<p>^Agreed. I just don’t think it’s that tough to do it properly, with everyone’s consent and preparation (ie, no sleeping roommates). I know that’s been described on CC, and it’s a dramatic anecdote. We’ve just seen nothing but positive dorm viewings on our tours.</p>
<p>On the flipside of the “talk about honors” piece–my mom went on a tour with my brother to a flagship state u, and one parent on the tour kept going on and on and on and on and on abut how her kid was so fabulously smart and was a “Fullbright scholar” (I think she must have meant “National Merit,” as I don’t think the Fulbright program starts until AFTER college), and how they had to hear about the “honors program,” and see the “honors dorms,” and oh, was the food for “honors kids” better?, and so on throughout the entire tour. It really bugged my mom a ton.</p>
<p>I had to laugh at the story of grad student being a tour guide because before I went on grad school interviews, I told my mom that most grad students would only know their program building and maybe the one across the street. She didn’t believe me… but seven interviews later, it proved almost universally true. ;)</p>
<p>I actually agree with the idea of seeing a dorm room. Certain schools we visited (ex. Trinity and Vanderbilt) showed us a “model” dorm room. Granted, it might not be identical, but it gave you a good idea without feeling like you were intruding on actual occupants. I thought it was a great idea. If a school does choose to show dorm rooms to prospects, I would encourage them to make certain the room is relatively neat. My D saw a room at one school that had her SO turned off, she almost dropped it off her list. </p>
<p>One other thing that would have been nice to see that few schools showed us was the gym.</p>
<p>Lastly, I would concur that mics should be used. If you wind up in the middle or back of the tour, you seldom can hear what’s being said.</p>
<p>I believe that for many kids “seeing” the dorm room drives home the fact that they could be living on that campus for 4 years. I actually think it’s pretty powerful. Not showing one or showing a mock-up turned my kids off. They kept thinking something must be “wrong” with the dorms. From a marketing perspective I think not showing a room, any room, is a miss. I’ve observed tour groups with bedraggled kids perk right up when the tour guide hits the dorm.</p>
<p>The dorm was a huge factor in my son’s decision to attend his school. He has his own 10 by 10 bedroom (great closet size, too) and shares a bath with just one other guy in his four-person suite.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the dorm room at one school (Haverford) was such a pit – as was the common area – that it turned us off, even S. It went WELL beyond “bunch of guys with stuff strewn about and an empty beer can or two” – and it left me wondering why the tour guide bothered. We would have been better off not seeing it. oTOH, dorm rooms at Bryn Mawr and Wellesley are definite selling points!</p>
<p>I think that between S and D we’ve been on maybe 20 campus tours. I’ve only seen one dorm room that was occupied by a student. The others have all been “model” or empty rooms.</p>
<p>I am with those who don’t care about being shown a dorm room, but that is what many parents and most kids want to see. The tours I’ve had show a room that is either a model room for that purpose (Pitt) or they have gotten permission from the occupants to show the room. If they are going to do this, the room should be a room from the freshman dorm and the type that a student is most likely to get with a caveat that there are many other different types of rooms unless the school has a lot of such rooms available. At schools like CMU, where you can easily be in a hotel room, apartment, or other off campus arrangement, that should be mentioned. It was not on our tour, and in fact, no dorm rooms were shown, perhaps because there is no typical room.</p>
<p>The one thing that was of great interest to me was if the library or reading room, or something is open all night. Some schools have really stingy library hours, and there are not many places for the student to hang out other than his room or the gym on weekends and evenings. We stayed 4 days in the area of one school, because we were making it a vacation. Because our hotel was so close to the college, son went looking there each night, and found that a lot of those things featured on tour were closed after 9-10pm. The action was at the frat houses, and even getting something to eat was a challenge after hours. My second’s son’s state school has an impressive array of eateries offered, but one weekend when we visited, we found that nearly everything is shut down on weekends, so you pretty much have to go off campus if you want anything. I was not happy about that especially since son was already going there.</p>
<p>psych–that’s funny! Yeah, the Honors students get gourmet meals while the peons eat cold mush. Hot mush on Sundays. I think I would have bitten my tongue through trying not to tell that mom to just stuff it.</p>
<p>dorms–I think it’s important to see one, at some point, as it makes the experience more real for the high schooler. I think we usually saw “model” dorm rooms, but it was obvious they were models. Color coordinated & very neat! :D</p>
<p>But with the thousands of kids/parents passing through some schools, they can’t always throw open random doors for a surprise public inspection.</p>
<p>I really don’t think they need to have dorm room visits - especially at popular schools with huge crowds going through, but I think they should make up for it with really good descriptions of the dorms and web pages with good pictures of the dorms. CMU has a terrific housing website which includes 360 degree video of most of the dorm room configurations and plans of every floor. They might at least consider showing off dorms for visiting student events. (CMU does this, and of course if you overnight visit you’ll see at least one dorm.) </p>
<p>Also in many schools housing is tight, I’d be really cross if they had a model dorm room while my kid was in a forced triple.</p>
<p>ShawSon’s freshman dormitory was the nicest on campus and he had a ground floor room near the front door. Fabulous room, more like a hotel than the dorm rooms I lived in. ShawD took a tour there (she had to visit a couple of schools during her spring break) and the tour guide brought them into ShawSon’s dorm and ShawD said, “I don’t know if you want to show that room” because it was hard to find the floor and the tour guide said, “Oh, he’s always accommodating.” ShawSon is brilliant, but he has been observed in his 20 years to have a concern for neatness in any form. Anyway, visitors were looking into the mess that was ShawSon’s otherwise elegant room all year. I don’t think they gave him any perks.</p>
<p>Meant to say that ShawSon has not once in his existence been observed to have a concern for neatness. So, visitors all of last year saw his horizontal closet.</p>
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<p>I think Shawson is getting ripped off! It is my understanding that cookies are usually given for showing your room during tours at his school. Maybe he could ask for back pay? :)</p>
<p>fauve, I received your private message and I tried to send one back to you, but your box is full. If you clear your box, I will send it to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up, I’ve cleaned it out.</p>
<p>not a necessity, but a marketing tip for addmissions</p>
<p>If you are in a region where lots of families are passing through looking at other colleges, but you are the one they tend to skip, and you want to get more, schedule tours on a SUNDAY and publicize it somehow. Its common for families trying to see lots of schools to have a gap in their schedule on Sunday - some want the day off from touring, but not all do.</p>
<p>We were in Bucknell on a Saturday, and went to Lafayette/Lehigh on Monday/Tuesday. PSU was just below our short list, and if they had had a Sunday tour, we probably would have gone. But they didn’t so we didn’t</p>
<p>BBD - agree with you 100% on Sundays - although I guess admissions would say they need a day off - but retail is open 7 days a week. In addition to having the downtime on Sunday when you have traveled out-of-state - even for day trip visits - it would be great to have a Sunday option as Saturdays are generally so busy with school activities/sports, etc.</p>