On one tour of a school that was top on my dd’s list on paper she was catcalled by a group of guys sitting on some steps as the tour walked past. The male guide said “Don’t mind them, you see we don’t have many good looking girls around here. You should get used to it if you come since you’re moderately attractive”?
Same tour a mom kept pushing her son to the front (literally pushing him) of the pack. At one point she told a girl who had been standing and talking to the guide “can you move aside, my son actually has a chance to go here and he has some questions” Same mom shushed us while waiting in admissions before the tour began. The room was filled with parents and kids sitting stoic, silently with a look of anxious fear. The room was like a funeral parlor - lacking all joy or animation. My dd and I were chatting about things to do in the city after the tour to kill time. When she shushed us we burst into laughter. It was not the culture for her and she never applied.
@bamamom2021: That story is horrifying! Wow.
I will add one… during one of her interviews, the interviewer (a grad student who was working as an intern in Admissions) said “This is a really great school— even the REALLY attractive girls here are smart.” UGH.
Sorry to detour this thread. Back to those things overheard during tours…
@123France - Yep! You guessed it! RPI is correct. That tour was hilarious - once I decided to ignore the incredibly rude and pretentious parents and just enjoy the show. Highly recommend!
(Oh, and no shade thrown on our tour guide - she was awesome!)
Also at RPI - after the info session, most people left the room and hung out in the hall while we had a 10 minute break for bathroom, etc. Then, in order to divide us into groups for the tours, they had us squeeze back into the conference room and count off. Then we had to form a line in accordance with our numbers so that we could then be designated a tour guide. I would have just had a tourguide say, “hey - about 8 people come with me” and so on and so on. But hey, they’re engineers, right? They must know what they’re doing.
At a parent info session for an admitted students day one Mom asked the Dean of Students if they talked to the girls about safety and warned them about parts of town they shouldn’t go to and to not walk alone at night because she was afraid her daughter wouldn’t take her advice. With out missing a beat the dean says “I’m going to call you Naïve Mom. They don’t listen to us anymore than they listen to you.” He did explain that they do talk about safety etc… I’m betting they didn’t choose that school.
At a small LAC:
Tour guide - A great thing about this school is that it offers students free therapy.
Parent - Do many of the students use that service?
Tour guide - (without a hint of irony) Oh yes! Most of the students here are deeply depressed.
Attended a panel presentation at a fairly large central NY university where the color orange figures prominently:
They had a poly sci major, and business major, and an mech. engineering major (funny goofy kid, liked him a lot)
When asked about travel abroad, poly sci and business went on and on about their wonderful experiences overseas. Engineer sighed and said “no, couldn’t go abroad…I’m an engineer”.
When asked about starting your own clubs, poly sci and business explained all the clubs they started and got funded. Engineer sighed and said “no, too busy studying…I’m and engineer”.
Activity in clubs: same responses.
Volunteer opportunities: same responses.
It was like Eeyore had decided to study mechanical engineering. That kid was working his butt off keeping up with his engineering studies–no time for fun!!
At Princeton on a tour of their Engineering College, a parent asked “why should my child attend this school”, and the tone was not rhetorical nor just asking for a pitch.
At a small LAC, while walking past the student health center, tour guide turns to my then 15yo daughter (who looked young for her age even) and looks right at her when he points out that they have free condoms available if you want them.
Made me more than a little uncomfortable.
My favorite questions ever came from my youngest. She was maybe 12 when I dragged her along to visit a nearby college. She ended up right next to the tour guide and asked such gems as “Can you eat pizza every night for dinner if you want?” and “Can you stay up as late as you want in your dorm room?” She quickly declared she was going to go to school there.
Touring USF, I asked, what does the school do to help new students get to know one another and get to know the city? The guide was stymied and there was a prolonged silence. Well, we have a welcome week and after that don’t interfere with students planning activities. Nope, our kids didn’t apply there.
After a tour of a small LAC, my DD had an interview with an admissions officer. The guy asked her where else she was applying, and when she listed a few, he said “Oh, College X is great! There is so much to do there, because you’re near a beach. Here there are just woods and mountains.” And that was an admissions officer, not even just a student!
Parent to tour guide: If you could only point to one thing, what is the worse thing about being a student at Wake Forest.
Guide without hesitation: Not being able to go to our basketball games here at Duke.
Parent under her breath: Crap that’s this afternoons tour…
Or at Vassar College
Parent: How has the admission of men impacted the school?
Guide: My grandmother who graduated in 1970 says it made the dances more fun. (Coed as of 1969).
When the senior math-major tour guide at Washington & Lee was asked what his favorite and least-favorite classes had been – after a long pause, and after saying he’d never been asked that question before – he said his least-favorite was a math class and his favorite was a drama/acting class. Maybe the take-away was that he definitely learned how to perform the “dramatic pause.”
