In a similar vein, there is this thread:
My comment probably fits better with the abundant snark in that thread…
Not a bad tour at all for the most part, but when we went around Kenyon, the guide took us to his dorm room. Although the roomie had promised not to be there, apparently he forgot because he was lying mostly unclothed and sound asleep in the other bedroom of the suite. I was at the back of the group but i knew something was up when i heard a few gasps from the front.
The worst info session by far was at Goucher College. One of the professors on stage flat out refused to answer a question of mine. just sort of said something random and moved on. And it was not a very challenging question. The poor condition of the buildings there and the tour guide’s seeming obsession with the Nordstrom across the street sealed the bad impression. Who cares what our college is like when we can run across the street to shop!!!
I’m so glad there was no internet when I was a college tour guide! I generally feel like I did a really good job.
But over the summer before my senior year, my college started building a new library. I was pretty much only taking classes in 1-2 buildings on the opposite side of campus (and lived in an apartment off campus), so I hadn’t seen where they were building the new library before the first big admissions weekend in mid Sept.
I was walking a tour group through campus, and someone asked about a small amount of construction we saw, and I told the group we were in the process of building a new library, so the construction was probably part of that.
A little while later, we came out of the Humanities building and there was a huge, new, almost completed building, aka, the new library. So embarrassing!
So glad there was no college confidential then! (Although in fairness, I would have deserved any bad comments posted here after that tour).
@Lindagaf We had the exact same experience at Clark. I came out of the info session quite impressed, which I was not expecting, to be honest. It wasn’t the right place for my kids – more of an artistic vibe and neither of them wanted a city environment – but it was one of the few admissions sessions and tours that I didn’t feel was a waste. Really got a feel for the place.
@MADad Same experience at Mount Holyoke. We actually went on three tours over about a year and a half and they were all small and really good. Once was during a really busy time and every time there were about 6-8 people on a tour they brought someone else out to start a new group. On every visit, you could just tell how much these women loved their school. Result: one of my daughters is a thriving sophomore there now. 
I am amazed at how much affection my D has for her alma mater – whenever she’s in Western MA she always stops in, walks around, and tears come to eyes at how much she misses and loves Mt. Holyoke!
My other two kids enjoyed their schools as well, but nowhere as passionate as my Moho
With all of these comments about large tours I just thought of our other experience at the other end of the spectrum. We were visiting Bryn Mawr and had a few free hours, so decided to schedule a tour last-minute at nearby Ursinus. My daughters and I were the only ones in the info session and tour. Awkward! The info session was in a tiny office, super quiet and had a real interview vibe, although the student was friendly and clearly bright. The tour was better, again just us but walking around and chatting was comfortable. The student (a different one) was actually pretty impressive – very well spoken and had taken classes at Villanova during high school so was graduating early.
If we’d known it was just going to be us – unexpected during HS school vacation week – I’d not have scheduled there.
Of all the colleges that our two kids applied to (12-15), they only attended info sessions for two or three. That was enough. There’s almost nothing to be learned from them, IMHO. Time is better spent trying to meet with faculty, sit in on courses, meeting with admissions officer, and so forth.
@Pheebers "If we’d known it was just going to be us – unexpected during HS school vacation week – I’d not have scheduled there. "
Why?
Okay, that is just Marie Klawe setting unrealistic expectations. I mean, my Mudder could talk about any of those things – but she’d be tongue tied if a stranger asked her to do so while walking around campus. 
I actually think the Mudd info session was one of the few helpful ones we ever attended. Mudd has it’s own flavor – they either are your tribe or they aren’t, IMHO. The info session was informal, relaxed, and helped get across what they are looking for. Maybe I found it useful because what they are looking for is a bit different from other schools – most other schools are cookie cutter in their expectations.
“If we’d known it was just going to be us – unexpected during HS school vacation week – I’d not have scheduled there.”
At small LACs, this isn’t that unusual. It happened to both my kids a couple times, even at fairly highly ranked schools - one being Bryn Mawr actually. If caught off guard, it might seem awkward, however, just prepare for that possibility and student should come armed with good questions (should anyway) and use it to your advantage because it can really be an advantage.
We had our kids interview at every school they visited anyway, if it was offered, just in case it wound up on the final list. If it didn’t, chalk it up to good practice.
Why not be the only ones on the tour? Hard to escape. I learned after a few tours/interviews that you have to have an escape plan or they can go on and on. We went to one that was 10,000 degrees and then had a meeting with the coach after. It took over 5 hours! We would have liked to be on the road much sooner than that. Another at a Discovery day where we were captive with one professor for 3 hours. It was scheduled for 1.5 hours and there was just no way to get out of his office.
We had a couple of tours where we were the only ones (Amherst and Wooster, as I recall). At Wooster that’s policy - I think they assign a guide to each family. At Amherst we were just lucky because I’ve seen tours with up to 20 people since then. I think it was a case of choosing the science guide and others wanting to follow the econ guide, or something like that, because our info session was large.
We always saw small groups as a big plus on tours.
Ouch. No way to say you’d schedule the coach for after, or had to go to another event??
@colfac92 Well, as I said, the info session was just awkward. It was in a very small room and we all felt put on the spot to make conversation from the beginning. I could tell the girls wanted out after a few minutes but there was no way to cut it short.
I have no problem with small tours, though. That’s supposed to be a more casual setting where you ask questions, but if you’re not feeling chatty you can be walking and taking things in. We had a private tour at Franklin and Marshall that was terrific. Their info session had about 20 people in it but they had enough students to have small groups of tours, and they specifically gave us someone from the swim team because they knew one of my daughters is a swimmer.
@Phreebers
We took 2 tours at Franklin and Marshall… The first one was awesome. That was for my 1st twin… then my 2nd twin decided to see it on the way back from Pitt. That one was abysmal.
The difference was the tour guides. The first one had 2 energetic and well informed guides. The 2nd one was boring and uniformed. Plus you could just tell she wanted to be anywhere but giving tours.
After our first few multi-college tour weeks, our family decided just to do tours, not information sessions, for the rest of our visits. While there were a very few info sessions that added a new perspective (and I can think of only one that made a difference in my son’s opinion of the school), most of the sessions rehashed what was in the college catalog or on the website. We found them deadly dull. All our tours, on the other hand, were really fun.
I have often thought when making arrangements that we could skip the info sessions, but then I am surprised. One recent tour had a huge amount of information about the university (admissions tips, building plans, special programs) that we would never have gathered from the website. I figure, if we travel a long way to tour a college, we might as well hear the administrative side, which is very different from the student-focused tour side.
Columbia: disappointing campus (dead, dusty “grass” area), hot, overcrowded lecture hall, and parents asking redundant questions that were easily available on the website.
Presenter seemed bored and even irritated.
We skipped the tour.
UVM - two different experiences. For our older son, the presentation was fine. Then went on tour. The tour guide was all about showing her politics (and we are a very left leaning family) and how she was better than everyone. Spent 15 minutes looking at a single costume in a case in the theater while she went on and on about it. Eight families on the tour…after 45 minutes and learning absolutely nothing we peeled off…and we were the sixth family to do so. This year back for son number two. Horrid presentation…EVERYONE on phones, people leaving. Then two tour guides…and they were awesome. UVM shot up to number two on his list. Go figure!
YES- the message at the info session for TAMU engineering was “we’re pretty much indifferent if you come here or not.”
Huge turn off as I sat there with my Aggie ring on my finger, hopeful my daughter would find just a glimmer of something to encourage her to apply.
We had the same experience at Texas A&M (not engineering). We walked out baffled because it sounded like the Admissions Officer who gave the talk sounded like she was discouraging people from applying.