<p>We went to one school where they split parents and kids into different groups for the tour. At least it was some variety (as we visited ~20 schools!). Because my D is pretty communicative, it worked well for us. We compared notes when we got back together. And I think both groups felt more free to ask what they REALLY wanted to know :)</p>
<p>In general, I do like it when the tour guides introduce themselves and they let you pick. Since my kid had a pretty specific major in mind (and has stuck with it in college), it was defiintely a bonus when she got a tour guide with the same interests. Too bad if the guide with poor presentation skills has a smaller group… then the admissions office ought to help them improve, or replace them anyway. This is a very important part of sales & marketing for the college, so they really need to put their best foot forward. I recall one school where there were 3 guides, and it was obvious in the introductions that they were all awful. Needless to day, D did not apply to that school.</p>
<p>Unless D was trying extra hard to make a good impression with the admissions folks (in which case we scheduled a full day on campus anyway), we skipped the info sessions and used the time for her to attend a class or eat a meal or meet with a coach. I don’t know how to improve the info sessions, though. You get those people in there who did zero research before they came, and use the time asking questions easily found on the web site or in the handout literature. Or they ask something so hair-splitting specific that everyone else dozes off. And the presenter usually just presents info that is available on the web or in the literature.</p>
<p>LOL, that could be a whole other thread - what parents want the other visitors to know. On one tour, we had a prospective student who had an incredibly specific major - the type of major that probably less than a dozen schools in the country have and of course, a major that this particular school didn’t have. The school didn’t even have anything close to his major. What the heck?</p>
<p>On a related subject, is there a thread where we can post our tour reports? Or is it done under specific schools? I know that tokenadult came up with a format to follow.</p>
<p>Reading through this thread, i’m compelled to remind to families- it is your responsibility to bring your own sunglasses (so you can avoid the dreaded glare), your own water bottles (you must have realized it was going to be hot when you left the car), and to leave extra time for all that traffic that held you up.</p>
<p>Regarding the references to an “ugly duckling”, “wallflower”, and an “accent… not too bad”- well wouldn’t this be a good time to demonstrate to your kids some tolerance for the diverse student population they are about to join?</p>
<p>We know you would all love a beautiful, athletically-built, articulate, loudly-projecting guide who is an expert in your child’s major, but realistically, you have a small chance of that. </p>
<p>As a parent of a guide who donated endless unpaid hours to her school tours full of visiting parents, I urge you to model some kindness, tolerance, and appreciation. </p>
<p>P.S. You can set up appointments with profs in individual departments in advance for specific info on kiddy’s major. Or just wander into the building and ask a secretary for assistance.</p>
<p>I am sure everyone appreciate’s the scolding. Thank you.</p>
<p>I agree with extra time, sunglasses, etc. I don’t agree about water. There are water coolers or water bottles. 90% of the many schools we visited did offer their water cooler or a bottle of water to drink after, before, or during a walking tour on a hot day. This is what is known as hospitality. Additionally, many schools offered snacks and some were pretty elaborate. Many offered complete meals, sometimes for the whole family and at no cost! Others provided a voucher for the prospie and parents paid for whatever they purchased (also fine). Then there was one school that made us wait for an hour, and did not offer so much as a drink of water on a hot summer day. Yes, I know to be prepared. I do not need to be told to be prepared. I am stating that it this is RUDE. YMMV.</p>
<p>I’m sorry I offended with my wallflower remark. I simply meant a guide who isn’t surrounded by families. Not a comment on their looks/personalities/whatever.</p>
<p>And the request to move to the shade isn’t about glare; it’s about avoiding heatstroke. Maybe you’ve never toured colleges in Texas in July and August. It’s 95 in the shade. I always bring my own water. Always. Because I like a lot of water. But one tour was no less than two hours in July heat, and no one was offered water until we returned to the office. If a tour is going to take that long, a little common courtesy would go a long way. Everyone but our family dropped out of the optional visit to the wellness center because they were so tired and exhausted, but ds was a potential athlete there and really wanted to see the facility. It was such a long walk there that I wished we’d skipped it, too.</p>
<p>We’ve been on 9 tours so far and the best one was WPI. While the group was large (Easter Saturday), they had 2 tour guides/group. They played tag team - while one spoke and led the group around, the other one was sweep for straglers and handled 1-on-1 questions, so the tour moved quickly. They also showed us a ‘real’ dorm room. They just went into their dorm and looked around for an open door (not easy at 10am on Saturday morning!).</p>
<p>We allowed a half hour for what the admission’s office told us would be a 15 minute car ride. What they neglected to tell us was about all the downtown construction going on. We flew into the area and were driving a rental car (thank goodness we paid extra for the GPS!). How would someone who is unfamiliar with the area have any clue that there could be so much traffic (at 1 PM in the afternoon!!!)</p>
<p>All the visit reports are posted on the CampusVibe page (click above on the left) along with photographs and links to previously applying CC members stats.</p>
<p>Right - it is all about being a good host to one’s guests. If you invite someone to visit you at home and the road leading to your house is closed, I think everyone would warn their guests and give them an alternate route. Where a small school is expecting three visitors that day and the construction crew blocks the road to the admissions office, it would take less than a minute to send an email to the visitors giving them an alternate route. At the campus with the terrible signage and the web site where the links were broken, we left our hotel (that was 7 minutes away) 45 minutes before the appointment and were still late - and that was with two calls to the admissions office asking for help.</p>
<p>As for the “wallflower” tour guides, my point is that standing there “choosing” a guide is awkward for everyone…it wastes time, too. The school should have some method to divide folks up - prospective major, row you sat in, alphabetically, etc. rather than standing around trying to figure out who goes with whom.</p>
<p>I’ve been on a small number of tours thus far. All but one information session were thoroughly non-informative because they assumed that the attendees had done no research – hadn’t read the website or Peterson’s or Princeton Review or equivalent.</p>
<p>One suggestion: Train your information session conductors to defer until the end of the session the highly idiosyncratic questions that parents (could be kids but I didn’t see this) that pertain only to their kid (e.g., “My brilliant child has already taken 7 APs and is interested in a joint major between medieval music and medicine; what is the procedure for applying for that?”). The right response is something like: That’s a fascinating question and its answer won’t be especially relevant to most of the group and I wonder if we could take that up at the end of the session.</p>
<p>Second, screen the tour guides for energy level (you need an energetic person to get through to a group in that kind of setting). However, two of our tour guides were charming, extremely bubbly young women who bounced around a number of highly idiosyncratic topics and it wasn’t clear to me that that helped the folks following the around. In one case, I had to keep redirecting the discussion away from the intrigues of the archaeology department.</p>
<p>Incidentally, the information session at New College of Florida was extremely well done and informative. Given the unusual nature of their grading (no grades; just narratives) and lots of opportunity for independent work, it was great to hear clear explanations and answers to questions.</p>
<p>On a large campus, those planning the tours need to distiguish between what a prospective student needs to know and what an admitted student needs to learn. For example, I can’t tell you how many guides showed us the office where student IDs are made…save that for new student orientation, okay?</p>
<p>Oh, and here’s something to do tonight, after everybody leaves: Sneak around and get rid of every visible silk flower arrangment in your admissions area and student center. Nothing screams “grandma’s house” more than dusty silk flower arrangements in color palettes that were popular in 1981.</p>
fauve, I think you’ve got things turned around. As glido said, these tour-guides are the “salespeople” representing the seller (the college). We are the “buyers.” It is not our job to be tolerant of them, it is their job to anticipate our needs and meet them. That is what successful sellers do.</p>
<p>LOL, I can just picture us all lecturing our sons in advance: “If you have the choice between a guide who you think is hot and one who isn’t, make sure you pick the one who you don’t find attractive.”</p>
<p>I disagree, momof, the top colleges are going to reject up to 94% of your children. The college admissions are actually in the driver’s seat. You are the sellers, selling your wunderkind. Adcoms are the very picky buyers, tossing off even half the valedictorians.</p>
<p>You may feel you are the entitled shoppers now, but once those apps are off and you reconsider the chances of admissions, you’ll realize the colleges are dictating your child’s future. </p>
<p>Once you have a whole handful of top ivy acceptances in hand, then you hold some power. Be assured, then, those Ivy Pre-frosh Weekends are replete with free water, free food, free T-shirts, buttons, parking, everything you could possibly desire. (Except the parade of hot girls so longed-for by geeky teen boys–they’ll have to find the girls sans mommy.)</p>
<p>Northeastmom- really, is defending the poor volunteers such an affront? Many apologies if a bit of compassion for the 19 year olds hurt anyone’s/everyone’s feelings.</p>
<p>Wait, what? When you’re taking the tour, you’re trying to decide whether or not you should apply to the college, right? It’s not like an alumni interview. At the college tours that I’ve been on, you didn’t really get to meet anyone who would be in a position to decide whether or not the student gets in or not. It was more of a, “Show the family around the college, tell them about the college” kind of thing. Are there really campus tours that are actually designed to be used as part of the application process? If so, that can’t be common, can it?</p>
<p>Huh? What volunteers? I am not talking about volunteers, but the admission offices and offering water. That is not for the student who is the tour guide to do, unless instructed to do so.</p>
<p>Wow, just wow!</p>
<p>Let me just add that we never looked at Ivy Schools so nobody was “dictating” anything about our child’s future. Amazing!</p>