<p>Huffington Post article is geared towards students…but some of the advice is also good for parents (like not asking the COA!)</p>
<p>My favorite is not depending on the tour guide…especially if you’re going on tour while school is in session. Go to the student union, gym, nearby pizza place, anywhere where students gather. Listen to the conversations so that the student can get a sense of whether or not they fit in. Especially when they’re deciding in April after all of the admissions have come in.</p>
<p>I once saw a suggestion that you should look around to see how many of the students are wearing clothing or carrying other items (backpacks, notebooks, etc.) with campus logos, school name, and so forth. It shows whether the student body is enthusiastic about and engaged in the school.</p>
<p>With the risk of a double negative in mind don’t not ask questions. Son gave tours one morning a week over last summer and he said although some parents ask questions rarely did the potential students ask anything. I realize everything blends together on the college tours but to not ask questions was surprising to me.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s strange that the students don’t ask questions. My S is very shy and would never ask any questions - that’s why he has me on a tour. I know the questions to ask - he doesn’t have a clue!</p>
<p>RE: Kids on campus wearing logo gear. At the big time sports schools I’m familiar with (including Stanford), all years of students wear logo apparel throughout the year.</p>
<p>Re logo gear … I just had breakfast in West Campus at Cornell on Saturday. I would say at least half the diners were wearing Cornell logo gear. I didn’t see any other college logos – just sports teams especially the NY Giants.</p>
<p>West Campus is sophomore housing and up. No freshmen.</p>
<p>The only place I noticed a lot of people wearing sweatshirts/other clothes with the college’s logo was Tufts. I can see how it wouldn’t attract everyone, but I thought it was really endearing; everybody seemed really excited to be there.</p>
<p>EDIT: People were wearing them at UMass too, but I think that was more of a sports thing.</p>
<p>My daughter also attends a school where a sizeable plurality of students, including sophs, juniors and seniors, wear clothes bearing the school name or logo. Her school isn’t a big time sports school either. </p>
<p>It always interested me that on D’s school, although it still has (an undeserved) reputation as being a “Greek school,” you rarely see students in clothing bearing the letters of their sorority or fraternity. That was certainly not the case XX years ago at the midwestern LACs, which were in excess of 50% Greek, that my wife and I attended.</p>
<p>Also–don’t monopolize the tour guide or professor conducting an informational session if you are with a group–especially if all you are going to do is criticize the school…happened on our last tour. It was very uncomfortable for everyone in the room.</p>
<p>The college logo thing is a good point and people are making the point–if you want a school where kids go to basketball games and participate in activities, the amount of hoodies with “Joe’s College” on them is a good indicator of that.</p>
You make it sound trivial mncmom. I think if students are pleased with their school and taking pride in being there, having school spirit, so to speak, they may very well be wearing the school gear. I recently saw a girl at the market whose shirt had several equations on it. I stood there pondering them until it dawned on me what they meant. Later as I was in line behind them, her mother was explaining her acceptance at the school to the cashier. AFAIK the school is not particularly known for its basketball prowess ;).</p>
<p>One thing we came away with is our mantra… it’s not about us (meaning the parents). I can’t tell you how many parents wanted to tell you their college story or history. It was all about them. It’s not. </p>
<p>Our gc gave the kids questions to ask - what surprised you most about the school, if you could change one thing about the school what would it be, how many kids stay on campus over the weekends.</p>
<p>Be aware that young tour guides tend to use words like “everyone,” “no one”, “all the time,” etc, based on what their own social circle does. </p>
<p>We once had a tour guide tell the group that “everyone” gets a merit scholarship…which was certainly not true at this public school (we were OOS visitors). This was certainly misleading. </p>
<p>We also had a tour guide (another school) who told the group that you couldn’t be “pre-med” at this school because the “school doesn’t have that major.” </p>
<p>Don’t expect tour guides to know the intricacies of various majors. </p>
<p>The point is that many tour guides are young college kids…they are given a spiel to deliver and sometimes can’t deviate too much from it without giving out some wrong info…</p>
<p>We quit doing tours and info sessions with DD because it seemed as though the questions were one of two types. 1. Things that could be found online. 2. Parents asking questions specific to their child who I was obviously supremely qualified and more brilliant than any other youngster in the room. Yawn…</p>
<p>I think wearing college logo-wear is more common at large sports schools…all 3 of my boys went to medium size schools in large cities ( Emory, University of Denver and American University) and while all would wear a school tshirt or sweatshirt from time to time it was certainly far from de rigeur. And all 3 schools had highly involved students, just not a large campus, sportsy vibe.</p>
<p>Half of the population of AUSTIN wears University of Texas gear! I never noticed it until I moved away and then went home for visits. It’s striking.</p>