Making Campus Tours Better

[mathmom]

At a number of schools we had tours given by pairs, (generally the second tourguide was learning or was the mentor), it was helpful getting two points of views, especially if they were from different departments.

[Glacier]

We have been on several tours between our two daughters. I apologize for the length but hope this will be helpful.

Adjust your tour to the weather - If it's inclimate out don't stand outside longer than necessary. We went on one tour recently and it was 9:00 a.m., windy and 15 degrees. The guides stood outside and pointed to different buildings and told us things about each. No one was listening because they were too cold and they could not hear because of the wind. It was like they were preprogrammed and did not want to adjust. They could have told us things inside and then pointed to them as we went by.

The next week we went on a tour and it was 60 degrees and it was great to be outside and our tour guide was great. My daughter chose this school and I know it had a lot to do with the tour.

As far as things left out of the tour ....Walk into some of the buildings so they can get a real feel for the school. Don't just point to them from the sidewalk. This is especially important on a weekend tours where there are few people on campus.

If you're doing a lot of walking pick an area for the group to sit down and rest and use it as a question and answer period. Possibly a time to use the restrooms and a water break. The best tours we went on did this. It doesn't have to be long - 5 to 10 minutes can really refresh everyone.

Try to put yourself in their place when you were an incoming freshman - what did you want to know? Have a sense of humor, speak loudly and clearly and enjoy yourself and others will enjoy the tour.

Remember, you are the face of the school and may be the deciding factor as to whether or not someone wants to attend.

A great brochure would have phone numbers (including toll free) for admissions, financial aid and housing, along with the hours for each on the front. Inside I would like to see school size, criteria for admission, tuition and housing costs, majors offered and deadlines for submitting forms. I think housing is so confusing - first you sign up when admitted and then you withdraw if you decide not to attend. This never seems to be stated clearly. It would be nice to have this all on one brochure instead of several.

Good luck to you!

[coureur]

1. Be confident, smiling, and friendly. It also helps to the polished and articulate - I remember one particularly impressive tour guide that left me thinking "Wow, it would be great if this college can transform kids into people as well-spoken as she is."

2. Avoid wearing extremes of fashion. I've heard of more than one girl reject a college because she didn't like what the tour guide was wearing.

3. Adjust your tour to the audience. Scan over the group and see what you've got, and chat with them a little bit to find out their interests. Try to figure out what programs or places might be of particular interest to them rather than just give them the standard, canned tour.

[3togo]

Great question ... thanks for asking.

I just went on a marathon campus visit trip ... here's where my daughter and I landed on tours. They tended to be too vanilla and repeat this on the web-site and/or in the brochures. As a guide you need to cover the basics but I personally would have really liked to have the guides do 3 things ...

1) Highlight what makes your school unique from all the other schools .... being told the library has x million volumes and that the campus has internet access does little to differentiate it ... but describing the core curriculum (or no core) ... or the multi-school agreement ... or unique location ... does help

2) Describe where the academic sections of campus are and where the residential areas are ... it's not important to know every building but it is helpful to not area of campus (that's the engineering quad, that's freshman housing, the frats are over there, etc).

3) Describe what the kids do for fun and where the families should visit off campus ... where are the hang-outs? where are the funky places? what's walkable to campus?

Again great question!

[memake]

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.

[Heron]

1. Please speak loudly. Even walking backwards, if it's a large group those at the back cannot hear you. You have to speak more loudly than you think you do.

2. I like the idea of encouraging the prospective students to walk around campus afterwards and to ask current students questions when the occasion arises. That is a great way -- maybe the best way -- to get a feel for the place.

3. Show a dorm room! On our tours more times than not, a dorm room was shown. Obviously the tour guide has permission and a key to enter the room. In most cases an occupant of the room was present. Where dorm rooms were not part of the tour, it raised questions in our minds about why they were not shown.

4. Have packets of the campus newspaper, some of the typical brochures and flyers circulating around campus, etc., for the tour participants. On one tour, we were able to pick up this kind of material, and it was a great way to learn fun things about the school and assess fit and feel. I don't mean official brochures, but one was a page on a trip to New York, when the bus was leaving, one was an informational sheet on the environmentally friendly cafeteria practices, one was an announcement for a student activity, etc. It was nice to see those.

5. In our experience most of the tours tried to pack too much into the available time, making for high speed and, frankly, boredom. I more than once thought that a short anecdote about each location would mean more than the standard tour-speak.

6. I would love to have had tours assigned by area of interest. All the art students together, all the science students in another group, etc. To organize the appointments in that way would allow for more time in appropriate areas of interest and less time speeding through everything.

[jude_36]

I second Heron's #6. We had several tours where the guide was a theater/media/art major, and spent a lot of time showing us the art studio, the cool audio software, etc. My D is interested in science, and the cool audio software doesn't impress her at all. Also, a *brief* intro as to who the guide is and what your interests are is helpful, but we don't need the extended version. We had a couple of tours where the guide talked more about themselves than the school.

[ChiSquare]

My daughter is convinced she would like to attend an LAC, and we've toured several. One factor that she has found annoying is when tour guides tout the benefits of an LAC (or a small campus or whatever) rather than *this particular" LAC, small campus, etc.

[goaliedad]

Noting that you are giving tours of Cal to prospective students.

Consider that Cal is a crapshoot for admissions to 98% of all applicants. These are anxious students and parents who have all kind of strange ideas about both the admissions process and the Berkeley lifestyle. In that vain...

1) Try to be disarming. Yes, many of your clients will not get admitted. If you've got the personality, a little gallows humor about admissions odds might lighten things up. If your delivery is poor however, you might be the one who is hung. LOL Make light of the panhandlers and the left-wing reputation of the school. It is what makes the school interesting!

2) Try to be reassuring. Most of your tour clients know that housing is a problem in Berkeley. Point out that most of the homeless on the streets are not freshmen who didn't win in the dorm lottery (see suggestion 1 here LOL). Give anecdotal stories about how students find the right housing situation. Point out that if you don't get admitted to the Business School, that the Econ majors do just fine in the job placement.

3) Do not mention anything that is in the brochures in your office or any other commonly read material. Most of it is just marketing anyway! Your serious candidate probably has read and memorized it anyway because they think it is on the SAT. I'm picking on one segment of your typical tour group here - the ones who take this all too seriously. They are looking for something else to give them confidence that Berkeley is worth all the cram hours they've spent and the countless retakes of the SAT to get that 2400. They want to know that once they get in here that there will be interesting stuff. If you've got a friend doing a research project in X department, tell them about your friend and how s/he came about the opportunity.
And more importantly, tell them that the most important learning they will do at Cal is the stuff that goes on outside of the classroom.

Hope this helps!

[JustaGuy]

I’m not a parent, but work in a building on my campus in which tours always stop. My pet peeves are:

Remember, you are the face of the school and may be the deciding factor as to whether or not someone wants to attend.

1. Always - I repeat, always - remember this.

2. You don’t have to be a walking encyclopedia, but at least be informed. I can’t begin to tell you the amount of just plain wrong information I’ve heard given out.

3. If someone asks a question and you don’t know the answer, say so; don’t make up something. And then later take the time to find out the answer for when you’re next asked the question – and you will be.

3. Be honest, but remember your purpose is to try to encourage someone to attend. Telling them the library *never* (as I have heard) has anything you need for research or the food in the dining hall is inedible probably isn’t going to do the job.

5. Don’t walk three feet inside a building and say to the group “This is such and such building,” and then let everybody mill about for a few minutes before moving on.

6. Use buildings as an opportunity to talk about more than just the building: if it’s the athletics building, talk about what’s available for student recreation and physical fitness; if it’s a dorm, talk about residential life; if it’s the library, talk about what resources and services are available.

4. I know it’s informal, but don’t look like you just rolled out of bed five minutes before doing the tour.

5. If you’re a guy, this isn’t the place to try and impress high school girls with how cool and laid back you are, or how wasted you and your friends got last weekend. (I’ve heard this too)

6. Read everything else that has been said on this thread.

7. Finally, read #1 above again.

[jrmom01]

Ok, here goes my first post! My experience with tour guides was that the best were the most enthusiastic about their school, and they could walk the campus every hour of the day backwards and still speak with joy about their chosen school. I also liked the tours where the guides asked about the group-any alums, and where the prospective students came from and their interests. My D definitely clued into that. One tour did that and we realized right away that this group and school wasn't for her, and we ran away from the tour giggling madly at the first opportunity. Still one of our favorite memories of touring colleges.

I have to add one thing about information sessions as well. We went to X College's info session, and the admissions person was sitting on the lecture desk practically screaming at the audience about why X College can be so selective and turn away almost everyone but the ones they are needing for that incoming class. We were so turned off by this woman that my D crossed X College off the list as soon as we left. So it's not just tour guides that can influence decisions!

[paying3tuitions]

Point out security norms for your campus. Without being alarming, if it's offered by the college to escort girls home at 3 a.m., or there are emergency call stations, point one out, in a non-anxious way. It will open up dialogue between kids and their parents later on, and show your college is aware of safety issues.

I also liked when guides described the dorm room shown on a spectrum of what to expect as a freshman. If your colllege requires you to show something very high-end and atypical, you might hint that "some lucky students can eventually live here." A favorite college of mine showed a very plain, older room with this statement: Admissions wants you to see this room because it's our worst. As a freshman, your choices will be here or someplace a little bit better." I think housing is where to be very realistic, because it will only hurt someone's feelings to recall a great showcase room from a tour and then feel ripped off if their freshman room is a lot less. If it was a showcase room, the tourguides sometimes urged people to try out the bed (one at a time).

[Neonzeus]

All great advice! The tour guides' who aren't loud enough, and who just point at buildings as you run past are a pet peeve of mine. No one mentioned this, but I also hate the tour guides who say "the elevators are so slow, let's take the stairs!" or who go at running-walk up hills. I admit it -I work in an office long hours, will probably be one of the oldest parents on any tour, and am out of shape. I admire the parents and kids who can trot for an entire tour, but I appreciate a more moderate pace. (It's a clue that you're going too fast if the Moms are so out-of-breath that they aren't asking any questions!) We've had a few tour guides act like there's a prize for finishing the tour as fast as possible.

[skylandsmom]

I am not very good at remembering how a campus is arranged after walking around it once. On our first tour, I was completely disoriented, had no idea where we had come from or where we were headed in relation to anything else on campus. On subsequent tours, I made sure I'd printed a map of the campus prior to visiting, to get a sense of where I was as the tour proceeded. Handing out maps prior to the tour would be helpful, both during the tour, and afterward, if we want to revisit anything in particular.

[huguenot]

I'm so glad you asked - we've had some *wretched* tours and a few great ones. You've already gotten some terrific advice. Here's what I'd add:

Slow down. Walk slowly. Parents are a lot older than you and we don't have time to work out and we won't enjoy anything if we can't get any oxygen to our brains.

I like to see: the student union or commons, a dorm room, a big lecture hall, a smaller classroom or lab, the cafeteria and the library, so my student can picture being at this school.

Go light on the stupid student pranks (they are the same everywhere).

Share what makes the college great: incredible history, outstanding football games, classic liberal arts core, research opportunities...

If there is more than one college student on the tour, mix with the group and talk, don't clump up at the front and talk to each other.

Give each family a map and a student newspaper.

Tell what made you fall in love with the school.

Try to keep the use of cool slang to a minimum - it sounds so stale, like totally random.

Dress decently - not revealing, not too junky.

Be friendly, act like you personally want them to come. One top ten school was so arrogant in the tour and info session, like "well, you probably aren't good enough, so I don't know why I'm wasting my time". DS got in, but didn't want to go.

Let your enthusiasm shine through.

Wave at students you know, it makes the college seem smaller and more connected.

Sorry to sound so cynical, but tour enough colleges and you can hardly help it :-)