I’ve been missing class to attend these college rep visits at my high school and realized today…all of these reps sound the same! It’s all “diverse student body,” “your professors will know your name,” THE SAME.
Is this just me or are others experiencing this too? Are there some presentations you’ve been to that have actually been different–or good?? And what kind of questions should I be asking to actually find out how these colleges are different?
There is a script: diversity (proclaimed with evangelistic zeal), class size (small), travel abroad (everyone here does it) financial aid (generous), food (healthy and virtuously-sourced), activities (lots of fun stuff to do), ranking (sometimes obscure–#2 ranked school in corn-rich mid-western states founded after WW2).
I guess you haven’t heard any presentations from large state flagships.
… state-of-the-art facilities, cutting-edge research, everybody is one big family, forward looking, developing the WHOLE person, developing leaders who will change the world, fastest-growing, new recreation center, gluten-free/vegan/kosher/halal dining options…blah blah blah
It’s good to go and meet these reps, though, if the school wants you to show interest. Get the rep’s card. Email them afterwards if you have any questions. Also, some of them will do interviews if the school wants them. It’s all about the contact, not the info you’re getting from them.
Yes, a lot of the talk is the same. Selling schools isn’t unlike selling, say, laundry detergent. You will learn more about a school online than from a rep visit, so no need to go to a lot of these meetings.
But as @homerdog above says, if you’re interested in a particular school, having a contact/email from someone even tangentially connected won’t hurt. So go, listen to the spiel politely, take her/his card, follow up, and tell them “I’m very interested.” They may pass the word to the adcom.
I imagine they give you a chance to ask questions. So ask. One of them should be, what do you think makes your school unique/stand out/different from the rest?
I have bookmarked an old post that has the following questions. The post was aimed more at talking to current students, but you can pick and choose relevant questions for a rep. Also some of the questions are dated, in the internet era you can look some of this stuff up
Thanks everyone! I’ve been going mostly to presentations by reps from smaller liberal arts colleges and as RecusantSam noted, there clearly is a formula to these visits. The “what’s unique” also seems to get the same answers: the students, our open curriculum…they’re usually along the same lines. The aggressive armchair psychologist in me just wants to stand up and yell, “do something different!” I’m honestly fascinated how, by trying to convince students their colleges are different, they sound so similar. I wish these schools would save us the missed class time (which is so ironic) and just let us know up front if they track interest or not…
Thank you, too, for the questions! I’ve been told to ask things that can’t be easily googled as a way to stand out. My go-to list is becoming something like this:
-Can you describe your school in three words?
-What would you change? What would students tell you they’d want to change?
-What problems is your community working on?
-How will your school maintain its history and tradition? How is it doing that now?
-What’s your favorite building on campus and what does it represent?
-What’s something you wish students would ask you about?
Any other creative suggestions?
I suspect that one of the reasons the school sound so much alike is that in fact, from an academic point of view, most of them are pretty much alike. This is one of the reasons that people in the know suggest that someone should not get too tied up in prestige, rankings etc. But I hear you, OP. I felt like I could do info sessions at colleges by the end, and that was on a first visit.
One of the questions that I think is interesting to ask is what direction the current president and trustees are pushing the school to take. In some cases, this reveals something that they feel has been a shortcoming and in others it reveals something that they feel students will need to be successful in the world when they graduate. In any case it often reveals something of the vision that the school has for itself.
Personally, i would avoid questions like “pick three words” or ones that you might challenge an applicant with. They can sound like you’re being a little snarky and turning their process around on them. I would focus more on questions that will revolve around your experience at that school. Perhaps they have to do with advising, how many students double major, change majors. Are classes scheduled so there is a block of time that’s down for everyone (which often makes athletics and ECS more accessible), etc. Remember that you are exploring your future experience there, not their marketing savvy as AOs!
@RallyMonkey17 , I had another thought after my 15-minute edit period was up. You may want to ask the rep what is generally not included in the tour that he or she would recommend that you see when you visit.
As a parent I found myself asking this question in the admissions office while my child was visiting classes and I was directed to everything from an arboretum to a chapel where students were practicing the organ to an amazing private collection of original colonial documents in the basement of the library to a student curated art exhibit. This also opens up a conversation with the rep (about anything from music lessons to students doing research with those documents.
“-What would you change? What would students tell you they’d want to change?”
One of my kids frequently asked, “What about your school would you fight hard to keep from changing?” or something along those lines and got some interesting answers. Just a twist on the usual question that seem to help assess some core values.