# 5 - Open House or Big Mouth

It's FALL. I relish this season because it marks a transition from one phase in the weather and our lives to another. As I crunch the hefty auburn leaves under my new boots and pull my pashima scarf a little tighter around my neck to insulate me from the crisp morning chill, I smile at how much New Hampshire Ave reminds me of my COLLEGE campus. Argyle patterned knits, opaque tights, and UGGs bounce past me as sunlight streams through the thinning branches.

It makes me long once again for... school. I knew 2 years ago when I completed my MASTER's degree that I would probably return and get another postgraduate degree. I contemplated a PhD but remember how frustrated I was with academics who pontificate on theory all day and never put their hands to the soil to cultivate the fruit of application.

I recently came across a master's program through John's Hopkins for communications. The website seemed thin on information, but the program offered an information session last night. I never attended an INFO SESSION (what I'll call an open house*** for now) for my previous programs and thought this would be a good experience. I was not disappointed.

Skipping info sessions is a mistake I would hope others don't make. Treat an ACADEMIC info session the same as you would a regular open house and you'll see the value immediately.

- Safety in numbers - Sitting down with an ADMISSIONS rep one-on-one may be daunting and feel more like an interview leading a person to withhold questions. In a large group the attention is less focused on you and you feel less restrained to ask questions. Also, hearing the response to one person's question may lead you to think of another.

- Get your questions answered... and you don't even have to ask them! Many of the same QUESTIONS I planned to ask were the same others asked. By the end of the evening my list was exhausted. I suggest though that one reserves one or two questions to ask informally after the session ends or to contact the office with later.

- No commitment - If after the first few minutes of the spiel, you sense this program or school is not for you, you can walk out. No questions asked and no hard feelings.

- Stake out the competition - In a room of over 60 people I could see the faces of all of those who were considering applying and listen to their questions and conversations. While not an exact measure I could "size them up" and get some sense of my chances as well as figure out how to distinguish myself from them.

What the info session offers is an opportunity for a brief insight into the APPLICATION process and an overview of the program, but presented differently than the text on a web page. It gives the school a face, but still allows you as an applicant to be fairly anonymous.

This is not the stage of the application process to make yourself "stand out" by bombarding the representative with questions in front of the whole group that only serve to make you seem smarter than the rest of the crowd. (There was a least one of those people last night.) Such a plan may backfire and brand you as the know-it-all bad apple in the bunch.

If you have the mindset that this is just a me (applicant) getting to know you time, then you'll be open-minded and realistic in your EXPECTATIONS. Expecting to walk out with an acceptance letter because you made yourself "stand out" is unrealistic at best and a set-up for denial at worse.

It's an open house*** not an open mouth session.

*** I'm using open house here to mean an information session. Some schools do offer an open house distinct from an information session that occurs after admission, where accepted students can visit the school and meet with different departments. Information sessions tend to be cursory whereas open houses get into the nitty gritties of the program.