Open House

Next week there is an open house at Kings Point. We live a very long ways from NY and airfare is expensive. Also, son starts school next week. We would have to take him out on his second day. We have already made one visit to the academy last year, albeit we had to do the self tour because the mids were on spring break. We did though have an interview with an admissions officer. Should we perhaps wait until he can do an overnighter later in the semester? Or, should we really try to do both? Do multiple visits help show your interest? Would they help in the acceptance?
Thank you for your help.

IMO multiple visits are good. However, if he can only do one, an overnight visit is the way to go. I doubt that skipping the open house would have any effect on admissions.

I agree that if you can only do one, the overnight is certainly the most important. My son only did one visit- an overnight (and another after he was offered an appointment).

Some of my son's classmates never visited. Do the overnighter and skip open house. Get to work on the applications instead of traveling now. Good luck!

My son did a overnight visit by himself after he was accepted. It was his first airline trip and traveled by himself. Came back and did one other college visit, came home and said he was going to USMMA.

When we went out for the spring open house, my son had already accepted. We hadn't been there before. It shouldn't make any difference.

Definitely agree with the advice to skip open house and do an overnight visit.

He will learn much more by staying with a plebe than he will by going to the open house.

We appreciate everyone's advice.

We live about 3 hours north of the school (up by Albany) and we did a day visit during our son's junior year and then he came down on his own senior year for an overnight. He thought the overnight was the best. He stayed with a track member in band company. Now our son is (surprise) a track guy in band company! The school seems to peg them early!

If the open house is difficult to get to, I agree with the others, if you can swing it, schedule an overnight when it is easier for you to do so.

So Just an Opinion To Your Question..

Cartgate said:

Should we perhaps wait until he can do an overnighter later in the semester? Or, should we really try to do both? Do multiple visits help show your interest? Would they help in the acceptance?
Thank you for your help.

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Taking the last one first "Would they help in the acceptance?" To my understanding the answer to that one is no, the purposes of the visit(s) are for you son or daughter to be able to see and understand if Kings Point is a place they want to attend, but as for visits being an indicator of interest and factor in the acceptance crieteria, I don't think they necessarily are. There are lots of ways to show interest from following up with admissions to make sure your admissions packet is complete at the earliest possible moment (including nomination, etc.) so the candidate's application has the most time to be considered, etc.

If you can only afford to do/send your child for one visit, then yes I would wait and do the overnigghter. The overnight visit, IMO, gives the candidate the best view and understanding of what their life as a Plebe and/or fourth classman will be like. They haave enough time to talk to several plebes, attend classes, etc. It is far more educational and informative than a day visit and, absolutely more valuable for their deciscion making process than a short tour.

To my thinking the real benefit of more visits is the cadidate gets to see a plebes life at different times of the year and that can make a difference in what they see.

Now to backtrack, if the open house has organized information exchanges, etc that might help your kid decide what's best for them, that might be more worthwile then a single day visit at some other time, but I would still say IMO the overnight visit is the best, and in some cases only way, for a kid to really understand what life at KP will likely be like for them. It's like immersive langauge training... I always strongly recommend the overnight visit to interested candidates.

Cartgate said:

Do multiple visits help show your interest? Would they help in the acceptance?

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Don't know about mulitple visits. Don't know about the future. But, I do know one thing:

The overnight visit was a factor for our 2013 P/C. He was interviewed with other candidates around a conference table. The interview was scored kind of like a job interview. (I saw the paperwork being completed by the officer). It counted. How much? Don't know. You can bet it went in the file, and was reviewed.

As others have said, "Bring your A game!"

overnight visits

It is possible for your ds to go to an overnight visit alone too. Our son negotiated the plane ride/car service to get him there in time for the overnight visit/interview. You may have to pay for a direct flight due to time retraints. The return trip can be arranged for the very next day too since it is difficult for under 18's to rent hotel rooms. All in all I believe we were at about 500.00 from Colorado.

He was interviewed with another pc and his parent but then they were off to be paired with a plebe for the visit. This is such an unique opportunity to really see a service academy college campus, please take advantage of it.
There is times that the academy is closed to visits so check ahead.

For us and our son it was the clincher. He was able to see the pt, the classes, the social interactions between the students, the faculty, the dorms, the waterfront. He had also done the week long Anapolis summer camp and he was able to compare.

All I can tell you is that when he got home from KP, there was never another look at any other college offers that came in. KP all the way. He is so excited to be at a school where the pc had to work their tails off to get into it and that he is now surrounded by other pc that want to be there, want to learn, and want to participate fully in the classroom and in the athletic field.

Somehow make the overnight visit happen.