We all view things through our own lens. I wonder if there’s any research or data that shows if there’s a particular “type” of college rep that attracts students. Guessing it even varies by college - what attracts the type students college A is trying to attract is probably not exactly the same as what attracts the type students college B is trying to attract.
Students looking for a college that might give them the pedigree to launch a political career might be wowed by the movie actor style reps where the students looking for a math degree might be turned off by that same rep.
My son and I didn’t read much into the personality of the adult AOs for the various colleges, but we did look to the student reps that were chosen as a sample of the types of students the college was looking for and who a prospective student’s peers would be. We tried to interact with at least 3-5 students at each campus, starting with the student reps the admissions office put forth and adding in 2-3 we randomly approached on campus. Not exactly scientific and still vulnerable to chance coincidence, but at many colleges trends did emerge to create an overall impression fair or not.
Definitely can vary depending on personal preference and luck of the draw. We had a very good experience with our WUSTL visit. On the other hand, we visited Bowdoin 3 times with 2 kids (twice for one kid to see if the experience would be better than the first visit). At all 3 visits, the students and admission staff came across as distant and a tad snooty vs all our many LAC visits.
On a visit to Temple, we asked the AO if he could talk to us about merit scholarships that might be available for a student who had a 4.0 and a 36 ACT. He said “I don’t know. We could end up with all of our applicants with a 36 ACT next year so you might not get anything.” Considering only 3700 kids nationally got a 36 on the ACT this year, not only was this scenario impossible, but made the AO seem arrogant and totally unhelpful. We laughed about it. DD did not apply, but not necessarily bco the AO’s comment. Other schools, including much more highly ranked schools, were more way more welcoming and at least forthcoming about possible merit opportunities.
Agree with above posts. Our unusual AO encounter did not affect decision. Decision made because the LAC was too similiar to the prep boarding school attended–wanted change, not a repeat of boarding school.
As a STEM oriented student, my D20 is sometimes frustrated at the lack of STEM students in general in student panels and tour guides. A lot of her questions relate to research experiences, labs, etc and sometimes it’s hard to get those answers in detail. I can’t say she has crossed any schools off the list, but it certainly made a few move down.
Of the nearly 30 schools we visited, Harvard did by far the worst job presenting itself. The tour guide we had was nearly incoherent. Was she representative of students in Harvard? Obviously not. Harvard just didn’t put much effort into selecting its tour guides, I suppose.
Good for you and your kids! As it should be. Sadly some of us, parents and kids alike can be so danged superficial and immediate in making decisions.
My one son could not get over the construction going on at a school. Another hated the impact that a snow storm had on a school, even while continuing to consider other schools that certainly had to have lime issues. Fleeting impressions unfortunately can feature highly
Two of my kids put schools up on the top of their lists because the planets just happened to line up just right for their visits.
So, unfortunately, I well know that these impressions that likely have nothing to do with the fit and how fine a school is, can have impact. Wash U, Bates, CWRU are all fine schools.
I’ve been on too many college tours to count and most just blend together but the two that stand out in my mind are the worst one (Columbia - just godawful) and the best (Montclair State.) While there was some eye rolling in the group on the Columbia tour, I’m sure plenty of people applied in spite of her. I do hope the charming gentleman at Montclair State inspired some prospective students to consider that school more seriously.
“Do we really need AOs to be salespersons for their colleges?”
They don’t need to be salespeople, but they need to be engaging and have good communication skills, and most of them actually do, this thread is kind of the exceptions to the rule (adcoms are good representatives of their school). And at most colleges the AOs have to be a little sales-oriented, it’s easy to talk about the Harvards of the world with 80% yield, but the colleges below 30% or 40%.
“Fleeting impressions unfortunately can feature highly”
Kids making decisions based on emotion, that never happens! seriously, the research on the teenager brain shows that emotions and peers are the driving things right now, until like 25 when the more rational part of the brain takes over, I mentioned this in another thread. So if a kid is not feeling a school, then that’s it, they’re not applying, or they’re applying for the sake of others (parents, GCs). The only thing that could get someone to apply would be affordability, as that trumps everything, including potential fit. Or get their friends to suggest applying.
I don’t think it is just kids’ brains, though. I’d argue that many adults make snap decisions on people they meet, employers, etc. We all know first impressions frequently matter in many areas of life.
Just met with an Allegheny AO off campus and what an outstanding ambassador of the school. If he’s not going to be a salesperson for the school who will be? No dis to Allegheny…it is a very good school, but has a remote location, with challenging academics, so definitely needs to be ‘sold’.
Current Bowdoin admissions dean is a woman, who can seem aloof, maybe even snooty. She suggested to the large group in our info session to stop by the local gelato place and put their order on her frequent diner number. Turns out she has so many points, it’s enough for dozens of free gelatos.
Thanks @milee30, I learned a new word today, ‘gormless’. ? Love it!
All these situations need to be reported to the school. When we were looking at boarding schools, my kid and I had an odd interviewer. I wrote a note and got another interview. The AO set up a meeting on a Saturday for us. Though my kid was turned off at that point, the message was passed along. It’s really important to have people in these positions who have basic manners and can communicate the answers to basic questions and get back on others. If the representative is rude, ask for someone else before moving on. Otherwise, that person will continue to misinform/turn off other candidates.
@mathmom Sounds like my kid! “B is for Brilliant,” says she, referring to the AP Physics classes she’s struggled through. She’s probably going to end up a Social Sciences major, but in high school she prefers the challenge of the hard sciences.
The AO from the college that blew the kids off has evidently scheduled another visit. It is coming up, but at a different time of the day, so DD is not free during that period. The students are allowed to miss two classes a year to attend these sessions, but DD has chosen not to. She isn’t holding it against the college, but she sometimes finds it difficult - or just a plain hassle - to catch up/make up the work.
This college was “not in her top 10” as she described it, however, she may have softened her stance to write it off completely. It turns out she went to ANOTHER college’s information session, and whatever they said, she wasn’t sold on that one either. But on some level she realized that at some point she is going to have to find some princes among the frogs.
I have been encouraging her to attend some of these lunch time info sessions precicely so she can discover some colleges on her own that she might like to tour or otherwise explore further. In that spirit, I respect whatever opinions she forms. The number of colleges that do these lunch visits to her high school (and especially the ones that happen to hit during her lunch period) is a drop in the bucket to the number of excellent schools out there. Paring the list has to happen sooner or later anyway.
Since we live overseas, we attended a couple of big college fairs hosted by the US Embassy. Some schools sent AOs, some sent alumni/current students. The AOs we met were all helpful and enthusiastic about their schools, but we hit a couple of doozies among the alumni representatives. Hamilton was the most memorable - when we asked what distinguished Hamilton among the NESCAC schools, he responded that it must be the fact that Hamilton was at the bottom, both academically and athletically - a born salesman!
Now that this thread is rolling, who’s up for reviving the thread on the stupidist reasons why our kids won’t look at certain colleges? I see hints of this theme in some of the earlier posts here.
