<p>Yeah, next to those Scripps’ fountains, courtyards and gardens, even CMC’s and Pomona’s campuses look plain and boring.</p>
<p>College tour #1: to get there, we had to drive through some very uninspiring neighborhoods where a 7-11 was probably the biggest store. D did not like the campus tour either, and the football players’ room that was shown to us had way too many protein supplement jars on the windowsill.</p>
<p>College tour #2: to get there, we drove through a place called Dundee (you can guess where it is :)). Not very inspiring either, but when we got closer to the campus, the area was much better, the campus was green, and the tour was nice.</p>
<p>College #3 sleepover: D was rooming with a couple of airhead girls, and I was afraid it would totally turn her off, but she reasoned that if not everyone was super brainy, she could have a better shot at better grades. There were plenty of other kids on that campus that D found interesting and intellectual.</p>
<p>D’s tourguide at MA women’s college HAD to include her room which sported several alternative posters and signs. D took it as a “you’re not welcome” even though she really was interested in the college. </p>
<p>Ivy tour guide that reponded to the study abroad question with “You’re at ____. Why would you want to anywhere else?”</p>
<p>When d and I went to visit Northwestern we got turned around and my daughter approached a well dressed coed to ask directions and she put her head down and ignored her. It totally was weird we thought. Also d was interested in the performing arts which NW really touts and when we got to the tour a freshman led it who knew nothing about the department. D was so turned off she right then and there asked to leave. We then stopped at Grinnell and d just said “i’d die in this town”. I told her that the school was fantastic in areas she was interested in but she refused to go into any buildings. Our midwest junket was a bust- maybe in retrospect because she grew up in the midwest she just wanted to be somewhere else. After that a family friend accompanied d to the school she now attends because she had gone there and that was the end of college tours.</p>
<p>We visited Stonehill College in Mass. and I thought it was wonderful, told my D that I would feel so comfortable leaving her there right then…it just was a beautiful campus, felt safe, etc. SHe got in the car and said “ughhh, I could never go here.” When I asked her why she said that “it feels just like my high school…everyone looks the same and are way too preppy.” Needless to say she ended up at a very artsy school in Boston where she is very happy.</p>
<p>Interesting experiences…we’re doing the tour thing now. When son & I visited WPI, we had a 3 p.m. tour appt (had driven 5 hrs that day after visiting another school). The receptionist was effecient (more dismissive than friendly). She told us we absolutely couldn’t catch the tail end of an info session (started at 2:30) that we hadn’t been able to make. Okay, I can see that.</p>
<p>Son & I sat in admissions lobby for 20 minutes. No one said ‘hi’ to him or even acknowledged his presence. Tour guides milled around chatting w/each other in a group. Finally someone said, “I guess no one else is coming, we can go now.”</p>
<p>This is irrational because you should not judge a college by the admin receptionist and the tour guides socializing w/each other. Still…</p>
<p>He didn’t like the school super much in comparison w/other similar ones, anyway.</p>
<p>“this is irrational because you should not judge a college by the admin receptionist and the tour guides socializing w/each other.”</p>
<p>I disagree, if there is one place you should absolutely expect to find a warm and accommodating welcome it is the admission office and the receptionist is the first point of contact. It is true that you only get one chance to make a good first impression and you would think that from a marketing perspective school admissions would put a strong focus on this. This also applies to properly choosing and training tour guides who can appropriately reflect the positive aspects of the school and be welcoming and well informed. Even if a guide doesn’t know specifics they should be able to direct you in getting the info needed.</p>
<p>Well someone could have been hired twenty years ago and been all perky but has off days when she can’t summon it anymore. I don’t think the person sitting at the reception desk is necessarily reflection of the school.</p>
<p>A better test is to hang around one department a kid is interested in and meet that secretary and a prof or two. That’s the atmosphere that’s going to matter most.</p>
<p>I irrationally liked almost every school we visited! But I’m in love with the idea of college (would go back in an instant), so I’m an easy sell.</p>
<p>The one thing that always made me giggle, though, was when the tour guide would say something like, “This is the tallest clock tower in the county,” when we were in, say, an area where farm fields predominated. I was waiting for, “This is the oldest pebble on campus” or something equally silly.</p>
<p>I’m the same way and I think mythmom is too. I loved being in college and I loved visiting campuses with my son. We saw 20 and each one had something beautiful about it.</p>
<p>I had a business meeting near Stanford, and dropped my D off to walk around the campus until I could come back and pick her up. WHen she got in the car, she told me she was turned off because “everyone was walking alone, all over the campus, and VERY serious. It seems like nobody has any friends”. I decided to drive around on our way out just to see if she was right. </p>
<p>When we visited our umpteenth college in February, a college where she had been admitted and really liked, I said to my daughter, these college visits have really been fun, haven’t they, and she said “We’re done?” She enjoyed the visits too. Maybe she’ll have to come along when her younger brother does his visits.</p>
<p>Gee, thanks. Yes, I really do love passing on knowledge, critical thinking skills and some kind of empathy/sympathy. I find it a great privilege.</p>
<p>Regarding the comment about supposed Disneyland atmosphere at Stanford, no litter, etc, my son says he will prefer a campus with no litter to one where he has to step over used condoms. And, the Stanford Country Club that no one can afford – it’s affordable now! My son is a long distance runner and attended a running camp there for a week one summer. For running he says it is his idea of heaven, especially after living through many a frozen Chicago area winter.</p>
<p>I have no complaints about any of our numerous visits loved many things about each place. But both of my kids were (irrationally, I thought) overwhelmed by the gothic architecture at U of Chicago. My H and I love the gargoyles, tall spires, gorgeous windows and huge doors, but my kids felt dwarfed and intimidated by them. Rockefeller Chapel is more like a cathedral with stained glass windows and a huge carillon. H and I in ecstacy; kids rolling eyes.</p>