<p>Dean J, Thank you for stopping by to share your insight. I find all the different perspectives to be so interesting.</p>
<p>
We have always let the student guides cover the fun stuff (dining, housing, sports, clubs, etc.). We cover the academics, history, aid, and admission, but we donât see our job as selling someone on our school. I am not a fan of the sales approach to information sessions. That style isnât hard, but it seems a little cruel when the admit rate isnât very high. We try to go beyond the basic facts and stats while being realistic and helpful.</p>
<p>The PR slide shows are on the website. I donât think you need a dean to show them to you.</p>
<p>The anonymous feedback we get from visitors is very positive, but we realize that not everyoneâs expectations will be met. I just hope that people remember that thereâs a place for many types of students at a school of our size. :)</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon was off the list real quickâŠ</p>
<p>How strange! We were turned off at UVA by the speaker at the info session who was also a dean, I think. She was some tall, willowy, drifty kind of woman, rather vague and into herself, and I wouldnât have put it past her to spend her time beeyotching about the boringness of the essays she would have had to read. I wonder if it was the same person?</p>
<p>Iâm neither tall nor willowy, but I think itâs time for me to step away from this forum. This is heading in a mean direction.</p>
<p>Boston University. </p>
<p>Attended AM info session on Good Friday with 500+ other people. The AD spoke about diversity for 30+ minutes. No information on housing, clubs, essays, etc. The student spoke about his activities and how he âfoundâ his major. Over half the tour guides still were undecided about their major. My Dâs GC had told her good things about the engineering school. None of the tour guides were science or engineering majors. We asked ours about the engineering program and she said she didnât know any, but heard they studied alot.</p>
<p>Dean Jâwe had a nice session at UVA and heard one of the best bits of advice of all. The woman (an associate or assistant deanânot tall and willowyâ, I think) was asked about taking four years (or threeâwhatever the requirement is) of a foreign language. The entire group was from out of state and she said that the OOS pool was so competitive that even if four years of foreign language was not required, nearly every competitive student would have four years. That bit of information could go toward many suggestions/requirements for colleges and it was a great way to present the information.</p>
<p>NJmomâscience and engineering majors probably donât have time to give tours.</p>
<p>Science and engineering majors do give tours. We had an engineering major as a tour guide at Northwestern. After the general info session, all the tour guides (I think there were about ten of them since this was July) introduced themselves and their major/planned major and what made them decide on NU. The audience was then invited to choose the tour guide they thought best met their needs. We chose the engineering student, since none of the others indicated a major in science.</p>
<p>At Brown U, they have a special physical sciences tour, and it is lead by science and engineering students. I believe I read a few others schools do this as well.</p>
<p>At Tufts we had a choice of several tour guides and one was an engineer. CMU had separate tours of the engineering and comp sci departments for the accepted student weekend, but I canât remember if they were available at other times. And of course the engineering/science schools we saw with older son had some engineers giving tours.</p>
<p>Tufts. I really enjoyed the info session. My son just looked at me and said âNo.â</p>
<p>My husband and son went on the UVA tour. They only had positive things to say. In fact, my husband wished he could apply.</p>
<p>what a great thread!</p>
<p>Thatâs funny about the negative reactions to Tufts. Both of my daughters felt the same way about the campus vibe, and this is 13 yr apart!</p>
<p>Also, for D3, GWU â we walked out of the Metro station and were barely to the curb and my daughter said âI donât like it here.â We hadnât even actually gotten to the campus, technically speaking. </p>
<p>We went ahead & did the info session & tour anyway and she did wind up saying she could see what some people would like about the place, and that she would recommend it to some of her friends, but still not for her.</p>
<p>we headed to Tufts just after the BU fiasco for their specialized engineering info session and tour. It was a breath of fresh air with educated & knowledgable students.</p>
<p>I visited like 6 schools (including BU) and Iâm not sure I remember a tour guide saying they were an engineering major.</p>
<p>On the Dartmouth tour, engineering wasnât mentioned at all. I asked the tour guide where the engineering buildings were, and she waved her arm vaguely in one direction.</p>
<p>My D is a campus tour guide at UC Davis. Having never been on one of her toursâbut having heard from parents (okay friends) that have, they say she is brilliant! She has gotten a few tips ($) and a few Starbucks cards as special thank youâs from some of the large high school groups that come for a peek at UCD. She has been tour guide of the month twice in the last year! Yahoo for herâŠbut she learned her trade from the many tours we took when she was college hunting. Some great- some not so great.</p>
<p>She speaks LOUDLYâand she ENUNCIATES ----she does have a very specific outline to follow but puts her own touch on what she loves about UCD âshe loves questions, even dumb oneâs (I hear about those) ----and she can walk backwards for 90 minutes in rain or sunshine. She also recommends that you go to the restroom BEFORE you start the tour!</p>
<p>Good tours/tour guides are key to selling a college to an undecided student.</p>
<p>After visiting junior year, both Brown and RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) were crossed off.</p>
<p>Previously, both had been Top Choices for DD.</p>
<p>Brown: We got depressed just driving into Providence, the economy looked pretty dismal and and the downtown area seemed lacking in terms of shops, restaurants and activity. When we called the office to see where to Park, were told there were pay parking meters on the street. Once we got there it was obvious there were just a handful of parking meters on the street, all full. Local residents kept honking their horns at us as we attempted to navigate streets to find a parking place. Finally found a paid parking lot several blocks away. Then, when we arrived at the office the staff person there barely looked up when we asked where we should go, giving a vague wave of the hand âfollow the crowdâ. So we âfollowed the crowd.â We were all ushered into a large meeting hall of some sort. Presentation was periodically interrupted by other tour groups wandering in, unsure of where to go. Unlike subsequent schools we visited where the person doing the presentation asked each of the kids to introduce themselves and where they were from, at Brown she asked for a few examples of where kids were from. Got the impression that it didnât really concern them who was in the audience. After the presentation, we divided into groups for the campus tour. We were led by a nice young gentleman. But the tour was basically useless as it mostly went around the outside perimeter of buildings and he talked a lot about the architecture and âtraditionsâ in the college. We were never invited into a single dorm but just stood outside in the quadrangles in front of a couple as he chatted about them. I think we went inside one or two buildings but basically it appeared to be an outside architectural tour. No students on campus spoke to us but several looked at us and giggled/laughed. After the tour, we ventured into one of the cafeterias when lunch was going on and no students spoke to us or made eye contact. Thus, we were left feeling very surprised at the experienceânot what we anticipated thatâs for sure! Crossed off list.</p>
<p>RISD: We noticed that, when touring some of the art classes in progress, that many students were using photos as they worked on paintings, etc. Nothing wrong with that, but was confused since admissions staff presentation kept emphasizing the need for the students to âdraw from real lifeâ and âcreate art from real lifeâ in portfolios. If that is so important to them why were all their art classes filled with students using photos etc? Also, tour guide only went outside dorm buildings and didnât offer to show us inside or a typical dorm room. Only after myself and another mom asked repeatedly did she finally relent (with highly exasperated sighing) and show us her dorm room. The students there werenât friendly and with the exception of maybe one or two didnât speak or acknowledge our presence. The students didnât seem very friendly to each other eitherâŠmost of them were sitting by themselves engaged in art or listening to music, etc. Not much eye contact going on. Strange!</p>
<p>The trip reallllllllly showed us how important it would be to visit the colleges before applying. The brochures and hoopla may not tell the whole story :)</p>
<p>Boston College- far from the city, no lively atmosphere, not worth all the work that would be needed to get there</p>
<p>S had a negative reaction to Brown (and I must admit I did, too) when we dropped my daughter off for her Summer@Brown course. One of the Brown administrators kept telling the kids that they were âthe cream of the crop.â I wanted to laugh out loud at the blatant elitism and cry, too, because we knew most of the kids were just paying customers (high school kids) who would not be admitted if they applied.</p>
<p>It was kind of PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODY meets âletâs all pretend weâre hippies.â</p>
<p>I still have a fondness for the school, but that was a bit silly.</p>
<p>I think itâs dangerous to base an impression on one info session, one tour guide, etc, though we all do just that to some extent. I know we did!</p>
<p>I found Vassar very appealing, but S1 just could not get past the tour guide, who he found extremely annoying, and who focused on only his own interests. </p>
<p>I also liked Cornell, though S1 found it too big and impersonal. In a way I was relieved. I hate heights and the gorges (while gorgeous) freaked me out a bit.</p>
<p>BC - expected to like it. Agree with previous poster who said it felt very un-academic. Too homogenous, too much Abercrombie. Left early.</p>
<p>Bowdoin - the only school S1 changed his mind about. Liked it initially, then afterwards was afraid it seemed too small.</p>
<p>Williams - Somewhat inexplicable negative reaction from S. Just didnât like the vibe. Liked Amherst.</p>
<p>S2 loved American. My first reaction was âtoo many parking lots.â Great info session, though.</p>