The NIU Admissions Office is expecting about 400 high school students this Monday for an open house, said Undergraduate Admissions Assistant Director Craig Kolins.

The visiting students will take a bus tour of the NIU campus, visit a residence hall, meet with representatives from the admissions office, academic areas, and student services. They also will view an audio-visual introduction to NIU and have the option to view classes.

The program for prospective students begins Monday at 9 a.m. in the Duke Ellington Ballroom, and it concludes at 3 p.m. No reservations are needed and the program is free.

Kolins said, “Quite a few students choose NIU as their first choice. The location and the academic programs are the two biggest factors that attract people here.

“The open house is usually for high school seniors and for some transfer students. Four hundred students with their parents are expected. Altogether, 1,000 students, parents, and friends attend the program,” Kolins said.

Most prospective students are interested in the business program at NIU. However, Kolins said, “Many students are interested in a lot of other areas.”

Kolins said, “A majority of students are people from the Northern recruitment region, the northern third of the state. This includes the Chicago area, Rockford, and the Quad Cities.”

He said, “The majority of the population is from the Chicagoland area; we have a large arena to choose students from.”

The bus tour uses specific buses to show the prospective students the campus, and shuttle buses will run from parking lot O, located on the east side of the Holmes Student Center. The visitors may each lunch in the Pow-Wow Cafeteria, the Blackhawk Room, or the Pheasant Room, all located in the HSC.

Another open house is planned for November 11, and one is planned for Good Friday, March 24. The March 24 Open House is primarily for high school juniors.

Kolins said, “We try to have them when we (the university) are in session and the high schools and community colleges have a vacation day, so that they can sit in on classes and see a normal day of classes.”

Regular tours of the campus, which run throughout the school year, begin at 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and at noon on Saturday, start from the admissions office in Williston Hall.