Campus Visiting Days at Various Schools (this year and last year...)

[Jeff Swindle]

Hi all,

I am trying to plan the next few months and am wondering what the visiting day dates are for the schools to which we applied. Does anyone know when the dates were last year at the schools that haven't released their all of their acceptances yet (i.e. harvard, berkeley, chicago, northwestern, etc.)? Let's make a list for everyone's benefit...

These are the schools with dates that I am aware of:

Michigan Ann Arbor - March 11-13

Berkeley - March 15-16

Texas at Austin - March 21-22

Penn State - March 24-26

Duke - March 29-30

[ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid]

Great idea for a thread. Can you keep updating the main post with the various dates so it remains a central location?

Notre Dame is February 16-18

[Waits]

the schools that haven't released their all of their acceptances yet (i.e. harvard, berkeley, chicago, northwestern, etc.)?

Glad to see someone else keeping Berkeley in the "schools that haven't released all their acceptances yet" category - keep the faith!

[acooper]

Glad to see someone else keeping Berkeley in the "schools that haven't released all their acceptances yet" category - keep the faith!

well, looking at the results survey for Sociology at Berkeley, the last two years results came out:

2011:

first round of acceptance letter: 01/21

second round february: 02/06

2010:

first: 01/27

second: 02/11

i don't know if i am trying to keep the faith or trying to stay sane.

best of luck to all of us.

Edited February 7, 2012 by acooper

[undmich]

Minnesota March22-23

[jenjenjen]

University of Washington March 2-3

[Jeff Swindle]

well, looking at the results survey for Sociology at Berkeley, the last two years results came out:

2011:

first round of acceptance letter: 01/21

second round february: 02/06

2010:

first: 01/27

second: 02/11

i don't know if i am trying to keep the faith or trying to stay sane.

best of luck to all of us.

Keep the faith!

[Chuck]

I'm going to assume, based on last year's pattern of admits on the results survey, that all the Wisconsin admits have gone out.

But... in case that's not the case, their visit day is March 9.

[Darth.Vegan]

I'm going to assume, based on last year's pattern of admits on the results survey, that all the Wisconsin admits have gone out.

But... in case that's not the case, their visit day is March 9.

Have you made your decision about Wisconsin yet Chuck?

Also I was wondering about the funding. Does that include TA/RA or will the years with TA/RA give you $$$ on top of the stipend?

[jenjenjen]

Stanford also March 15-16...

[sciencegirl]

Hahahaha - Stanford and Berkeley are the same days! @jenjenjen... now they are making things *really* complicated for you. You can't really graciously split the time between them, can you? "Sorry I need to excuse myself.. I'm going to your arch rival's admit event right now.."

Edited February 8, 2012 by sciencegirl

[jenjenjen]

@sciencegirl Ugh right?? Technically Cal told me their "weekend" was the 15th-19th and I was already thinking it'd be hard to get off work but I could prob make it for half the time... so i guess now if i CAN get off work I'd be able to go to Stanford and miss the first couple days of Berkeley's. But man, you gotta think they might have done that on purpose haha.

[Jeff Swindle]

Wisconsin - March 9

Michigan Ann Arbor - March 11-13

Berkeley - March 15-16 (or 15-19th?)

Stanford - March 15-16

Texas at Austin - March 21-22

Minnesota - March 22-23

Penn State - March 24-26

Duke - March 29-30

[ohhello]

@sciencegirl Ugh right?? Technically Cal told me their "weekend" was the 15th-19th and I was already thinking it'd be hard to get off work but I could prob make it for half the time... so i guess now if i CAN get off work I'd be able to go to Stanford and miss the first couple days of Berkeley's. But man, you gotta think they might have done that on purpose haha.

I'm not sure how these visitations are structured, but if the point of these visitations is to tour the campus, Berkeley's sociology department is not much to look at (it's on the fourth floor of an ugly building). Of course, it has amazing faculty, but the campus itself is made up of a haphazard array of buildings. Stanford's campus is much more uniform - and, in my opinion, much more interesting to walk around - but the area surrounding it isn't as entertaining as Berkeley's Telegraph/College/Shattuck Avenues. If you're flying down and taking public transportation, you can take the Caltrain from Stanford to a BART station (not sure which), and from that BART station travel to Berkeley BART. You can take the same Berkeley BART station to Oakland International or SFO.

Edited February 8, 2012 by ohhello

[sciencegirl]

I was actually laughing at a 4-day visit.. do they expect you to go for all 4 days or is it more of a come if you can during these 4 days.. I can't imagine needing 4 days to do name games and campus tours with your new cohort. Also, is @jenjenjen the only acceptance from Berkeley here? It seems that she is the only confirmed post and also the only person chatting here on the forums who got in.. but is there a lurker out there? By numbers it seems odd that she is the only one.

Edited February 8, 2012 by sciencegirl

[ThisSlumgullionIsSoVapid]

I was actually laughing at a 4-day visit.. do they expect you to go for all 4 days or is it more of a come if you can during these 4 days.. I can't imagine needing 4 days to do name games and campus tours with your new cohort. Also, is @jenjenjen the only acceptance from Berkeley here? It seems that she is the only confirmed post and also the only person chatting here on the forums who got in.. but is there a lurker out there? By numbers it seems odd that she is the only one.

It might be that it's actually just two full days but the first and fourth are traveling days?

Fly in on day 1 (late afternoon, evening) Full day 2 Full day 3 Leave on day 4?

[sciencegirl]

Yes.. that makes a lot of sense actually. I just got the official e-mail from the main office coordinator regarding the visit days for Stanford, and the travel days aren't part of it but they do ask you to arrive one day before and leave the day after the two days. Also, it seems like they have finalized then the initial admit list based on the group e-mail they sent out regarding the visit.. but maybe they have an informal wait list going if you haven't heard from them yet?

[panasic]

Yes.. that makes a lot of sense actually. I just got the official e-mail from the main office coordinator regarding the visit days for Stanford, and the travel days aren't part of it but they do ask you to arrive one day before and leave the day after the two days. Also, it seems like they have finalized then the initial admit list based on the group e-mail they sent out regarding the visit.. but maybe they have an informal wait list going if you haven't heard from them yet?

[sciencegirl]

@panasic.. have you heard anything yet???? Are you the only person who hasn't heard back from them?

[kbhaven]

BTW, Duke doesn't cover travel for international students

Have anyone heard of any university that usually covers flights for international students?

Just for fun and comparison.

[panasic]

@ sciencegirl: no word... should i bite the bullet and call them to check in? they definitely have my correct email...

[sciencegirl]

@kbhaven.. $500 - not the best, but at least its something.

@panasic... omg.. i don't know.. my guess is that you are probably on an informal WL... they seemed really dead set on making sure that they hit their cohort target this year, and they are probably seeing whether or not their 1-2 demographer admit is going to accept or not.. you mentioned that they aren't the strongest program in that area so perhaps they have a longer wait list and are holding back on it right now for your area until the others decide? If I were you, I would not contact them.. it could only hurt IMHO. I don't see how it could help, esp. since at the moment, they definitely seem to be moving full steam ahead with admit weekend.

Do you have another offer you need to consider? I mean, I think the only way that it would be important for you would be if you had to make a decision soon about something... otherwise, as painful as it is, I'd keep waiting..

[quantitative]

It might be that it's actually just two full days but the first and fourth are traveling days?

Fly in on day 1 (late afternoon, evening) Full day 2 Full day 3 Leave on day 4?

That's how I'm planning my visits. I think it's kind of ridiculous myself since I feel like I could just fly in the morning of day 2 to cut it to 2.5 (.5 is my travel time). However, I can't afford to travel right now, so school visits are the best thing I can do in lieu of real traveling. 3 nights almost-all-expenses-paid in a new city? yes please.

Edited February 9, 2012 by quantitative

[starbucks_lattie]

visitation only offers to students who admitted?

[jenjenjen]

I was actually laughing at a 4-day visit.. do they expect you to go for all 4 days or is it more of a come if you can during these 4 days.. I can't imagine needing 4 days to do name games and campus tours with your new cohort. Also, is @jenjenjen the only acceptance from Berkeley here? It seems that she is the only confirmed post and also the only person chatting here on the forums who got in.. but is there a lurker out there? By numbers it seems odd that she is the only one.

Berkeley actually has things scheduled for 5 days.. FIVE! But I think it's partially because they have their own internal conference going on and some of the activities are in the vein of attending the San Fran farmer's market. I was told Fri and Sat were the most important days to attend and obviously Saturday wouldn't overlap with Stanford but it's going to be an interesting maneuver to say the least haha.

@ohhello Thanks for the advice as I likely will be flying down and depending on public transportation as renting a car has pretty much zero appeal.

@ everybody - Would you definitely recommend staying with grad students or do you think that's not so important? My SO graduated from Santa Clara and studied electrical engineering and has plentyyy of friends in the general Silicon Valley area. I'm tempted to fly down with him and stay/catch up with these people, whom my SO could play with during the day, and generally have him with me for company and support buuuuut I don't know if that would actually diminish some of the value of these visits. Advice please!