In keeping with the theme of my blog, I'd thought I'd share these random observations. Because he is still in the process of applying to these schools, I'm not naming names. The schools, in no particular order are Enormous State U. (ESU), Small Urban Engineering U. (SUES), Hedera League U. (HLU), Small Rust-Belt Engineering U. (SRBU) and Small Polytechnic U. (SPU).
ESU had about 200 people attending a Saturday morning orientation; the presentation started right on time and the admissions staff gave a good 45 minute overview with slides and video explaining the admissions process and different opportunities available at ESU. Following a short Q&A, the 200 were pared down into groups of 15-20 with student guides who scattered the groups so that we could actually hear the guides. Most impressive feature? Buses were stationed at two different points during the tour with two tour groups converging simultaneously on the bus and transporting us to new points on the tour and ultimately back to the admissions building. ESU admissions earns kudos for coordinating 20 guides, 5 buses and 200 people in the course of 2.5 hours. Oh, and they gave us a free lunch at the student dining hall so we could see what the food was like. Grade: A+
Our tour of SUES was on a weekday and though traffic and parking presented challenges, we arrived on-time for the orientation for the program my son was interested in. There were about 100 people including about 35-40 prospective students. The admissions staff gave a good talk with lots of slides about the program at SUES and emphasized the importance of coops in the program. They also went on too long about potential careers, and high school course selection. The lecture probably lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. So far, so good right? Now it's time for the tour of the program's facilities, but parents, siblings and other hangers-on are informed that there's not enough room on the tour for them, so there will be a Q&A with the admissions staff while our kids do a tour. Fine, we'll break for coffee and hang out for a bit in the auditorium. It turns out that unstructured Q&A's with parents are just as unproductive as when faculty do them with students. Typical questions were things like "Johnny got a 2400 on his SAT's and wants to major in metaphysical statistics. Do you offer that program?" At about 45 minutes, the parents run out of questions to ask and we wander back to the admissions building to wait in the lobby for the tours to return. With no chairs in the lobby and no indication when the tour would return, we hang out on the soft granite steps and dodge students ascending and descending for another 45 minutes. My son had a fabulous tour, met a former astronaut and saw all kinds of cool things, but hadn't been in a classroom or the student union and didn't see a dorm room. We decide that if we stay for the next tour that shows us those parts of campus, we will be leaving [insert favorite enormous East Coast City with horrendous traffic here] at precisely the time that will maximize the time spent in traffic. Grade: C
We visited HLU twice, once in the summer when the weather was gorgeous and once in 20 degree, -20 wind-chill winter since I insisted he visit the school when students were there. HLU does admissions by school so each school has its own admissions staff who do the presentations for their own programs. The slide presentation was well polished and informative and lasted about 45 minutes. Then students gave a tour of the school to smaller groups and this was also well done. Grade A
We had two tours at SRBU, one general campus and one program specific tour and there was no presentation about admissions or the program prior to the tours. Had we not taken the campus tour we would not have seen their typical freshman
SPU wasn't initally on my son's short list, but they have an award program for outstanding prospective students which amounts to a good chunk of change over 4 years. We visited during one of their general programs for prospective students which was held in an ugly concrete lecture hall/auditorium with about 300 people. The admissions staff member talked about SPU and their new buildings and sports and work hard in high school and on and on for an hour with no slides with very little information about the programs or admissions process. Then student tour guides took a group of about 20 on a walking tour of campus. Some guides had small amplifiers so that they could be heard; ours did not. The tour wasn't bad, the only classroom building we went in was the ugliest I've ever seen inside and out. It's a good thing they showed us the dorm rooms which were very nice or we wouldn't have gone back. Grade C- for the initial visit.
We again visited SPU on a day they had set aside for the award winners. This time, there were students directing traffic to the parking garage and then directing us to the opening session. They were serving breakfast in the atrium of their new, beautiful performing arts center and held the introductory session in there. There were probably about 800 people there and unfortunately, we were stuck in long rows of chairs behind the stage. This time a different admissions person welcome everyone and introduced a student who talked briefly about why she came to SPU and loved it there. Then they let us roam about the campus to talk to faculty and students in the individual programs. The ones we visited did a great job of explaining their programs and what made SPU unique. Student and other campus groups had informational booths which were not all staffed, but that was a nice touch. They provided lunch for us on the floor of the basketball arena and it was a pretty good day. Grade A+ for letting the faculty and students talk about SPU. About 2 weeks later the admissions office at SPU sends a letter to my son, not to follow up on the visit, but to congratulate him on the award and to invite him to visit SPU. Grade F for wasting paper.
