D and I had the church giggles throughout the entire (utterly cheesy) American University video. It definitely made an impression - she still remembers every character’s name and their unique “journeys” through their four years at AU,) but I don’t think it was the impression that admissions was hoping to make. Despite the video, I really liked the school; unfortunately D did not.
My S wouldn’t even buy a t-shirt or sweatshirt from his college throughout his 4 years there (he did have his team sailing gear which had school’s name but he had to wear that.) H and I inherited most of it. Now that he’s graduated he did by a license plate holder with school name alum on it.
I don’t recall ever seeing anyone on a tour wearing another school’s name.
The only school my kid really disliked for no other reason but the kids on the tour was Hamilton. H did that one with him and didn’t like the other kids either. Found them pretentious.
@2muchquan , sure, very practical if you are mucking horses, or walking in rain/mud. Probs not for walking around a college campus on a sunny but frigid day. Even Uggs are preferable for those conditions, but they are so passé . Everyone who knows anyone wears Le Chameau these days, sniff. (Yeah, you heard of them here first. A bargain at only $450 a pop.)
@Aida that video from American went down in history for D and me, blown away by the cheese factor!
In Seattle, Hunter boots are very practical. Not that I own a pair mind you but I can’t say they would bother me. Then again, not a lot of people wear them around here.
I personally do not have an issue with kids buying logo gear of a college of interest. 2 of our kids have done that for schools they liked, one bought a sweatshirt form 3 different schools (and only ended up applying to 2 out of the 3) and one has a hat from 2 different ones so far. To me it’s a sign that a school has made the “likely to apply, I can see myself here” list and I like seeing that sign.
My kid wears a sweatshirt from my alma mater all the time. He has zero interest in going there, will likely not apply, but still likes and supports the school and loves my vintage sweatshirt. I suppose if it was clearly pretentious and all about prestige schools it might bother me but it’s kind of fun for the kids to wear them to school and talk about the schools they liked.
I have seen kids on tours in other schools logo wear, doesn’t bother me a bit.
I am not sure who made the comment about crossing off all Connecticut schools but it made me chuckle. Years ago we drove through CT on our way to a wedding in MA. The I-95 traffic was horrible and the road signs were hardly legible. It was a long arduous ride and there were parts of the trip that we never thought would end. H was so frustrated that he decreed that it was a stupid state and that he forbid any of us from doing anything in the state again. No colleges. No driving. Nothing. Fast forward to two years ago, S has a school trip to a location in CT where he needed to fly into Hartford. My son approached me and quietly asked me how firm was his father’s ban on CT as he really wanted to go on the trip. Needless to say, the degree was lifted and son went on his trip. Further, S and I drove through CT on our way from Providence to Marist and had some very wonderful ice cream in Oxford, CT. CT has some very lovely places.
I ban the family from going into any state that uses roundabouts extensively. They are the bane of my driving existence especially with google maps and navigation. I’m like Clark Griswold in European Vacation.
@Lindagaf - On behalf of my son: Thank You! I’ll assume it was you at one of the q/a sessions we did last year. As we were walking out my son commented that he was glad you asked those questions because he had been wondering about that stuff but had been too embarrassed to ask. I told him that I would have been happy to ask but he rolled his eyes and pointed out that they knew I was his mom.
Any more colleges moved up or down the list or stayed the same after tours?
See post # 535. Lots of stories on reactions to schools after visiting.
Last fall my son and I encountered an embarrassing parent. It then extended to an entire embarrassing family. The dad wanted the admissions officer to delay beginning for 10 minutes because his wife and daughter were not there yet. Admissions officer asked where they were and he said his wife was in the restroom and his daughter was finishing lunch. Admissions officer said we would begin. He wanted all students to introduce themselves (name, school attending, interests). I had a few chuckles about the embarrassing dad at first but when it was my son’s turn to introduce himself, embarrassing dad started waving wildly from four rows away screaming “we’re from the same school”. The mom arrived and dad filled her in and now she was standing up waving at us. I asked my son who these people were and he said the girl is a senior, in a couple of his classes and she doesn’t speak to juniors so they don’t know each other. Then the daughter walked in, sat down and now mom and dad filled her in and she stood up, turned around and said “Hi xxxx” . After the info session, the family came over to talk as we waited for the tour guide.
They wanted to meet up for the tours of the other schools but this was our only overlap since we arrived in town a few days earlier and they had just arrived that day. My son said if they’d been on our flight we would have had to reschedule our tours. lol. They were the embarrassing family but they did seem like nice people. She was accepted to the school so embarrassing tours are not held against applicants 
@otterma you are welcome. I only ever ask questions on actual tours. That way, everyone can see the kid standing next to me, thus ensuring maximum embarrassment for her. :)) I kid you not, sometimes she actually would move and stand next to some random people. I do make it a point to ask sensible questions in fact, but my D HEARS this: “what happens if a pair of underpants gets left in the washing machine? Do they get displayed on a notice board so the owner can find them?”
I found most of the questions asked interesting and helpful. Yes, some were ridiculous, but most led to the tourguide sharing additional information that was helpful and/or interesting, that we might not otherwise have heard. The tours where no one seemed engaged or said a word were pretty dull.
I think the only embarrassing questions are the ones by parents asking something that was specifically addressed previously.
But I seriously doubt whether admissions offices note who asked what, or who was obnoxious. I imagine they merely record attendees for purposes of reflecting “demonstrated interest”. For them to reflect comments about personalities of attendees and their parents would be a huge and very subjective undertaking regarding people who may very well never apply. Now if these kinds of things happened on an interview trip that might be very different. Then again, for many schools even an interview is not a significant factor in admissions.
I remember at one school (can’t remember which) a kid asked where they buy drugs on campus!!! 
I hope it was just to freak out their parent. But not sure.
My daughter gets embarrassed because I always ask if any of the buildings are haunted. I’m always up for a good ghost story.
One kid on tour at Columbia asked how many auditoriums there were on campus ?!?
@ihs76 That sounds like something I’d ask… I visited Amherst College for their Splash program and as soon as I entered their auditorium I knew I didn’t want to apply. Granted it would have been a reach school and it was way too close to home, but the first strike against it was the auditorium
A friend of mine thought it was hilarious to be the only parent on tours to raise her hand and ask “How old do you have to be to get into the bars around campus?”
@lindagaf
Rain boots on a sunny day may be peculiar, but for rain boots, Hunter boots are more practical than fashionable, and virtually indestructible so they last forever. My D will be bringing her 4 yr old pair to campus.
As for ‘clean pressed’ clothes, to me they are always preferable to dirty wrinkled ones!