than a bad freshman year.

Particularly for athletes this is good way to see if the fit is good.

[Anonymous]

Do you know anyone who attends the school now? Maybe someone from your child's high school?

[Anonymous]

It's also so your child can have candid conversations with actual students without mom and dad around. The students will be much more honest with just your child than they would be with you as well. However, my daughter told me later that at several schools she was offered a glass of wine or whatever with the students, and my son was apparently taken to a fraternity house where he had a couple of beers --
so if your child is particularly sheltered this might be something you want to discuss beforehand.

[Anonymous]

My DC did an overnight at a very well respected college, and refused to apply because her host's boyfriend was hanging around the room most of the evening getting very handsy with the host...
No reasoning with her, she decided the whole school was full of wild depraved people
And I guess the hosts were NOT randomly chosen, but....

[Anonymous]

OP, I felt like you do. For the same reasons, I wasn't enthusiastic. For that reason I did not tell my DC that overnight visits were even offered. She would had to have learned that on her own, from her own research or from another source. But if DC had learned of it, and was putting pressure on us to do it, I would have "let" her. I would have considered it out of my control/not our business at that point, at least, beyond the logistics and costs involved.

[Anonymous]

I did an overnight visit and didn't enjoy it!! This was a school I really wanted to go to and it was kinda awkward. However I still attended the school and I LOVED My time there. So I think overnight visits are not the best indicator of what the school experience will be like.

[Anonymous]

For an extroverted kid, they are a great way to get a feel for the campus and ask questions away from mom and dad. For an introvert, I'd try to find a different way to create the same opportunity for questions away from mom and dad (does someone from high school attend that school? Can a coach or someone in the admissions office put them in touch with someone?)

I used to run an overnight program and inevitably like 80% of our hosts were extroverts (who else signs up to have someone stay with them), and the other 20% were kind of weird introverts who don't make for a good experience either.

[Anonymous]

My DC did two, as part of D3 athletic recruiting. Had a good time but came away from both pretty lukewarm and ended up deciding not to play a sport in college. Better to decide that before going to a college you don't love (even though they were both top 20 schools) just to play a sport. Yes, a visit may change a kid's mind, but not sure that's a bad thing.

DC is pretty sociable and had spent time away from home so that helped the college visits. A sheltered kid may come away more overwhelmed by the experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You would rather have a bad overnight visit than a bad freshman year.

Particularly for athletes this is good way to see if the fit is good.

+1 Do the overnight. Better to find out now rather than too late if he doesn't like the school.

[Anonymous]

My mom made me do some of them. If I recall, I learned nothing.

[Anonymous]

I noticed William & Mary has "shadow a student for a day," which is a less intense option, if the school offers it.

[Anonymous]

My son found overnight visits really valuable but they were either with teams for his sport or older kids from his high school. It helped to answer questions about workload, class availability, faculty attention, EC availability and the impact of sports on college life. I don't think the randomly assigned host ones would have been as on target.

[Anonymous]

I stayed one night with a college-assigned host, and I was able to stay a second night with a family friend. The first host wasn't as good a fit, so it was harder to imagine myself at the school, but I still think it would be helpful if that's the only chance you have.