Attending Open House?

[JulieDPT]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hi all,
I received an invitation to attend an open house at a school I applied to. They are holding it in conjunction with the open house for the university. This is a school I applied to before and did not get into. However...I have spoken with the program director on the phone before, and have had an appointment with another staff member on the campus last year.
She was a little scathing this year (and not very helpful) on the phone when I asked what I could do to improve myself.
I sent my stuff in early decision, so there wouldn't be a point to me asking about my application.
Do I go to the open house? They are leading tours of their facility (which I have seen before) and it's kind of a toss-up as to who will lead it. As I said, I have spoken with the program director before, but have not met her in person, and I don't want to be a pain in the backside since she wasn't very cuddly with me when I last spoke with her. It's an hour and a half away and I would have to take off of work to go.
I want to show that I'm interested, but I don't want to seem like a yappy dog that won't go away.... Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[RBNiu]

I'm curious about this as well. Are there any benefits in terms of admission to attending open houses? Are they truly optional?

 

[JulieDPT]

Anyone have thoughts on this? I would really appreciate it! It's on Friday and I have to decide..... 🙂

 

[jbizzle]

Im really not sure about this, but I wouldn't think that it's a "mandatory" thing like an interview. I say this because I received an email from Thomas Jefferson about an Open House on Nov. 5 and people from all over the country apply to school with open houses and I wouldn't think they prefer applicants who attend because some can't make it if it's truly not required. You know what I'm saying. I would go if it was an interview, but I wouldn't go if it's just an open house, because it's in Philly and Im from Florida.

 

[markelmarcel]

An open house is exactly what it sounds like... it's an open invite to come and visit the facility.

If you've already visited the facility and are familiar with the particular program, then why go again?

 

[myzougrad]

I believe PT schools take into consideration the passion and dedication to the career path. There are ways to interact with staff without be a pain. You may just meet the one person that will look past whatever kept you out of the program the year before. You may actually talk to the one staffer who let's you know, this school won't accept you based on your stats and you can move on to another program where you would be welcomed. You might hone your skills for what it takes to get into a DPT program just by listening to other candidates. In the grand scheme of things, a few hours or even a day will matter very little to you when you get accepted. Remember, director's rely on their staff to weed through the applicants and maybe she was just having a bad day when you ask your question. If this is truly what you want, give it everything you have before you give up

 

[JulieDPT]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the input!

 

[markelmarcel]

I believe PT schools take into consideration the passion and dedication to the career path. There are ways to interact with staff without be a pain. You may just meet the one person that will look past whatever kept you out of the program the year before. You may actually talk to the one staffer who let's you know, this school won't accept you based on your stats and you can move on to another program where you would be welcomed. You might hone your skills for what it takes to get into a DPT program just by listening to other candidates. In the grand scheme of things, a few hours or even a day will matter very little to you when you get accepted. Remember, director's rely on their staff to weed through the applicants and maybe she was just having a bad day when you ask your question. If this is truly what you want, give it everything you have before you give up

This is a good point... Although, I still think it's MORE important to go to an Open House if you haven't visited the school... You need to have the exposure to see if it's somewhere you can see yourself fitting in...

However, I do think that it's possible that the person you talked to on the phone may be rude in general, was having a bad day, etc and it helps to meet as many people as possible. Networking is always key, no matter what the profession. The more people you know, the bigger impression you can make and perhaps the better you can look- as long as you don't go overboard and become annoying! 😉

 

[Lizarde]

I went to 3 open houses. In my opinion it made 0% difference.

Duke was a quick powerpoint and very little opportunity to talk to anyone or ask specifics. I think you could take a tour with students afterwards, but if there was I opted out - don't remember for sure though.

Another was an expensive private school - Elon. Very nice, mult-part event. So you did shmooze but they were doing the selling and I'm pretty sure it's not that hard to get in compared to cheaper schools. I didn't apply.

The 3rd, UNC, was a 2-hr Q&A with 1 faculty member. That one person could sort of get to know you, but I doubt it helped at all. I did get her email address - but when I used it to ask a question she just referred me to the secretary.

 

[JulieDPT]

So I decided to go. I drove an hour and a half to the school, only to be informed by the student receptionist that all the professors were in meetings. So I got a 5 minute tour from a student.

Needless to say I was pretty ticked off. I went because I didn't want to look back and say...well, maybe if I had gone to the open house, I could have made some connections, etc. How Frustrating! 😡

 

[markelmarcel]

Julie-

Sorry to hear you drove the whole way out there for not too much of anything... That's just ridiculous. If they have an open house, than at least 1 or 2 professors should be available!!! Geesh!!