Reply to College Visit Tips

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "College Visit Tips"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][b]4) Take advantage options the school offers for prospective students in addition the admissions session and tour. For example, have the student reach out to see if a department visit may be possible. Most schools also offer a prospective students' day which is more robust than the standard tour, though these tend to be only a few dates each year.[/b]

OP, your list is great. I especially like the advice to have your kid take notes during and immediately after the visits. And I picked this one in bold to give it a resounding second.

DC got in touch with departments at two colleges. At one college, the head of department (who also is a professor) reached out immediately and suggested DC come and take two classes that day. DC ended up taking one class, then the professor/department head took DC on a one on one tour of the department and sat down and asked if DC had questions. DC then went to see the administrator at another department DC had contacted, and ended up being taken on an hour-long personal tour of that department's whole facility. Guess where DC is at college now? Yep, the one that took so much time to treat DC that way. DC was treated not just as some random student but as someone the college would like to have there. (Yes, it's a SLAC, not a huge university, though I'll add that DC also got great treatment in a department visit at a much larger state university.)

Tip: The student, not the parent, reaches out and asks to come by the department and sets it up. DC handled all these contacts at two different colleges and that experience alone was good for DC.

And OP's mention of prospective student days is spot on. Parents, these are NOT the same as "[i]accepted[/i] student days." These prospective student days are full-day events aimed at students who haven't even applied yet. Look for them on websites but be aware they may have different titles at different colleges. We attended these days at three different colleges and they were invaluable. A typical one has things like student panels (where current students at the college answer questions and talk about student life), professor/departmental panels, panels about specific majors, financial aid panels (yes, a lot of parents at those), general tours, specialized tours focusing on things like specific departments (science lab tours, performing arts department tours, library tours etc.). Students might be invited to pick a class or two to attend from a list of classes open to them that day. You get to eat in the campus cafeterias and tour dorms in more detail.

I'm always surprised how many families don't know these full-day events exist and base everything on a quickie, general tour and a short "information session" and nothing else.

The prospective student days tend to fill up quickly, well in advance, so I strongly recommend that parents -- yeah, parents, not just their HS students -- seek these days out. Your kids should drive the college search but these specific days can be hard to get into and take some advance planning since they fill so fast, and they are NOT always very obvious to find on college websites. I dont' think a single one we attended was labeled a "prospective students day"  in those exact words, so it's fine to help your DC find these things and see what they offer. I hope colleges are back to doing them fully again. They really were far more informative than "tour College A in the morning, College B in the afternoon and repeat every day for a week" surface tours. Of course you can't do these for every college on a list but if your DC is pretty focused about what types of colleges and what majors he or she wants -- these days are immensely useful if you can get to one.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics