How Do I Make My College Tour Worthwhile?

JTC007
Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:38:22 +0000

I’m a tour guide at Princeton, and my best advice to you is to ask questions. The students giving tours over the summer are real students, so although class is not going on, you’ll still get a chance to talk with a tour guide. Nothing is worse than giving a tour where the participants don’t ask questions. Even if the guide doesn’t know the answer to your specific question about Princeton karate or swing dancing, they’ll be happy to try or redirect you. Now this doesn’t mean you have to deluge them with questions about things you don’t care about, or have to come up with a list of “tricky” questions (parents looooove those). Just ask about things you are interested in. There is so much to talk about in an hour-long tour that if you wait for your tour guide to anticipate the answer to your question, you’ll probably be disappointed.

Also, I recommend sticking around after the tour and going in academic buildings if they’re open, and checking out Frist (the campus center). There’s usually a calendar of events out front, so if you’re lucky you might catch something! I’m not sure what it’s like in the summer. But feel free to check out the 3 levels of Frist…it’s the student center and where most students spend a considerable amount of time. But it’s not all that pretty, so imagine it bursting with energetic students :-)