TOTALLY school dependent. Older kid went to a private that has a 3 day affair, much fanfare. Younger kid was choosing between 2 state schools that had a series of admitted students days that were a little bit more robust than the open house but variation on that theme.

Some schools also track attendance at the Open House if your kid has already applied before it happens, so it is a way of showing demonstrated interest.

My DS applied to a school EA, subsequently got an Open House email with a link that enabled him to register and the school checked him off upon arrival.

If you are applying ED to a school, you might want to consider going to the Open House.

Open house and admitted students day compliment one another. If you are close enough to a school to do both, I recommend it.

Open houses are to convince prospective students to apply whereas admitted student days are to convince admitted students to attend. Differences as expected and described above by others.

As with most questions on this platform, the answer is: it depends on the school. Admitted students days vary tremendously from school to school. Some, esp at smaller schools, are multiple day affairs and include the option of being matched with a current student for a meal or even an overnight. Others offer barely more events than at typical open houses. And based on two kids already through the process, I can say that the biggest difference is in a kid's attention and focus when the choice before them is a real one

But since this is not something you need to consider until after your DC is actually admitted and has been invited to an admitted students day, why not wait until then and compare the schedule to what you've already done?

Do you have to decide now?

Anonymous wrote:OP: I don't mean regular info sessions and tours, I mean longer open houses. The events that last several hours, where you go to different sessions to learn about different academic offerings, different student services, and things like that. We've attended several that lasted anywhere from 4-6 hours. They were much more than regular tours. I'm wondering if admitted student days are the same as this, or if there is something different or special about them.

No, different. We did both at the school my child attends.

The admitted student days are more fun. Talking with the other admitted students snd their families is somewhat illuminating. But also my kid took everything in differently because it was a real possibility and much more immediate than in the fall.

Definitely go. This process sucks so don’t miss out on the fun parts.

I think all the answers above: meeting kids who will be peers bc admitted and rolling out the red carpet.

OP: I don't mean regular info sessions and tours, I mean longer open houses. The events that last several hours, where you go to different sessions to learn about different academic offerings, different student services, and things like that. We've attended several that lasted anywhere from 4-6 hours. They were much more than regular tours. I'm wondering if admitted student days are the same as this, or if there is something different or special about them.

Quite different and serve very different purposes. Tours etc are generic, you will meet a few student tour guides, get an overview presentation and generally see the outsides of buildings. All about giving enough of a sense of the place to get student to apply.
Admitted students days are all about convincing admitted students, some choosing between several schools, to pick them. Totally different feeling, lots of rah rah, for some schools its an overnight in the dorms.

We only attended one admitted student day and had not previously attended a tour at the same school (if open house is different, I am not familiar).

While some schools allow you to sign up to attend a class or talk to a professor during a tour, we did not do that either. So this comparison is only based on info session + tour versus admitted students day. They were totally different.

Admitted students day included a lot of speakers including the President of the University. They took the students and divided them into groupings allowing them to meet many of the students they might go to school with and also get a feel for the type of students admitted. The students were separated from the parents for portions of the event. Lunch was served free. There was swag (although, some tours also included swag). There was a tour (good as we had not attended on prior). There was a period where professors had tables set up from various departments for the prospective students to meet and ask questions. There was a period where various clubs were set up for students to ask questions. There was a time for general Q&A from the audience. There was a photo session with the school mascots. And so on.

Admitted days are great, see potential new classmates, and the tides turn and they are selling themselves to you.

Do you mean a tour/info session v admitted students day?

My kid found admitted students day to be way more fun bc the other students are at least deciding, if not committed to attend, so the group is more akin to student body. Colleges also usually roll out the red carpet: marching band, catered meals, faculty panels, events in the coolest spaces (football stadium, most advanced lab) cheerleaders, etc. They are trying to woo kids to enroll.

And emotionally, it fired up my kid about his choice and helped him get excited about college.

In what ways are these events generally different? O are they more or less the same? When is one preferable to the other? We've done a few open houses where there were different panels and sessions to choose from, tours, etc. I'm wondering whether we should also plan to do admitted student days at these same schools, or if it will just be basically the same thing.