| The tours that have been most helpful for me and my kids:
The tour guide could relate both their own experiences at the school (majors, extracurricular interests, social life) and talk about those of other kids they knew.
Before beginning a tour, they took 5 minutes to get to know the kids in the group (name, home town, possible interests, other schools seen so far) -- I think that breaking the ice at the start of the tour might make the kids more comfortable asking questions later instead of letting the parents hog the floor.
I personally hate when they go on and on about some ridiculously meaningless, usually invented, piece of charming campus lore. I have in the mind the many variations of painting a fence/rock/wall with info about upcoming happenings, the many variations of the special day in spring or winter when everyone steals trays from the cafeteria to sled down some snow/mud hill, etc. Some traditions, on the other hand, are totally unique to a school and demonstrate a lot about it's particular culture; e.g., pranks at Caltech, remembering alumni who have passed away at Texas A&M, eating clubs at Princeton, scav hunt at UofC, nekkid balls at Brown-- just a starter list, i know there are many many more. |