<p>Probably the best tour I’ve had was at Elon</p>
<p>We’ve probably done 30 tours in the last two years and there weren’t any free T-shirts!
The best tours had enthusiastic tour guides, a path that included the insides of some key buildings (bonus- looking at a dorm room), and enough time to answer questions along the way.
Our very favorite tour/info session combo was at Amherst, where both the current Amherst senior at the information session and the student tour guide did a great job of telling stories about their experiences.</p>
<p>Went on 5 tours, Yale’s was probably the best</p>
<p>Best:
Hamilton, Oberlin, WUSTL, Case</p>
<p>Worst:
Colgate, Vassar</p>
<p>My best tours were at Williams and Bowdoin. The Mount Holyoke tour was terrible, though the fact that the moment I stepped on campus, I hated it, probably affected my perception of the tour. Though I hated Dartmouth, I adored our tour guide, who was adorable. She kept repeating, “actually” and had this wide eyed amazement at everything.</p>
<p>Our Yale tour was strange.<br>
It started raining and the tour guide told the group to go under an overhang, while she stood in the rain with no umbrella and just kept talking.
Later, the tour went past a large secret society building, so someone asked about it. She claimed to not know anything about it, not even which group’s building it was.</p>
<p>I thought U Richmond’s tour was well organized. They gave out bottles of water, which was nice, and the campus was gorgeous. At Washington and Lee we had a very personal tour which included talking to a very impressive professor who stressed how much individual attention students got. It was almost like a history lesson because you got to see Robert E. Lee’s burial spot (and even more importantly, his horse’s!). I really liked our Haverford tour guide, I thought she was very enthusiastic and bubbly–an inner-city Las Vegas girl whose life was obviously transformed in a wonderful way by the experience of being at Haverford. However, the child hated Haverford for some mysterious reason. Franklin and Marshall was really nice, too. They gave out bookbags and pens, I think, and the campus was really nice. </p>
<p>Brown–yuck! Not only did the campus look like a construction site, with lawn mowers and heavy machinery making it impossible to understand anything the guide was saying, but the presentation was really pretentious.</p>
<p>Best: Colgate. They gave out ice cream. We always thought our S loved that. (Besides being informative.)</p>
<p>I have been on 10 tours:
Best: George Washington (they gave out ice cream and I got to walk around D.C.)
Penn (I had a competent tour guide)
Penn State (free meal)</p>
<p>Worst:
UConn (2 hours of walking through hills, tour guide that was an idiot, and parking that cost $6.00)
Georgetown (bad tour guide who was mean)
Coast Guard Academy (the entire campus is hills which was not nice)</p>
<p>so much depends
upon</p>
<p>a great tour
guide</p>
<p>gifted with warm
kindness</p>
<p>beside the free
ice cream</p>
<p>Class of 2008: Best: Wash U
Worst:UMaryland (just a really bad day all around)</p>
<p>Class of 2011: Best: Tie: Elon University and Ithaca College
Worst: also a tie: American University and Binghamton University</p>
<p>Best: WashU, Rice and, surprisingly, Florida
Worst: SMU (really came across as snobbish unengaged campus)</p>
<p>Several years ago my high school took us on a bus to visit several colleges, one of which was Guilford College. As our bus pulled up we were shocked to see the dean of the school waiting for us; he mentioned that he would be giving us the tour. As he showed us around campus he greeted a lot of students by their first name and seemed to have a great relationship with everyone. It was really quite impressive.</p>
<p>We had a really nice tour at W&M, I would have gone there in a minute. D, however thought it was too long and didn’t even apply there. Cornell also gave a very nice tour, with lots of info about the buildings, and we saw Bill Nye, the Science Guy when we were there the first time!</p>
<p>Best: Marquette. Took daughter there because we were actually going to visit Northwestern. She didn’t even want to consider Marquette because she thinks she wants a college with more “prestige”. They were so welcoming! Great info session. As a parent, I was shocked when they brought in a personal tour guide for each student in the info session (there were about 20!). Also, daughter loved the free t-shirt.</p>
<p>Also good: Notre Dame. Of course this is daughter’s top choice, so her opinion was biased. Sort of a generic info session, but very personal reception. Passes to eat in south dining hall were a nice touch. Daughter has stats to get in and it is her dream school - but you never know. If she doesn’t get in - she said she would love Marquette. I know, urban vs. in the middle of no-where. Go figure.</p>
<p>Worst: Northwestern. VERY impersonal. Admission office was chaotic, but there were only about 12 students checking in for the session. They had no record of our registration to visit even though we received a confirmation from them. Possibly worst info session ever. Used a powerpoint that a little kid could develop. A dry, unenthusiastic admission counselor. Tour around campus was o.k. but it seemed to be very random. Didn’t give a good feel for the campus as a whole. Daughter did like the tour guide and the location near Chicago, and still might apply. But it went from a “perfect option for me” to a “I’m not sure I even want to bother”. </p>
<p>In summary: Marquette and Notre Dame seemed priviledged to have us there, and really wanted us to “pick them”. Northwestern was condesending and arrogant, sort of a “you should hope your good enough and we pick you” vibe.</p>
<p>With my two oldest I’ve been to about 30 schools and through an open admissions office at about 20 schools. Free t-shirts at 2 schools so far … University of Rochester and Western New England College … this seems like a really good marketing move to me. Best and worst tours seem to be a VERY personal thing … although I must admit as a parent making it easy to find the admissions office and to park are moving up on my list.</p>
<p>I agree, it is VERY personal, and good directions and parking are a must! Marquette did give us a parking voucher too! Really impressed husband! </p>
<p>Depending on the student, application process can also affect a perception of a school. Daughter was “sold” on UofM Twin Cities based on visit/tour until she looked at the application. It’s all on-line, about 3 pages, no essay, could be done in 10 minutes. She realized it’s all about the numbers to them - and she would be just that - a number from the day she enrolled to the day should would graduate. Might be perfect for some, but not for her.</p>
<p>Best experience was at Union College. Seriously, the tour was amazing and the information session was HILARIOUS. “Best thing about our college, free toilet paper!”</p>
<p>The people at Hampshire College were great too and really friendly, just wasn’t the right fit for me too</p>
<p>Forgot to mention my tour of UNC when I was in high school, which was very impressive. UNC sent a van to my home (about 2 hours away) and picked up me as well as several other prospective students from my area. They took us to campus, let us speak individually with the student body president, had representatives from a lot of on-campus organizations on hand specifically for us (and others from around the state who had also been picked up), took us to the threatre and had the staff put on an improv show for us, and gave us a great tour of the campus. It definitely showed that even a big school can be very interested in its prospective students.</p>
<p>William & Mary was our best tour, The tour guide was wonderful and many of the students walking by called out to us and said “you should come here, it’s great”. Columbia was great too. Most tours were forgettable, only a few were truly awful. S is going to W&M this fall.</p>