<p>Adults love to overcomplicate the process. The info sessions and tours make them feel better but do comparatively little for the student. Last year S2 and I were doing the “grand tour”; at the end of a four day/eight school weekend we had one last stop. </p>
<p>We pulled up to the school and he announced, “Let’s go to the hotel, I’m not going here.” </p>
<p>“But why not?” I asked. </p>
<p>“It’s too small, it’s in the middle of nowhere and I’m never gonna wear Birkie Air Jesus’ (sandals).” </p>
<p>“Huh? Why not do the info session/tour?”</p>
<p>“Let me guess.” he said, “The students are really committed. The professors really care. The food’s great and there are tons of study abroad opportunities.”</p>
<p>For the parents it’s about the facts; for the kids it’s about how it feels.</p>
<p>I basically drove through the schools I visited. I think that the tours aren’t showing you very much about the school anyways, and that it’s the atmosphere that’s much more important. It doesn’t take too long to absorb an atmosphere, IMO.</p>
<p>At least this trip put the family in the locations of these colleges. There are so many good colleges on their list that if one got overlooked because they didn’t spend time on the campus, they have plenty of other good ones from which to choose.</p>
<p>I am going into my sophomore year of high school, and, frankly, I am college obsessed. However, very little kids I know are like this. So if you have your heart set on visiting colleges with your daughters, I would narrow it down a bit. Select a few colleges that seem interesting and are not too far out of the way. This will ensure that the colleges won’t “blur together” in their minds, and they will remember each college individually. Good Luck!</p>
<p>There is something to be said for visiting colleges even if you aren’t particularly interested in them based on your pre-trip research. Sometimes the college turns out to be much more attractive than you expected. And it might expose you to a feature you hadn’t considered. Like visiting Williams would expose you to the concept of some liberal arts colleges being ingrained with the local town, rather than isolated in their own little bubble.</p>
<p>Well, our counselors recommend us to visit only one school per day, and that will give us a better sense and “feeling” of that school. They also advise us to visit the dorms and cafeteria, and talk to some of the students over there so that you can know more about the school. But the common problem is we don’t have enough time and sometimes we are financially limited. So I would say a walk in the campus is enough for your daughters to get the “feeling” . Because that;s what I did!</p>
<p>Yes, Schmaltz, thanks for the report! It was interesting. I admire you for doing it your way despite some folks opining that it was worthless. To each his/her own way.</p>
<p>Don’t remember who posted the comment about tours and info sessions being useless but I partially disagree. I never much found info sessions to be helpful since I’m a decent researcher and read a lot online. Several tours helped me cross colleges off the list. Bucknell and Haverford were two. The visit was the only reason I kept Bryn Mawr on my list. You can get some helpful insight. I didn’t like Haverford because of what the tour guide was saying about the Honor Code. It didn’t make much sense to me. The website didn’t give me the student interpretation. I’m trying to remember exactly why the Bucknell tour turned me off but I remember it was a whole bunch of things and I didn’t even turn in the little card at the end of the tour.</p>
<p>^^its silly to dismiss a school based on what a tour guide, likely a sophomore, said or explained poorly. Your post gave me the picture of someone going from tour to tour, and then crossing colleges off of his/her list afterwards. </p>
<p>You are seeing such a small portion of the school on the tour, it should have very little to do with whether you decide to attend or not. Maybe if you see something absolutely horrendous or really hate the area? Otherwise dont cross schools because of trivial things you see or don’t see on the tour. </p>
<p>It should be about the type of program, the quality of the program, cost, location, proximity to friends/family (if thats what you value)…etc. The website is your tool. Nothing you see on a tour, generally, should really be a deciding factor. Yet I know lots of people who decided against a school because things as trivial as small dorm rooms. </p>
<p>Hard to imagine being so turned off by a tour. So many other factors. Don’t understand why people rely on tours, nitpick their experiences on tours at different colleges, and then imagine that their 1-5 hour tour is reflects upon the whole college experience they will have there to the degree that it becomes the deciding factor.</p>
<p>Here’ a quick synopsis of our recent college visits. We did the info session and tour at each school except the last one. Doing both is very repetitive. First stop from airport: Harvard: The key words used by the tour guide and info session leaders was “opportunity” and “passion”. Boston University: The key words used here by the tour leader were “cool” and “awesome”. (Shouldn’t she have a better vocabulary?). Boston College: The key word here was “buzz”. The guide used it 3 times in every sentence. (Shouldn’t he have a better vocabulary?). Amherst: No key words here… just thoughtful, passionate discussion about the school. Wellesley: The key words here were “resources” and “traditions”. Brown: The key words were “open curriculum” supplemented by an enthusiastic discussion of the school. By the end of the week we were laughing at how often each school’s tour guide used their key words! BC and BU were actually comical and made us question their SAT scores! Loved Brown, Harvard, and Amherst. Only BU and Amherst took us to see a dorm room. Too much construction slated for BC over the next ten years (which is admittedly good for the school, but not great for the students who are there during it). Hope that helps someone! If you want more info on any of them, feel free to message me.</p>
<p>LastOne2012, our repeat words during our NC/VA tour last week were: awesome, unique, study abroad, and research opportunities! I think we heard them at every single school.</p>
<p>Great post LastOne2012; it’s about marketing, isn’t it? My favorite was when the American U rep was on a panel at DS’s school. Their very unfortunate imo buzzword is “wonk”: “We’re all wonks. We’re wonky about everything. We’ll make you into a wonk.” You could see the kids kind of recoiling in horror while simultaneously trying hard not to crack up. Nevertheless, we are pushing this school as a safety for DS; they give good merit aid.</p>
<p>Not to me. These are young, inexperienced not even adults yet. Their focus is different than an adult. Plus they may use some of these shallow reasons to mask other reasons that they can’t put into words - it’s the feeling they get. </p>
<p>We did a tour at a school we knew very well (husband had worked there). We were sure our D would end up there for many reasons. That tour turned all of us off to the school. The tour guide felt the need to express his political opinions and to degrade people who thought differently from him. He was pretentious and obnoxious. Other students we ran into that day gave us the same vibe. None of us were interested at the end of that tour.</p>
<p>It’s human nature (especially if you’re a teen) to allow your reaction to a speaker or tour guide to influence you. In other words, yes it’s stupid to allow little things to bug you, but it’s also nearly impossible NOT to let such things bug you.</p>
<p>There are a couple humorous threads on cc about the silly things that have soured students on schools. While these threads are good for a few laughs, they are also quite sad. If these threads are any indication, there are perhaps thousands of students every year who delete a school from contention (due to a speaker or tour guide) which might have been a really good fit for them.</p>
<p>There are posts of people dismissing schools because of tour guides, administrators, students dressed too trendy vs not dressing stylishly enough, campuses being too urban or too remote, too many trees or not enough trees, too hilly and too flat. There are a couple thousand potential collegiate options in the US alone. I’ve got no qualms at all about potential “buyers” narrowing their choices based on cosmetics or seemingly trivial criteria. After all, for every car buyer that picks the perfectly-sized mileage-appropriate vehicle there are 50 more who pick “the shiny red one with the cool spoiler”. Otherwise you couldn’t explain suburbs full of pick-up trucks and SUVs that only do battle in middle school parking lots.</p>
<p>“Not to me. These are young, inexperienced not even adults yet. Their focus is different than an adult. Plus they may use some of these shallow reasons to mask other reasons that they can’t put into words - it’s the feeling they get.” </p>
<p>I don’t know. I guess I was never the wishy washy type, even though young and inexperienced. </p>
<p>Any “feelings” you get from a 1 day tour are not gonna be indicative of the whole student body, institution,…etc. I don’t care how many students you meet or classes you sit in on. Unless the college you are visiting is ridiculously tiny, you are seeing such a tiny sample in a tiny amount of time. IMHO.</p>