UCLA tour led by a gung ho arts major white girl from SF area — she put all her energy and voice — and a tour guide at Berkeley, an Asian American kid who was through, detailed and nice and encouraged everyone to apply. I was surprised to learn that he got Regents scholarship even with forgettable GPA and test scores. He said he got it partly because his family was not well off. Ironically, going to Stanford where our tour guide was forgettable; he just kept on saying how he met Obama at a private function and took tips at the end. This guy made such a poor impression that my son said he will volunteer as a tour guide whe he’s at Stanford.
He took tips? Seriously? That should have been reported.
We had several great tours at Auburn (general student tour as well as specialized in major tour). They did such a good job of promoting the school, providing information, and also showing a personal side. If we were choosing tours based soley on the tours and guides Auburn would have won hands down.
Boston University
I know this is one that gets slammed quite a bit on CC, what with the headsets to amplify the speaker’s voice and the commotion of Mass Ave.
But this young woman was smart, self-deprecating and as quick to point out BU’s idiosyncrasies as she was its strengths. The omnipresence of Starbucks was a running gag as well. She clearly loved BU – big, loud and quirky as it is.
Our tour guide at Case Western took us from “Well, I guess we ought to check it out,” to “Wow, this place is amazing!” He loved the school and communicated why, very thoroughly. Another where the love really showed was Vassar.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
There is no other side of the coin on this thread. The OP is asking for positives, so let’s keep to that spirit. There is an existing thread to highlight the disappointments. Several posts edited/deleted.
Mount Holyoke. An A+ for a smart, friendly, poised, articulate young woman who was head and shoulders above any other tour guide we’ve encountered in 30+ tours over the years. She was one important reason why DD went from looking at women’s colleges as “meh” and put them on the list as serious contenders (even though our tour guide at Smith was sub-par, but that’s another story). The following year when DD did an accepted student visit she had a great time, was impressed by the classes, stayed there overnight and met this guide again, got to spend some time with her and when she got home was definite about attending.
Slightly off-topic because I didn’t meet this guide myself, but here’s a sad story about the 2003 death of a W&M tour guide who, according to many who went on his tours, was a real stand-out.
“Alex got more fan mail as a tour guide than anyone else,” Karen Cottrell, dean of admissions, said yesterday. “People would enroll here and walk up to Alex after they arrived on campus to tell him he was the reason they came to William and Mary.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2003/04/24/death-of-spirited-student-shocks-william-and-mary-campus/3b8ef73a-87e2-47fe-96fd-6229e4b1915e/?utm_term=.5365f7ce0373
“with the headsets to amplify the speaker’s voice”
I think headsets can be very effective and useful, especially when the tours are larger groups. We only encountered one at WUSTL, probably because our family’s visits focused on mainly smaller schools, but it worked well. Sometimes it is so hard to hear the tour guide so everyone is jostling to be near the front or you get stuck next to folks carrying on their own conversations.
Northwestern - you can pick your tour guide there, and my daughter, who was undecided at the time, chose the engineer. He was amazing - so smart, funny, quirky and engaging. He spoke to us for over 90 minutes about his experiences as an engineer and all of the opportunities he had at the school. He was the reason my daughter chose engineering, and Northwestern shot to the top of the list.
The other great one we had was the Lehigh engineering tour. It was led by three guys who were all friends, and they put on a great tour. They were funny, down-to-earth and had so many different interests. At the end, we all sat in a classroom together so that they could answer all of our questions, and tell us about themselves- what other schools they applied to, why they chose Lehigh, what they do for fun, etc. The Lehigh regular tour was pretty good too, but not as interesting as the engineering one. I’m headed back there with my son later this month, and I hope he has as good as an experience there as my daughter did.
I’ll echo @stardustmom on Lehigh - after the tour and session it became #1 on my D’s list.
The other one that had the best tour guide for us was Princeton. However - while the information in the info session was great, the speaker had the horrible habit of using “like” every few words. I despise that so much I made the equivalent of a “swear jar” in my house for when my kids do it. That and “um” to begin every sentence are my big pet peeves. If a speaker does either of those - or god forbid, both - I am turned off and tuned out.
The guide at Beloit was the best we saw. It was a great tour since it was 1 on 1 and she really made sure to make sure to show my daughter places that matched her interest. She got a bonus point when she showed us her own messy room instead of some Bed, Bath and Beyond fake mockup of a room.
At W&M, our tour guide was the kid who started their popular Cheese Club. It was great. He explained how there are so many clubs and interests on campus, but if you don’t find one, start one. Then he was quite comical in telling us how he loves cheese, started a club and they have over 100 kids in it who pay a small fee to gather , eat cheese and commiserate. Also was a great look in to the quirkiness of the student body as he seemed to know everyone on campus.
Definitely UGA. The guide was not only friendly and positive, but rather than walking backwards (like so many schools make their guides do) and making all of us worry that she might trip over something, she had a clever idea to grab a prospective student to walk with to the next stop and get to know him/her individually. Next, another student… Brilliant!
Middlebury College parents who were also staying at the Middlebury Inn, and a Northwestern University administrator in SESP.
We had a great tour guide at Mt Holyoke and a great tour guide at Occidental. Although my D did not end up applying to Occidental she said after the tour she would like to go to a school with a students like that. Both tour guides did a great job of talking about their schools and telling personal stories( that really were endearing) and tying it all together.
Swarthmore
Seems like a lot of people had great tour guides at Lehigh. We did too. A very mature female engineering student.
We had another very impressive female engineering student at Lafayette.
We also had a terrific tour guide at Lehigh, so enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and seemed very sincere. Helped to make up for the dreary dorm room! All of the other facilities were great,.
Great team of 2 tour guides at Case Western. Seemed to love their school.
Wooster had a great one on one tour. Also a student who loves her school.
Fordham had a terrific tour guide also. A theater minor, not a surprise he was great.
The whole admissions staff at Lehigh was outstanding on my visit, including the student guide. They were nice and candid with a group of counselors, too. (Like, X GPA and Y score will not get you merit at Lehigh, and we don’t match offers. THANK YOU to schools being transparent about things like that.)
So glad to hear Lehigh mentioned so much. We still talk about how great their admissions staff and tour guides were. It was a big reason D picked the school. It was the first visit on a spring break touring week and stood out.
I’ve said this before but Ohio State was also outstanding. They have an amazing admission philosophy. Every part of the admission department was top notch.