On Thurs­day, the New York Times ran an arti­cle describ­ing a grow­ing trend among senior cit­i­zens: sleep overs! After spend­ing the day­time acquaint­ing them­selves with the facil­i­ties, retire­ment com­mu­ni­ties are offer­ing prospec­tive senior res­i­dents the oppor­tu­nity to take in evening social events and the oppor­tu­nity to spend the night. For senior cit­i­zens, this is a great way to gauge social life and other nuances asso­ci­ated with retire­ment homes that one could not glean from a brochure. Retire­ment com­mu­ni­ties are not the only insti­tu­tions to offer this oppor­tu­nity. Col­leges do too! I ded­i­cate this post to one of the great (and rel­a­tively uncel­e­brated) pre-college tra­di­tions: prospec­tive stu­dent overnight visits!

Why you should do it:

Col­lege overnight vis­its offer prospec­tive stu­dents (or more cutely known as, prospies) an unfil­tered, in-your-face oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence col­le­giate social life in a way that guide­books or face­book pho­tos could never show­case. For exam­ple, such vis­its give prospies an insider view on what it means to be a res­i­dent in a col­lege dor­mi­tory. That’s impor­tant, right? Absolutely! Dur­ing one overnight visit at a UC school, I learned imme­di­ately that most stu­dents do not party on cam­pus and pre­fer the col­lege town atmos­phere in the neigh­bor­ing com­mu­nity. Addi­tion­ally, overnight vis­its offer prospies an invalu­able oppor­tu­nity to get a feel for cam­pus life.

Want to learn about the hid­den menu options at some of the on-campus eater­ies? Clue­less regard­ing prime study loca­tions on cam­pus once the library turns into a noisy, packed the­atre house dur­ing finals time? What per­cent­age of stu­dents cook for them­selves? Does the school invite promi­nent lead­ers for sem­i­nars and dis­cus­sions? Are there stu­dents who would enjoy dis­cussing Plato’s Sym­po­sium at a party rather than get­ting plas­tered like every­one else? Going on an overnight visit pro­vides you with VIP access to all the places where you could be hang­ing out for the next four years, and gives you the chance to spend time chat­ting with stu­dents who expe­ri­ence the col­lege life now.

How to sign up:

Sign­ing up for an overnight oppor­tu­nity is easy. Once accepted (Cha-Ching!!!! Woo-hoo!), call up the school’s admis­sion office and inquire about the avail­able dates for overnight vis­its. Sign up early, as these nights tend to fill up quickly, espe­cially the month before admit­ted indi­vid­u­als must sign their accep­tance let­ters. Note: some col­leges offer overnight vis­its even before admis­sion let­ters come out. If you are seri­ously think­ing about a school, spend­ing a night will def­i­nitely pro­vide you more infor­ma­tion, help­ing you make a more informed deci­sion about apply­ing to or attend­ing a cer­tain school.

What to expect:

The office of admis­sions matches prospies with first-year stu­dents who have sim­i­lar inter­ests. Prospies spend much of the day­time shad­ow­ing first-year stu­dents as they attend classes, eat, study, attend club meet­ings, and per­form other activ­i­ties that are part of the host’s sched­ule for that day. If you visit on a Mon­day, Tues­day, or Wednes­day, do not expect the host to take you to a crazy shin dig as these kinds of events tend to take place on Thurs­day, Fri­day, or Sat­ur­day nights (Also don’t expect any­thing as extrav­a­gant as you will see here and don’t assume that your host will take you to a rag­ing col­lege party if you visit on one of those nights).

How to pre­pare yourself:

Come in with an open mind!!! If you can, find out about your host’s sched­ule in advance. Keep in mind that your host is a stu­dent, and could be busy on that par­tic­u­lar day. Don’t be scared if he or she seems pre-occupied – the host is happy to have you! Be flex­i­ble and real­is­tic. This elim­i­nates false expec­ta­tions, mak­ing for a more mem­o­rable and enjoy­able overnight visit.

Remem­ber, you and your host don’t have to become BFFs overnight. Of course, you would hope that you and your host do get along (you might be spend­ing the next four years of your life at that school – but no sweat off you’re your back if you don’t click with every­one you meet). Don't for­get the pur­pose of the visit: you are here to see the cam­pus, check out the aca­d­e­mic and social scenes, and at the right time, ask the big ques­tion: Can I see myself here?

And the golden tip for a suc­cess­ful overnight visit: make sure to bring your host a gift to boost your chances of get­ting invited back or hav­ing a quasi friend on the first day of school. Every col­lege stu­dent loves good box of chocolate.

Have any cool col­lege overnight visit sto­ries? Feel­ing inspired to share them? Do so in the com­ment sec­tion below!