<p>i figure this is the best way to answer my burning question.</p>
<p>i auditioned for campus tour guide. i made it to the last round and bombed out in my audition. the coordinators were role playing parents and one of them asked:</p>
<p>"so. . .this is New York, and i know it's just FULL of crime. do college kids do drugs here?"</p>
<p>i froze, and this is the point where i probably failed the audition. </p>
<p>WHAT would have been your ideal answer to hear, to that question?</p>
<p>it's not like i can say no, because you, the parent, will never believe me.</p>
<p>it's not like i can be honest and say that a small amount of students do drugs. it's a very small amount, and Housing has a zero tolerance policy. however, some students do end up using drugs. i've seen it, unfortunately. parents (rightfully so) would be very upset by that answer and probably never come back to NYU.</p>
<p>we have a policy in the admissions office about being "positively honest" to prospective students and their parents. be honest, but spin it positively.</p>
<p>i'm asking as a future campus tour guide. if you were on my tour, and someone asked that question to me, what would be the honest answer that would be most satisfying?</p>
<p>This could have been perfectly acceptable as part of an answer. The complete answer could have pointed out that crime in NYC is in fact less of a problem than most outsiders think, and less than in most other big cities. Your answer should also point out that there are plenty of students who do not do drugs and still have a nice social life.</p>
<p>Parents are not naive, and those considering NYU are aware that drugs and crime are facts of life.</p>
<p>I’ve heard a version of the alcohol/drug question asked on every tour. Youdon’tsay’s answer is perfect, if it is true. It’s pretty much the same answer we’ve always heard.</p>
<p>you would be surprised. . .i worked at last year’s Welcome Week and on move-in day, there were parents that kept complaining about seeing homeless people “on campus”. it was in Washington Square Park. while WSP is on our “campus”, it’s technically public property of the Parks Department of NY and NYU security can’t just tell them to leave.</p>
<p>there were also parents whose child had never been in NY before that day, not even for a campus tour. sigh.</p>
<p>i was totally prepped for a ‘crime rates’ question, but for some reason i blanked on the drugs question.</p>
<p>drugs are no more prevalent than at any other college in the country. it’s something that you find at colleges, and at [insert college here], there are plenty of alternatives to that social scene should your son/daughter decide that it’s not for him/her. Mention substance-free housing (if present) and support groups. but tell them it is up to their son/daughter to decide what sort of social scene he/she wants to be a part of. This is part of the process of being a college student, and especially at an urban campus.</p>
<p>try to make it about the son/daughter and not about the parent.</p>
<p>and don’t try to pretend that only a small minority of students at any college do drugs and stuff. That’s flat out lying. especially at NYU</p>
<p>As a tour guide, whenever I get the underage drinking/drug question, I usuall say something along the lines of, “We are a college, and students are adults, so we don’t police them. Some do choose to take drugs/drink/whatever, and the college focuses most of all on keeping things safe for all students. There’s no pressure here and no one will make you feel bad if you don’t want to. We also have sub free dorms” blah blah bah. I wouldn’t lie, and parents and students will see right through it if you do.</p>
<p>I think the key is to be honest and direct but brief. Address it and then move on. I like the word experiment because it makes the drug use sound like a passing thing rather than a chronic issue.</p>
<p>I’d never think to ask this question of a tour guide.</p>
<p>I went to NYU and the homeless/drug dealers in WSP was just a fact of NYC living. I still jogged around the park alone at night and never had a problem. You got some good suggestions as how to answer the drugs and drinking questions. It’s available at any school and most parents must realize this. NYC students might have a bit more freedom and exposure to the “real world” than most, but it is up to each individual what they choose to do with it.
Good luck, you sound like a thoughtful person that would make a great tour guide!
BTW, I loved NYU, some days I wish I could go back…enjoy it while you can.</p>
<p>I get this question ~3/4 of my tours, so you’re unusual in that regard, at least from my experience.</p>
<p>I think it’s a fair question to ask. The party scene will likely be a big part of your social life at college, and often, the tour guide is the only student the prospective applicant interacts with. It’s something I wanted to know – do people go to bars here? Are parties centered on Greek Row? Is there stuff to do if I don’t feel like drinking? Etc. It’s good information to have, and if you can get a tour guide that will tell you the truth and not spit out the “party line” that info could be invaluable when narrowing down your list.</p>
<p>I guess I’m not convinced I’d get a straight answer from the tour guide, so that’s why I wouldn’t ask. I think you’ll find partiers and non-partiers at every campues and that the predominant culture would be known going in. I have asked about Greek life, just because ds doen’t want a campus that’s “too preppy.”</p>
<p>It depends. I would say the straight forwardness of my answer is usually tailored to my audience. Some parents ask it in a really accusatory way, and so If I can gauge that that person is going to attack me for my answers (“WHAT DO YOU MEAN, FRESHMAN DRINK?! THEY ARE UNDERAGE! THERE SHOULD BE SEVERE CONSEQUENCES! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU DO THIS!”) I am more likely to sidestep the question. However, I have also been perfectly frank with prospective students/parents who seemed like they were genuinely asking because they wanted to know the <em>truth</em>.</p>
<p>I’m sure it’s tricky being a tour guide, and that’s why I wouldn’t ask anything that would put you on the spot. My questions tend to be about the number of TAs you’ve had teaching a class, largest class you’ve ever had.</p>
<p>I always find it interesting who colleges put forth as tour guides.</p>
<p>Ask if the college pays their tour guides. We found when doing college tours for my sister (we didn’t think to ask with me) that a paid tour guide program (rather than volunteer) was often infinitely better. It would be interesting to actually do real research to confirm that.</p>
<p>But yes, it is interesting, because, as I said, often the are the only actual student an applicant comes into contact with. So, at least remembering from my own college tours, I sometimes wonder why some schools don’t give it more consideration…</p>
<p>I think I’ll start asking that of every tour guide. In some ways, though, I wonder whether volunteers wouldn’t be better – they’re there for the love of the school, rather than some work-study spot foisted on them.</p>
<p>I’m always interested to see answers written by students to questions addressed to parents. I do value students’ perspectives, but In this case, the answer that “there are plenty of alternatives to that social scene should your son/daughter decide that it’s not for him/her” is not what a parent of a high school junior or senior is going to want to hear. It makes it sound like drug use is an accepted social scene. Yes, drug use is found on virtually every campus, but I’d rather hear something like Youdon’tsay mentioned. I think parents are aware “that it’s up to their son or daughter to decide what social scene they want to be a part of” but they are interested in knowing what those options are.</p>
<p>And therein lies the tricky balancing act for tour guides… balancing what parents’ want to hear, what students want to hear, and the actual truth. The truth is, drug use (at least, marijuana use) is an accepted social scene at many colleges. So like I said, I gauge the audience, I <em>always</em> mention something fun I did on a Friday or Saturday night while sober (Asian Art Performance Night, exhibit opening, theater production), which might be a good tack to take as well.</p>
<p>As for volunteer versus paid, from our (admittedly entirely unscientific study): sometimes, volunteer tour guides didn’t show up (this never happened with paid tour guides). Volunteer tour guides were more often playing it fast-and-loose with school facts/not know the answer to typical tour guide questions (how many students go abroad?)/tell inappropriate stories or make innappopriate gaffes (one volunteer tour guide asked me and my brown skinned families if we were Muslim “because we’re like, totally cool with that here”). Obviously, paid tour guides had their issues too, but it generally was a fairly clear divide in terms of tour guide quality, I think because paid tour guides actually have a stake in the game. Tour guiding is rarely a work study job foisted on students, since at most schools, it’s pretty competitive/a sought after job. Just my two cents though, other people might have an entirely different experience =)</p>
<p>If the question were about alcohol or drugs, I would probably say “the college has a zero tolerance policy” and probably nothing else. If the question were about crime in the area I would point out and mention the blue lights and if there was an established period of time where there had been no crime on campus I would cite that eg “there has been no felonius crime on campus for over 5 years or over 10 years or whatever”. It’s best to “stick with t he facts” rather that to guess at an answer or to give an answer that cannot be substantiated.</p>