My daughter’s school would pay (in things like movie gift cards) students who volunteered to have their dorm room shown on special tour dates (admitted student days, etc.) Since this was only a one time thing (they gave them a window of time on that day that their room would be shown) I think the students didn’t mind doing it (especially since they were “paid”).
None of the UC tours we took went inside any of these buildings, except for UCSD which I think did go through the outer lobby of the library. The Davis tour spent an absurd amount of time inside the phys ed center, while completely ignoring academics. Contrast this to Cal Poly SLO where we were taken into multiple class and lab buildings and several floors of the library. They also offered a separate dorm tour.
I didn’t mind not going in to the classroom and lab buildings but I did want guides to at least point them out and talk about them.
The UCSB guide spent half the tour talking about waffles and her only mention of a classroom building was to point out how dreary the math building was and how glad she was not to be a math major. (Yeah, my son plans to major in math…not a good sell.)
@twoinanddone one of the sellling points for D at her college was the private study rooms in the library. She was very anxious about not being able to study in her dorm room and loved the idea that she would have private space to do her studying if/when necessary. They also have private music rooms that are obv sound-proof. I think distance between the library, dining hall and dorm rooms might make a difference on whether you use the library or not. When I was in college the library was the equivalent of three blocks away, there was no way I was leaving my room during a NE winter night to go there.
We only went on one tour that didn’t visit a residence hall. All 11 others did and all went into classrooms and the library. The one who didn’t show the dorm left a very negative impression on my D.
In my experience, most college buildings other than dorms are unlocked and anybody can enter during normal school hours, so you could do a little extra touring of your own. We did that at at least one school. You can quietly walk down hallways, overhear classes going on, etc.
I am surprised at all the interest in libraries as I think they are a dying beast. However, my D’s roommate does like to go to the library for a quiet place to study (even though my D doesn’t make a lot of noise), so the study facilities could be relevant. My D is the opposite. Being easily distracted, she would lose a lot of time getting settled someplace other than her own desk.
We did see dorm rooms on most of our college tours. Usually it was explained that a student had willingly allowed their room to be shown on tour. And this did NOT mean it was picture postcard perfect!
Have to stand up for libraries. They are important as places containing resources. For my daughter they had computers with special software required for assignments which she did not have on her own computer (expensive - very specialized software). Other resources - librarians - who know how to help you do research, technology - special equipment (3 d printers, etc.), areas to meet with several people which allowed collaboration (displays where all the computer would show up on), quiet places to study, and books and movie DVDs to borrow for enjoyment. And many are open 24 hours 7 days so you can do this whenever - without disturbing your roommates.
Personally, I LOVE libraries, but I stand by my comments.
My D is an art/design major in an non-art school. The art studios and their access, places to store large projects, availability of materials, and the logistics of getting work back and forth were paramount. The actual dorm room wasn’t important to her (1 school included it on a general tour, for others you could make special arrangements which she didn’t care about) and we never set foot in a library. I’m pretty sure she still hasn’t been in the library!
No one is stopping you from going into any of the buildings (except maybe the dorms) on your own time. Its not like they’re only accessible from some secret portal 8-|
Not true - in many schools the library also has security where you need to be signed in as a guest (similar to dorms) and that may also be true of other buildings on campus.
^^^^ I think it depends on the college.
I asked via email, in advance about a building that was not on a recent tour and got this response (direct quote):
“The building is open and they are welcome to go in and take a look while they are here tomorrow. We like having folks peek into any area they have a special interest in.”
We did, the building was active and the highlight of the visit. This was a fairly selective (33%-ish) LAC.
One of the worst tours we went on was Northwestern, a few years ago. D was there for vocal performance audition and we came a day early for campus tour. Didn’t see any dorms, didn’t get to go into the library, they didn’t even go into the student center.
We did see dorm on accepted students day at Brandeis with older d, pre-designed dorm room at University of Rochester and were given coupon for lunch in dining room on accepted students day, dorm tour at Oberlin as part of campus tour but it was one of the worst dorms. Sort of reminded me of dorms from the 1970’s or a prison actually.
I was once on a business trip and took myself to tour Eastman School of Music. I asked a student if she could show me her dorm room which back in the day seemed perfectly innocent and fine, not sure such a good idea now but she was agreeable and dorm room was fine. It was a self-contained building with dining hall and student center or commons area in one.