The University consolidated its April Visit Days program this year, holding two fewer days to increase the number of prospective freshmen on campus each visit day.
The Office of Admissions opted to host three visit days this April, with 900 visitors April 11; 900 visitors April 15; and an estimated 1,000 visitors for the final visit day, April 18.
“This year, we expect to see the same number of students and anticipate the same high quality visit experience,” Associate Vice President and Dean of Admissions Kathryn Napper said.
GW admitted 6,890 students to the Class of 2015. Less than half will attend an April Visit Day.
With students competing for fewer visiting spots, visitor Shea Sampson said her biggest struggle was finding a day that was still accepting more visitors.
“[Friday] was the only day left open online so we had a really hard time getting in at all,” Sampson said.
Caleb Raymond said combining visit days was intended to convince students who were on the fence to enroll at GW by surrounding them with more admitted students than in previous years.
“From my understanding… last year with five events things went successful, but the office felt that if we had one less, we would have more students attending each of the other events, which would create an opportunity for prospective freshmen to meet more kids who were also accepted to the University,” Raymond, who is part of the Dean’s Council, said.
Nearly 60 student guides operated the first round of tours last Monday to maintain small group numbers.
Senior Carly Schildhaus, who has been a tour guide since her freshman year, said the first visit day did not seem any more hectic than last year.
“There were definitely a lot of visitors in attendance, which I think only added to the positive energy of the day,” Schildhaus said. “When you have a lot of people who are very excited at the prospect of attending GW, that’s going to be reflected in the energy throughout the event.”
Admitted student Grace Flaherty said the campus was brimming with tours.
“We tagged along on the back end of another group. There were so many groups it was hard to stay with the one you started with, but it didn’t seem any crazier than when I was on the tour here last summer,” Flaherty said Friday.
