The Admitted Students Day residence hall tours are certainly a favorite activity among prospective students. However, some admitted students not only got to tour a residence hall, but they got to spend the night in one.
The Wildcat Overnight Program is an opportunity for Villanovans to host admitted students and provide them with a glimpse of a Villanova experience.
“We just hold this opportunity so that students can come and, hopefully, have a good experience with Villanova, and really get that really close hand experience of what it’s like being at Villanova,” DEI Chair of Admitted Students Day Majo James said.
James did not partake in the program this year, but he had hosted a student last year.
“One of my other friends also hosted, so we hung out a bit together,” James said. “So, those two students got to know each other more, and have another student, as well, another host, that they could talk to.”
This year, the new students arrived on campus on Friday, April 11. They spent one night with a current student before partaking in the Admitted Students Day activities the following day.
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions tries to pair admitted students with Villanovans who have similar interests.
“It’s usually by college, so that they can talk about shared experiences they want to have,” James said.
Villanovans of all majors throughout the four colleges have the opportunity to sign up and host a student. They do not need to be members of Blue Key.
As an added perk, students who host an admitted student are gifted a $100 credit to the University Bookstore.
Junior and Blue Key tour guide, Patrick Morin, was very excited to host an admitted student for the first time. He had cleared his schedule to make the weekend possible.
“I have wanted to sign up for the last two years,” Morin said. “But, unfortunately, my freshman year, I didn’t know about it until later, and then my sophomore year, I was on [Resident Assistant] duty the night before, so I couldn’t host a student.”
Prior to the weekend, Morin was asked what he planned to show his host student what a Friday night on campus could look like.
“I’m hoping to bring him to food trucks,” Morin said. “And then, I may come back [to my dorm], and he can meet some of my friends. They usually play a board game or two, and kinda hang on a Friday night.”
The next morning, Morin brought his host student to the Admissions Building at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast. There, he met back up with his family before the Admitted Students Day opening presentations.
Morin said that his work as a “host” will not end there.
“I’ll give him my phone number so that when he goes home, if he has more questions, or wants to know more about Villanova, like, what it is, what we do, how we spend the weekends, but not only that, but what the dorms look like, and stuff like that,” Morin said. “I’ll totally just be a resource. That’s my entire goal.”
While this program is not too well-known outside the Blue Key circle, the admitted students reap the benefits of spending the night with a current student.
“Obviously, I think one of the biggest allures to Admitted Students Day is that you can talk to the students,” James said. “Obviously, what sells people are the students that come here. So, I think being able to be paired up with a host, they get that firsthand experience. And, like, just really make a friend on campus. And it’s really helpful if they do decide to come here to just have that older person on campus that they can reach out to for guidance or support. That’s probably the best part.”
Some Blue Key tour guides spent their Saturday morning in the Finneran Pavilion creating balloon arches. Others lined outside the wall of the Finn, cheering as the admitted students walked to the opening presentations.
However, some host Villanovans prepared by mopping and cleaning their dorm rooms.
