Overnight events hosted by Allegheny College Admissions are a major reason students apply and attend to pursue their undergraduate careers at Allegheny College, according to Linda Clune, senior associate director of admissions.

Since the implementation of overnight events around the late 1980s, the number of prospective students visiting Allegheny has risen, according to Clune.

“We’ve seen a rise of students coming who want to meet with faculty and attend classes,” Clune said. “We have large overnight events in November around Veterans Day, and then in March and April for admitted students.”

50 to 60 percent of the admitted students who participate in an Allegheny overnight will decide to attend Allegheny, according to Clune.

“Some students turn in their deposits at overnights,” Clune said. “There is no hesitation when they say ‘I’m here, let’s do it.’”

Hosting a prospective student is open to any student on campus, according to Rachel Sloan, an Allegheny admissions counselor. In order to find the right match between the host and prospective student, there is a matching process.

Hosts must fill out a profile stating their name, interests and what they are involved in on campus, which is then filed into a host database. Once they are paired with a prospective student, they must also attend a training held by admissions, according to Clune.

Although hosting is open to everyone, admissions has the right to tell a student no if it finds someting negative about that student, according to Clune.

“We do incorporate Joe Hall, assistant dean of students and academic integrity & community standards,” Clune said. “There is communication between offices. We want to make sure students have the best experience possible.”

For those that do host for an overnight event, the students are reminded by admissions what they can do on campus.

“For that one night your prospective student didn’t come to hang out in your room,” Clune said. “As a host, you’re really representing all of Allegheny and not just yourself.”

Hosts are considered Allegheny Ambassadors and can do more past that one night, according to Sloan.

“Hosting can be an awesome experience that you get to put on your resume,” Sloan said. “There are opportunities for leadership growth, and students are the ones to help with matching and outreach work.”

Besides resume experience, hosts can also play an important role when it comes down to a prospective student’s final decision. One of Clune’s favorite parts about overnights is when a host tells her that their prospective student now attends Allegheny and they often spend time together, according to Clune.

Perry Rusen-Morohovich, ’19, attended an overnight event as a prospective student and has volunteered to host multiple times, during her undergraduate career.

“As a prospective student, I didn’t take Allegheny serious at first and I didn’t go to many events,” Rusen-Morohovich said. “The events I did attend I loved and going to the classes was the best part.”

After being accepted and attending Allegheny, Rusen-Morohovich decided to give back to the school. She has hosted as many as three prospective students at once, all of whom became friends. Her three prospective students decided to come to Allegheny together because they could explore as a group and had already established a friendship going into college, according to Rusen-Morohovich.

Victoria Roesner, ’21, however, had a different overnight experience compared to Rusen-Morohovich.

“The first time I was a prospective student, my host left me at 10 p.m. in her room and never came back,” Roesner said. “I had to walk myself to breakfast and classes in the morning, but I still came to Allegheny, so the school is doing something right.”