<p>If you are visiting schools in the DC area, be sure to read the booklet online about the excessive crime at American University.
It is their publication about their school. I have never seen such a huge set of rules warning of dangers at any school.</p>
<p>Even though they claim to be a dry school, the booklet - about 50 pages proves otherwise.</p>
<p>dmd77, I stand corrected re: the bathroom situation. It looks like a single stall co-ed restroom has recently opened at the Harvard Square Station … fare required!</p>
<p>I’m appalled that Cambridge in all its liberal glory doesn’t give the homeless better access to bathroom facilities, but I guess that’d be another thread!</p>
<p>[No</a> Toilets in Harvard Square: Major Tourist Attraction Lacks Public Toilets](<a href=“http://massachusetts-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/no_toilets_in_harvard_square]No”>http://massachusetts-travel.suite101.com/article.cfm/no_toilets_in_harvard_square)</p>
<p>While we’re on the subject of Harvard Square, this happened several years ago. Took my S, who was in high school at the time, to an open house for the Harvard Summer School program. All very nice, until the presentation. The speaker said “There are two reasons to send your student to this program. First, they’ll learn a lot and second…well, it is Harvard.”</p>
<p>Turned us both off.</p>
<p>Pmrlcomm - The admissions officer who led the info session at Carnegie Mellon when we were there actually READ the powerpoint presentation to us! It seemed to us that a group of prospective applicants should have been presumed to be literate.</p>
<p>We had the “look-at-all-the-famous-people-who-went-here” experience at USC; the other theme there was how to become a seat-filler at the academy awards.</p>
<p>Schmoomcgoo…DD & I had slightly different tour guide at USC. I kid you not, we spent 15 minutes in front of the Trojan horse while she told every possible anecdote About The Horse! Did not get to see a single classroom, only vague references to some buildings. But the real turn off for my healthy leaning DD was guide’s proud proclamation that a certain fast food burger chain on campus was the top grossing location in the nation! Ewww!</p>
<p>Admissions officers need to read this thread. It seems like 75% of the turn-offs are due to tour guides making basic, common-sense mistakes. Perhaps if tour guides received more training and were paid for their efforts, colleges would be able to get students who were interested in presenting their college in the best (but also honest) light.</p>
<p>Turn-off for S - tour guides at Providence wear gold sport jackets. Reminded me of Century 21 or the old ABC Sports jackets. S just thought it was dorky.</p>
<p>I remember those ABC sports donned by Jim McKay and company!</p>
<p>On a thread in the parents forum I was complaining about a recent tour only to discover these kids aren’t paid. I assumed they were all on work-study.</p>
<p>A turn off for all of us at JHU was the admissions officers making the presentation – majority of their time was spent trying to promote certain majors (i.e. English, Sociology) with little to no information on the sciences other than what two professors presented about Chemistry and Computer Science. Two lengthy hours of admissions folks reading powerpoint slides to us. A more balanced presentation would have been great. We skipped the tour - which appeared to be groups of 50+ being led by headset wearing student guides. Oh, and if you’re going to have bottled water- it’s generally polite to have a sufficient quantity for all those who registered, not just the first 100 to get there. </p>
<p>Daughter was ready to apply until that marathon.</p>
<p>^^^ At least some of you got bottled water. I was on a tour last week at a very hilly campus on a 100-degree day, and we weren’t offered a thing. Thankfully, S and I brought our own!</p>
<p>We made the mistake of visiting Stanford and UC Berkeley on the same day. My s fell in love with Stanford and everything about it. When we arrived in Berkeley (on the BART)the homeless people layed out on the sidewalk and the smell of urine was a little overwhelming. The protesters in the trees (this was Feb 08 and they are still there), was a little different but not offensive. My s was less than impressed with the admissions office. He asked if an official transcript would be required for the application process and told “nah, just fill it in the best you can and we will varify later”. The people burning incense while playing their guitars in their tie dyed attire sitting on the steps throughout the campus was amusing. My s just looked at me and said, “I don’t know how anybody could focus and really get an education here Mom”. Needless to say, Stanford is still on the list, Berkeley is off.</p>
<p>These stories are surprising (& hysterical!). But, kind of unfortunate that minor things can turn kids completely off (I know that’s true of mine – who can be dissuaded by doing too much (i.e. more than one school) in one day).</p>
<p>We often toured at two campuses in one day. The funny thing is that S ended up attending the school he had never stepped foot on–our friend allowed us to drive around the campus but because she thinks the neighborhood is “dangerous,” wouldn’t stop the car or allow us to get out. It is USC & he’s been very happy there & has not reported any fears for his personal safety. His sister will be joining him there as a transfer student in the spring!
They both toured many campuses; S was pretty sure he could be happy at many different places (we were pretty sure too). We are glad that he has been doing very well & happy at the school he’s attending. It would have been nice if he at least toured & seriously considered the AZ schools that offered him a full ride +, but are satisfied that things are working out well.</p>
<p>I was pretty unhappy with USF because the tour guide said that they basically have no “campus life,” other than what the individual students choose to create (which the U will support). The tour guide was also very soft-spoken & only spoke to the front of the group. The tour guides at Stanford & Santa Clara were good at walking backward & projecting so we could all hear. The UC Colorado Springs guide was also good. Davis & Berkely were so sprawling that S & I found it pretty daunting. Stanford was also rather sprawling.</p>
<p>As I type this I’m at a hotel - half way through D2’s east coast tour. We’ve seen Columbia and Harvard and have Dartmought and MIT still to go. </p>
<p>Both Columbia and Harvard put on good info sessions and tours with polished and knowledgeable tour guides. One difference and slightly off-putting was that Columbia comes across as rather “old school” on a number of points. They are hard-line ED - no SCEA or EA. Also, they are very devoted to their Core curriculum of Dead White Guy philosophers and authors. Not that I personally disagree with the notion of the Core, but it just made them seem sort of old fashioned and inflexible.</p>
<p>I was already pretty familiar with Harvard, but this is D2’s tour so she gets to pick which schools to visit. The tour was much the same as it was with D1 five years ago except there was no mention of the little historical vignettes this time. It was all about the here and now. To her credit the tour guide warned us NOT to touch John Harvard’s foot for good luck instead of trying to sucker us into it as they usually do. But she blamed its unsanitary reputation on mischievous Yalies rather than drunken Harvard kids - which is far more likely the case.</p>
<p>Visiting a state u and the tour guide kept focusing on the “value”, as in cheaper classes, cheaper ways to get books, etc. We felt like he would getting his education at Kmart.
Another school tour was going great, and we’d even met with the dept chair. Then the group toured the dorms. It was in the summer so the hall was virtually empty yet smelled like a dirty bathroom. Crossed that one off. They need to invest in some Glade plug ins.</p>