Question About Campus Tours

Parent Cafe
1

Over the past year, my son and I visited more than a dozen schools and completed the tours. Some of the best were really good - Notre Dame, Chicago, Princeton and Arizona State were among the best.

I thought less of schools that didn’t have a good tour. It certainly did influence my son’s view of each school. What did you think made the best tour? These are among the qualities that made the best tours. What do you think?

a) enthusiastic, honest and knowledgeable tour guide
b) tour guide that walked backwards ( my preference)
c) tour guide that shared their personal story
d) convenient online registration process
e) convenient parking / information

2

Pretty much the heat determined if I liked the school. Schools that can control the weather win for me.

3

I think that the tour guide did make a big difference. A tour guide who genuinely loves their school can be quite encouraging.

I think that the “small tour with a student” went over better than the “large tour group with a professional tour guide”.

At a few universities after our tour we got to have conversations with professors, and in a couple of cases my daughter sat in on a class (in an area where my daughter is very strong, so that she could keep up with the class). These were both very valuable also. Her top 3 choices all fell into one or both of these groups.

My youngest only applied to small universities in Canada, so the application process was very straightforward. However, the difficulty in applying to some US schools and the lack of visibility into what it takes to get in and what the school will actually cost was probably a factor in this. Also, the flood of ads that we got from various universities I think was a negative (it made some of the universities look desperate, or almost like they might be scams).

Older daughter was put off significantly at one large US school that said pretty much “if you don’t have a B average then you still have a chance”, probably not what a student with all A’s wants to hear when looking for a “good match”.

4

I was turned off by Us that only gave merit to kids in top 10% of their graduating class. Our kids would never qualify and full pay was too high, so we didn’t apply.

If the guide didn’t speak loudly enough so the group could easily hear, it was a turnoff. If the U had no formal activities in freshman year for the students to get to know one another and mingle, that was a big negative in my mind.

The U that S ultimately chose to attend was one none of us set foot on campus until we all flew up to move him in. We did drive around the campus but our LA friend who lived 30 minutes from campus insisted it was too dangerous to get out of the car and go onto campus.

We did tour about a dozen other campuses.

5

“b) tour guide that walked backwards ( my preference)”

I actually prefer tours that just walk then stop and talk (Wesleyan for example) than trying to talk while walking.

I like schools that offered personal tours - one tour guide per family.

For larger schools with large tour groups, I prefer guides that use an amplifier headset (WUSTL) to make it easier to hear.

Disliked tours that never entered buildings.

Admissions offices that offered water bottles/refreshments, umbrellas if needed, convenient parking, and meal passes.

6

UPitt was the only tour we went on that gave the prospective students a t-shirt. My son didn’t enroll there but still wears that t-shirt :). Also dislike tours that never entered buildings. In my opinion the ability to schedule a tour online is expected nowadays. All of the schools my son or daughter toured offered that capability. No strong opinions on talking while walking backward vs. walking and then stopping to talk. In my experience every single tour guide offered the “why I chose this school” speech so that was not a differentiator.

7

We had a tour at Brown that met every one of @1966Parent 's criteria. The tour guide was an effusive, jocky girl-next-door type whose backward-walking technique was impeccable, in flip-flops no less. She communicated real enthusiasm for the college, she shared interesting personal experiences – while downplaying the importance of fraternities and sororities to social life at the university, she talked about her decision to join a fraternity (not a sorority) whose local chapter had decided to accept women – the group was not too big at all.

She completely turned my daughter off on that college. The frat membership certainly didn’t help. But the real problem came when someone asked a question about one of the many contemporary sculptures scattered around the campus. “I don’t know. I never pay any attention to the sculptures. They’re just kind of there.” End of interest in Brown. Even though she knew perfectly well that the tour guide was just one student, and hardly representative of all students in every respect, my daughter figured that a university where a tour guide thought it was OK to give that answer was not a university she wanted to attend.

That’s the problem with touring. You get a bunch of highly vivid but essentially random information, from which the human mind creates inappropriate generalizations. It’s hard to decide to go someplace without looking at it first, and super-hard to choose a place you have never seen over one you have seen and liked. But college tours are a major source of misinformation.

8

Overall vibe was big for me. Difficult to put a finger on any one thing, or multiple things, that sealed the deal. I essentially started “recording” (in my brain) the entire tour experience starting with the drive to the campus using their provided directions. I judged everything very carefully… general organization of the tour, quality of the buildings, upkeep/cleanliness, labs/classrooms available, friendliness of faculty/staff/students, dorm rooms, local surroundings, on-campus eating options, drive to/from local town (is it sketchy? long?).

9

The most influential factor for me was tour group size. Any amount up to about 20/guide was ok with me. We went on a Wesleyan tour on one particularly crowded day and there had to be more than 50 people in our group. Couldn’t hear a word, couldn’t ask questions.

FWIW, I hate the last two minutes of the tour when the guide tells the group why they chose that school. I have yet to hear anything other than a standard, uninspiring response.

10

Not a fan of walking backward–I spend the whole time wanting to tell them to watch where they are going and get me someplace inside, in the shade or worth seeing. I hate walking slow.

Best tour had good info session prior. The many guides stood across a stage announced their major (pretty much across the board), a bit about themselves then allowed some flexibility to pick your group. Amazingly, the tour groups ended up fairly even. Nice to have a tour guide that know the major (and a tour group asking questions you also wanted to ask).

11

I guess we were just lucky, because every tour we took was given by an enthusiastic, knowledgeable student. Our daughters were listening for information that would help them distinguish the school from others visited. Never judged them on availability of parking or registration process.

No schools were visited that weren’t already heavily researched by child and high on the acceptable list. The visit was more about getting a feel for the place and observing current students.

Tour guides who walk backwards seem to be adept at doing so, but I always felt anxious watching them.

12

when you show me a dorm and I must assume it is the nicest one on campus if the tour takes you to it … but it looks like a prison…and it has no air conditioning… with bathrooms that have not been renovated since richard nixon was president …I say good bye in my mind.
but a funny well spoken tour guide does help sell the school quite a bit.

13

We had a tour guide who walked backwards but went for long periods without speaking. At all. Just staring at us.

It was so awkward.

14

lol

15

When we went on a tour at NYU, they showed me a dorm just like a prison. But my D applied anyway, she ended up not going.

16

We saw a dorm on an admitted students day tour and I just wanted to rearrange all the furniture. It was a forced triple with these tall wardrobes and desk/hutches back-to-back in the middle of the floor. I was glad my claustrophobic DH wasn’t there. I just kept thinking why would you do that and leave barely any room to walk.

17

^ Likely because they want some privacy and a bit of a barrier. They probably crave that more than a little extra space in a forced triple.

18

Yes, but then two of them were stuck in a even smaller space on one side of the barrier. Plus it blocked the windows some, making the room more of a dreary cave/prison. But of course, they seem happy enough. Boys!

19

I disliked the tour guides that asked at the end “Now that you’ve been on the tour, how many of you will be applying to (school)?” AWKWARD when DD had pretty much decided this wasn’t for her - but she politely raised her hand anyway.

I disliked the tour guide who, in an attempt at humor, told the group “My name is _____ and my Tinder name is _____”, but we really liked that school anyway. DD forbid me from personally telling him that I understand what happens in college, and I am not a prude, but I didn’t think such a comment was appropriate, as most prospective applicants were there with a parent. An earlier tour guide was terrific there (when we visited with DS).

I enjoyed the humor of a tour guide who said “If you liked the tour, my name again is John, and if you didn’t like it, (as he changed to falsetto) my name was Lisa…”

I think the whole walking backwards thing depends on the campus and weather, as well as the size of the group. A hilly campus with snow/mud, and I want the guide to be safe. On a basically flat campus like Columbia, our tour guide walked backwards except for the stairs, and it was terrific. A hilly Johns Hopkins, our tour guide bumped twice walking backwards, once into a lamp post, and another into a Blue Security light call box (she later confessed she did that on purpose to tell us about this “unique” safety feature of campus).

If there are 20 or fewer people, we can get a different vibe than if there are 100 or more. But it was impossible to know ahead of time how many people would be on a tour.

I disliked the tour guides who didn’t tell the group her major until the closing few minutes - if there are 4-5 groups, announce all of the guides names, years, and majors first, so potential applicants who might have questions will look for a match.

Speaking of honesty, I also liked the tour guide who said - “We are going on the fast-walking tour, so we should be done in about an hour, as I have my favorite class in an hour and 45 minutes, and I still have to get over to the print shop…some high school habits are hard to break”

20

My kid did tours…and all of the things in the OP were important. My kid said she kept personal stories to a bare minimum…and only mentioned herself if it was relevant to a question someone asked…or a place they were stopped.