Were you lied to at during an "open house" day or a college tour?

Catria · 10-28-2012, 10:49 PM

I assume some of you have come to open house days at colleges. Now, let me be clear: some departments, or even schools, can even resort to outright lies to attract students to them (although I think that, somehow, some departments may reserve lies for prospective undergraduates while other departments may lie to everyone, even prospective graduate students) so were you lied to on a college tour? Or on an open house day?

intparent · 10-28-2012, 10:55 PM

I have been on tons of college tours (2 kids, and we like to visit!), and have put one through college (other is in the application process). You can see from my number of posts that I spend a fair amount of time on CC, so have carefully read pretty much all the posts on the colleges my kids were interested in. People are pretty honest about their experiences at colleges on CC, so you do get the "real scoop" a lot of times. We also always pick up as many editions of the student newspapers on campus as they will let use take, and it is astonishing what you learn from those sometimes!

As far as I know we were never deliberately lied to. However, tour guides regularly omit information that does not reflect well on their schools. This does not bother me much, as we go to the trouble to cross check a lot of school info on the way to a decision. I have also known tour guides to attempt to answer questions that they actually do not know the answers to (and sometimes get it wrong). I don't believe they are intentionally telling lies, though.

Modadunn · 10-28-2012, 11:12 PM

I agree with Intparent - we've done this three times now and interestingly, there's been no cross over of school's the kids have looked at, let alone applied. I suggest always reading the papers, online blogs, whatever you can get your hands on that comes from students directly on campus today. You actually will learn quite a lot about the different lenses in which the administration and the students view the community.

The only thing I will say about being misled or lied to was a school's ability to build strong relationships in the classroom and the support services offered to students. Yes, they have a writing center, but is it staffed? What percentage of students use it? etc. This is something i learned through our first round to research thoroughly as they all try and talk a good game. So ask the questions and do a little digging. There isn't a consumer good out there that doesn't offer claims of quality - whether it be a car, a TV, a school or a mop - it's up to you to dig a little deeper than the fancy print.

glido · 10-28-2012, 11:42 PM

Nope - never lied to. Everything was cool, gathered a lot of helpful info.

momofthreeboys · 10-29-2012, 12:22 AM

i do have gone down this path with 3 kids and not much cross-overs on the college lists and no, I do not believe we have ever been lied to.

Consolation · 10-29-2012, 12:51 AM

The closest I know that I have come to being lied to: the ad com who did the info session at Northwestern cited Maisie Gummer as a recent grad who had appeared in a movie. He did not mention that she was the daughter of Meryl Streep and that the movie she had appeared in at that time was with her mother.

It did not inspire me with admiration for the institution. (Amongst other things we encountered there.)

emeraldkity4 · 10-29-2012, 05:54 AM

That's funny consolation, did the rep think that was supposed to be impressive? Appearing in a movie?
A recent grad from Ds instate directional U, won an Oscar earlier this year, ( for directing) and without his mom getting him the gig.

Sop14's Mom · 10-29-2012, 07:22 AM

Nope. Sounds like OP has an agenda.

Creekland · 10-29-2012, 07:31 AM

Quote:

As far as I know we were never deliberately lied to. However, tour guides regularly omit information that does not reflect well on their schools. This does not bother me much, as we go to the trouble to cross check a lot of school info on the way to a decision. I have also known tour guides to attempt to answer questions that they actually do not know the answers to (and sometimes get it wrong). I don't believe they are intentionally telling lies, though.

I agree 100% with the above. We're on our third for college searches.

charlieschm · 10-29-2012, 07:52 AM

No. There will always be information that is omitted, which is why CC and other resources are so valuable.

At my son's college, another parent noted that they only deceit she encouraged was that the food was much better when they fed the parents on orientation day than when they fed the students on the average day. However, that is a private contractor.

tk21769 · 10-29-2012, 08:08 AM

"Lie" is a strong word.
What kind of information do you believe is being falsified?
How do you know it is being falsified deliberately?

Hunt · 10-29-2012, 08:46 AM

I think "lie" is too strong, but at every info session we attended there were statements made that I didn't really believe. They were things like, "SAT scores don't matter as much as you think." In some cases, I think the person saying may well have believed it was the truth.

Catria · 10-29-2012, 09:04 AM

Omitting info just isn't the same as being falsified deliberately.

While I think the McGill physics department was truthful as to where its physics graduates go (to the best of my knowledge) they lied about the undergraduates' graduation rates of the department. They claimed on its open house yesterday that 80% of the undergraduate physics matriculants graduate with a physics degree.

However, faculty that worked there complained about attrition in the first two years of the program, attrition that is more severe than losing 20% of an entering class (which is standard fare in most Canadian universities with a good undergraduate physics program). Engineering and business seem to be popular destinations for the people who leave physics yet are still enrolled in that university.

Consolation · 10-29-2012, 09:22 AM

Quote:

That's funny consolation, did the rep think that was supposed to be impressive? Appearing in a movie?

It was in the context of discussing their well-regarded undergraduate theater program.

frazzled2thecore · 10-29-2012, 09:41 AM

We found that when schools discussed internships and employment among recent graduates, they failed to add whether students were finding internships or jobs through the career office or through family networks. At least for engineering and business majors it should be possible to get a list of companies recruiting at a school, not just companies that have hired graduates.

Also, while I do not think that tour guides set out to lie, they will tend to see matters through their own limited perspectives. That is why it is important to get multiple points of view, by reading school newspapers, looking at comments on Rate My Professor, and actually sitting in on classes. I also do not think it is out of line to ask about attrition rates in specific majors, withdrawal rates in weeder classes, placement and grading policies, qualifications of TA's (we were shocked to learn that at many schools, TA's can be fellow undergrads), and even grievance procedures.