Going to Open House-Will it improve my chances of getting in?

[indorichai]

There will be an open house in the department that I've applied to this Thursday. The college is about 5 and a half hours away and as much as I would like to attend, I can't because they scheduled it on a Thursday evening and I have to work that day until 3 PM. I really want to go to this school, but I fear that my low GPA would prevent me from getting in. However, if I were to attend this open house, would that better my chances of getting in or no?

The coordinator of the program told me that "there is certainly real hope if your GREs and letters of recommendation are good. We would have to request an exception to the undergraduate GPA criterion, but this is done fairly frequently and with good success when it is evident that the applicant has abilities and potential that didn't show up so much at the undergraduate level but have affirmed themselves in other ways or since then."

Anyways, I did score good enough on the GRE as their minimum is only 1000 (this must be a shock to those of you reading this and go to an Ivy League school of some sort), wrote the best letter of intent I could write, sought recommendation letters from people that I worked with and from a professor.

So is it worth skipping work that day and making a day trip out of this?

[KreacherKeeper]

I did attend an Open House a week or so again, and I was really glad to have the face time with my prospective advisors and the folks in admission. I am not sure if it actually helped, but it made me convinced that I might actually fit in there and I got a lot of good vibes from it. (And I have not had a very good admission cycle!). So, it calmed me down and yes, it was worth it.

If you really want it, then, it might help to show that. Then again, the decision may already be in the can. But if you really want it, my feeling is you should do everything you can do to try to get noticed and let them know you care (as long as you don't end up getting fired or something dismal like that)....

[indorichai]

Thanks, I actually went to the open house yesterday and the person in charge of dealing with admissions applications told me that my papers have been looked at and there were positive reviews. He also said that I shouldn't be nervous...

Anyways, after hearing that, I am relieved but of course I'd be more relieved if I got accepted!

I'm so glad I went