Anonymous wrote:Anyone been to admitted student days for Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore or Pomona? Do you recommend?

Did your kid get accepted to all of them?

Anyone been to admitted student days for Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore or Pomona? Do you recommend?

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone been to Visitas?

Yes. It wasn’t as fun or comprehensive as Yale Bulldog Days, MIT CPW, Caltech DiscoTech or Stanford admitted Student Days because it was noticeably shorter. DC ended up choosing Harvard over the others but it wasn’t because Visitas sold them on Harvard. Visitas was a slight positive factor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:W&M is always fun - massive event tbh

And my son was turned off by the vibe (and other things besides) and went elsewhere. This is exactly why Admitted Student Days are valuable: some schools look great on paper, and some campus tours are curated such that details important to your kid are glossed over... but Admitted Student Days is when colleges typically let their hair down, dorms and dining halls are open, and the nitty-gritty gets revealed.

Please attend as many of them as possible.

The Monroe scholar event was fantastic! It was a close call for my kid

I’m taking DC to Indiana for admitted students day. I hope they like, it but I’m worried the weather will be too huge a factor— the only time we can go is February, and the others we are seeing in April when it’s likely to be nicer.

How big an impact did weather have on your kid’s decision?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan was amazing! Lots of school spirit and impressive students that truly ran the revisit day program. My student decided on Penn but it was hard to turn down!

+1 UMich does an outstanding job

UMD was ok, could have been a bit better organized but topics and presentations were good.

Cornell was horrible.

going to Mich eng in February-glad to hear it was fun

My DC has already decided to attend UMich and has visited twice so trying to decide if it is worth it for them to attend a Campus Day...

We have seen different people post here after going to the same program on the same day with different opinions on the quality of the program.

Anonymous wrote:Purdue was her first choice going into the admitted student day. I was fully expecting to make the deposit the end of the day. Half way through she decided that Purdue was not a good fit at all. The sessions were not engaging, this was the total opposite of the prospective student visit. She did not want to have huge impersonal classes for the first 2 years of college. She is STEM major, not engineering or cs.

She ended up committing to her second choice that night. Rank and prestige didn't outweigh the overall experience she was looking for.

This is helpful. Where did she end up?

W&M admitted student day was amazing. My kid chose UMD in the end but I sometimes wish he’d gone to W&M instead. So close and warm and friendly, the vibe.

Purdue was her first choice going into the admitted student day. I was fully expecting to make the deposit the end of the day. Half way through she decided that Purdue was not a good fit at all. The sessions were not engaging, this was the total opposite of the prospective student visit. She did not want to have huge impersonal classes for the first 2 years of college. She is STEM major, not engineering or cs.

She ended up committing to her second choice that night. Rank and prestige didn't outweigh the overall experience she was looking for.

One of the most valuable things my kid found about admitted students days was meeting other admitted students - which you obviously aren't going to do other days. They had some interesting discussions with other students who were making similar choices that were helpful, and then of course those that ended up going to the school were able to connect.

Anonymous wrote:Revisiting this thread as we plan our spring break trips for D26. She's applied to LACs but won't hear back until late March from most of them, and her spring break is early this year- so we'll have a short turnaround time to plan visits. Anyone attend admitted student days at any of the following: Hamilton, Vassar, Carleton, Smith, MHC? Are admitted student days that much more beneficial than just visiting and sitting in on a class or two, especially if you need to miss school to attend?

Similar boat. My DC won’t find out decisions until March and into April. We would have to travel a significant distance to multiple schools all involving flights and hotels, time off school. I wish colleges notified earlier.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Michigan was amazing! Lots of school spirit and impressive students that truly ran the revisit day program. My student decided on Penn but it was hard to turn down!

+1 UMich does an outstanding job

UMD was ok, could have been a bit better organized but topics and presentations were good.

Cornell was horrible.

going to Mich eng in February-glad to hear it was fun

VA Tech was great (four years ago). Really informative sessions about everything from straight talk about food/dorms/off campus housing to what a pre-med track looks like and how the med school application process works.

Revisiting this thread as we plan our spring break trips for D26. She's applied to LACs but won't hear back until late March from most of them, and her spring break is early this year- so we'll have a short turnaround time to plan visits. Anyone attend admitted student days at any of the following: Hamilton, Vassar, Carleton, Smith, MHC? Are admitted student days that much more beneficial than just visiting and sitting in on a class or two, especially if you need to miss school to attend?

I kind of wish my DC could attend all the ones for the schools still in consideration. However, that list is 5 or 6 depending upon the day and there are two weekends between now and May 1 that are out of the question. I just don't think it will be possible. The one we are currently debating is UMiami. We did the tour last year, but didn't see any dorms or inside any buildings, really. The outside sells it, I suppose. However, it's the outlier being the only private, in a warm-all-year environment, but "ranked" the lowest of the ones DC is considering. I think a revisit could help clear things up.