<p>RPI had a miserable info session–the guy just droned on and on and he was boooooring. The student tour guide was great, but he had no fewer than 60 people trailing around after him. However, the school still came across well. </p>
<p>Vassar had a wonderful presentation and a great tour, and of course the campus is beautiful. But BOTH the presenters AND the tour guide went out of their way to tell us that although there is a math requirement at Vassar, students shouldn’t worry about that, because you can get out of it by taking something that sounds sort of math-y but is really a liberal arts course. Now THAT’s a turn-off for a potential math or computer science major. </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon’s road tour makes them look FANTASTIC. They use the same great presentation on campus. The tour guides were very good, too–although one of them was asked what she DIDN’T like about the school, and she said that the diversity of the campus was a shock to her at first (!!!). She realized what she had said after a second, and turned it around to a positive, but it was quite a moment there. </p>
<p>Cornell’s road show makes them look AWFUL. This was probably the worst presentation we saw. Horrible “you’re not good enough for us” attitude, dull, humorless presenter, alums who seemed neither very smart nor very interesting. Just awful, a complete turn-off. </p>
<p>Lafayette had an excellent local presentation–they brought two really inspiring professors and two down-to-earth students. And coffee and snacks for everybody. </p>
<p>WPI has a nice road show. Not a huge crowd, so the admissions guy was able to get very specific about their programs. He also took notes and e-mails so he could get answers to questions he didn’t know. </p>
<p>MIT has such a fantastic road presentation that you could weep. There were probably two hundred kids in the room and I remember thinking, “Why do they have to make it look so good? Only ONE of these kids is going to get in!”</p>
<p>Really disappointed with Smith. Not enough email feedback (I’m Int’l), and when I do get feedback, I’ve already found the answer to my question or they don’t even answer the answer the question.</p>
<p>Wellesley took 2 weeks to get back to me about off campus interviews. And it basically said “Sorry, no almunis in your area”. (I offered to travel to anwhere in Europe for interview…)</p>
<p>I’ve been trying not to let the people leading my campus tours affect my decisions too much - after all, it’s only one student out of thousands.</p>
<p>One thing sticks out in my mind, though. The tour guide at Hamilton referred to Al Gore’s “Convienant Truth.” Ha, I laughed out loud when she said that.</p>
<p>Harvard: Most Patient. Yale: Most Condescending. (My guide was the most pompous b**** I have ever had the misfortune to meet.) Princeton: Most Encouraging/Best Couches. Also very humble considering its prestige. Columbia: Most Honest./Tied for Most Humorous/2nd place for Most Encouraging. Brown: Most Enthusiastic./Tied for Most Humorous. Penn: Tied for Most Dull, but friendly, so I’ll forgive them. Cornell: Tied for Most Dull./2nd place for Most Condescending, so I don’t forgive them. Dartmouth: Most Approachable./2nd place for Most Enthusiastic.</p>
<p>I didn’t apply to “top” schools but this is what my info sessions were like
UCSB: Student was very nice and enthusiastic, obviously loved the school. The group was small (about 20 people) and the tour was nice.
Chapman: Tour guide was hilarious and informative and they gave out vouchers for lunch.
LMU: HUGE tour, about 75 people (the group was split into 2). The tour was, however, very very good and informative. The information session was also very good. When i applied this year I did NOT find the admissions office helpful. Here was my conversation
ici: I was wondering on the status of my application <em>gives ssn</em> [i had applied early and had not heard anything]
adcom: we need your transcript for first semester
ici: but I applied EARLY
adcom: well… we still need your first semester. Your file will be complete then and they will continue reviewing your application. (click)</p>
<p>An hour later [haha im a little burned out] it dawned on me that i was DEFERRED. I was kinda ticked that the lady couldn’t of just SAID so because I spent the whole day worrying that nothing got in… but eh what can you do</p>
<p>Oxy: The group was small and the admission office was very nice. The tour guide was good, but did not feel comfortable giving the tour. It seemed like she was new.</p>
<p>Westmont: GREAT tour. It was one-on-one (the school is small) and the guide LOVED the school. The adcom was the worst. In the middle of the “interview” he PULLED OUT GUM from his mouth and stuck it on the piece of paper he was writing on. Professional much?</p>
<p>Most Swish: Wash U treated my son #2 and I like gold: Mailed us printed itinerary in advance of visit as well as hotels and things to do in St. Louis that month, parking pass and lunch voucher. Passed around water in admissions office. Interviewer sent my son a postcard. Info session had an admissions officer and a full professor. Professor hung around after info session and gave us dinner recs. My son sent thank-you email to admin officer and prof; both responded immediately… Received numerous mailings. Son #2 was very serious about applying ED1 but admissions officer said applying early made no difference. Not sure if that is fact, but son didn’t want to take the risk.</p>
<p>Coziest: Tie between Brandeis (aforementioned warm chocolate chip cookies and a fireplace) and Wesleyan- sat on couches in a beautiful room with a fireplace and had a love-in (just kidding). Brought in six upper classmen to discuss experience. Was honest about extra consideration given to EDers. Gave us a boxed lunch as it was freshman orientation. Sadly, Brandeis faltered on the mailings and lost my sons information.</p>
<p>Most Intellectual: Amherst College with Son #1. Sat in seminar room and admissions officer gave a quiz and prize. The mom was totally intimidated; son really liked it. Honourable mention in this category goes to U of Chicago. Very academic discussion.</p>
<p>Rudest-Harvard with Son #1- There were only six of us in admin session and they didn’t even take our name; didn’t attempt to go beyond basics and was very blase. Son was ****ed.</p>
<p>Most Schizo- Northwestern- With Son #1 the admin officer was monotone and scripted. The worst of the ten schools we visited. With Son #2 the admin officer was informative and inspiring. Was honest about chances with early decsion.Went to cafeteria for lunch (we were paying) and the cashier refused to take our money.</p>
<p>Most Inept- Emory Admin Officer- She was new to the job and couldn’t answer son #2’s questions.</p>
<p>Our best presenter, bar none, was at the University of Virginia. A young man who was a graduate of the school gave a 45 minute talk in Jefferson’s rotunda, walking about to illustrate its perfect acoustics! This fellow did not use any notes or slides, but spoke directly to the visitors and answered every question with honesty and humor. My son saw him later at a group presentation with Harvard and Princeton, where he was the final presenter, and made the most of it by humorously pointing out the differences between the schools. He was a great advertisement for his program. Others have mentioned UVa’s information session as taking place in a dark theatre, so I don’t know why we were treated to a session in the Rotunda, but it was spring break and they did not have a student tour, so maybe they were trying to give the best information session possible to compensate. We were able to tour some of the campus on our own.</p>
<p>One of my pet peeves of information sessions is the dreaded Powerpoint presentation where the presenter reads the slides and adds almost nothing. FOR HEAVENS SAKE, WE CAN READ! Powerpoint can be a real detriment - there is a feeling that the slides dictate the pace and subject, and sometimes the reader seems as robotic as the machine running the slides. (I’m talking about you, Georgetown, and you, Duke.) Georgetown redeemed itself with a good tour guide, but Duke was a failure all around. After being force-fed the contents of a Powerpoint session, we were able to choose one of two tour guides. Unfortunately, both were recovering from sore throats brought on by a campus-wide infection. (Kudos to them for showing up on such a difficult day!) To make it worse, it was President’s Day, and the session was packed with over 100 visitors. The admissions staff was completely blase about the lack of audible guides. On top of this, we asked the admissions officer who gave the information presentation where the math building was, and she didn’t know!</p>
<p>sherryf: Ditto for WashU…Considering how many students apply, they have been more than accommodating and helpful (at least our admissions counselor)…and to add, very normal and down to earth also…</p>
<p>In terms of Emory, I guess it depends on your region…When we visited last year, we also had an admissions rep who had no idea about anything (she was temporary)…that has since changed and admissions had been great during the process…</p>
<p>Barnard scared the crap out of me when I visited. The info session was okay, but the tour and interview were…feh. The tour guide seemed kind of confused and I can only assume we were one of her first, but even then she didn’t seem very enthusiastic; the card which they sent saying where to go for the interview was actually wrong, and we had to go to the other side of campus for it. It was intimidating and scary and I did not feel like myself.</p>
<p>Bryn Mawr, on the other hand, was a delight. Three meal vouchers and a wonderful bubbly tour guide and a lovely hostess with great friends, and an interview that didn’t lop on the stress. Oh, and free coffee in the admissions office.</p>
<p>The best admissions office I dealt with while touring school was probably U Chicago’s. Georgetown’s was good. Loyola Maryland’s was good too (fed me, yumm).</p>
<p>The worst one was probably Carnegie Mellon. The person giving the info session seemed annoyed that kids were interested in her school. She came off as very condescending. The student tours were alright, but they seemed sort of pretentious. Johns Hopkins wasn’t very good either. The person doing the info session was very impersonal, seemed like he was in a hurry to be out of there. Then the student tour guide was awkward. She was honest, but she would say things that aren’t very encouraging to someone interested in the school. For instance, “Professors are very busy and you won’t really get that much attention from them,” or, “Baltimore is the murder capitol of the nation.” Yeah, those are great pieces of info when you’re trying to attract students.</p>
<p>I took a tour of Johns Hopkins two summers ago and the tour guide said something to the effect of “Not that many people are involved in the Greek life.” Then, as though it were a sitcom, the next ten people she talked to were in a sorority! HER sorority. I just laughed out loud.</p>
<p>Brandeis was pretty good- everyone was really friendly and the cookies were a big plus. unfortunately, the campus was so unattractive that I decided not to apply there.</p>
<p>Penn was one of the worst. While the woman was informative, she was incredibly rude. The tour guides were down-to-earth, though.</p>
<p>A speaker who can speak off the cuff and articulately answer questions about a college makes a great impression. My son did his first campus tour out of town yesterday–I haven’t heard his report of the experience. A few years ago he attended a Yale regional information session in our town, and he said it was great. This year he and I attended together another Yale info session here, and again the speaker (a different alumnus this time from the first time) was a smooth speaker and readily able to answer questions. Both speakers communicated a great deal of enthusiasm about Yale.</p>
<p>A Bowdoin rep came to my school and he was the most awesome college admissions person I’ve ever met. He was hilarious, personable, and well informed. </p>
<p>NYU and Fordham were very nice and personable as well. Actually, I was particularly impressed how well both of them handled the large amount of people that were there for tours. </p>
<p>The best overall experiences of dealing with admissions offices has been Cornell (AAP) and Rhode Island School of Design. They respond to my e-mails almost immediately and always with very clear directions. The RISD admissions officers are fantastic; one started a facebook group for kids with questions and I messaged her every time I had a question. Awesome service, personable, made a painful experience relativley easy. </p>
<p>No real bad experiences that stand out. More than likely, it has been the other people on tours that bug the crap out of me: “Hold on, let me see how many times I can mention my daughter is applying to Ivy league schools.”</p>
<p>Try to remember that you are unlikely to have much to do with the admissions office once you get into the school. I have been reminding my kids of this for years. It’s so unfortunate when it is the admissions office that wins over a kid or turns him off when the school experience may be the opposite. </p>
<p>We just came back from a college visit and interview that truly rated very low in terms of the admissions office. However, the classes, students, atmosphere, programs, etc were all tops.</p>
<p>I think Bates was the best. A week before I actually visited the campus, the rep for my state was at my school. He was engaging and enthusiastic and he was very interested in what I had to say. He even stayed with me for about a half an hour while I gave him a tour of one of our new buildings that he wanted to see. At that point, I hadn’t been able to set up an interview because they were so full, but he pulled some strings for me and he took the initiative to interview me himself. Then, when I visited, he remembered my name and my school. We had a great, long interview and after, before I took the formal tour, he showed me this special room with all these microscopes and research stuff because I had expressed an interest in biology. He really went the extra mile to welcome me and make me feel like I belong.
The Denison rep was also really good. We had a good interview(also over an hour long) and when she saw me like 3 months later at my school, she remembered my name and interests.</p>