<p>I've looked at the Parent Faux Pas thread about moving in but do any of you have these silly stories about taking college tours. I will start</p>
<p>Once at an open house a parent said, "My S is very mature for his age and I'm worrying about how he will fit in with the other, less mature students. How do you suggest approaching this?"</p>
<p>and another,</p>
<p>"What do you mean the buildings aren't single sex?"</p>
<p>and another,</p>
<p>"Look, that's the honors building that'll be the only place you'll want to hang out."</p>
<p>and finally,</p>
<p>"Sweetie, the tour guide is hot you should go make friends."</p>
<p>do you guys have any moments that made you scratch your head to share</p>
<p>We went on a tour where a freshman was training to be a tour guide and the only thing he talked about was food: where to find it, which dining hall had the best, which one served the most. I was certain that his folks would have been thrilled with what he viewed as important at what was one of the top five most expensive schools in the country at the time.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of our tour at a local college, the admissions officer asked my S what stood out most to him on the tour. S said in all seriousness, “Definitely the milkshake machine!!” He is on the autism spectrum, and even though I had coached him on the drive down, he just could not contain his enthusiasm for the shake machine.</p>
<p>We went on a tour at one of the Claremont Colleges and in walked our tour guide who promptly removed her shoes, stowed them behind the desk and proceeded to take us on the tour barefoot. Half way through the tour I also noticed her ill-fitting dress was held closed by a safety pin. She told us that she had a roommate her first year and discovered she couldn’t live with another person so had been in a single since. She had many people stop and say hello and she was very gregarious - just quirky.</p>
<p>Later when we met with the admissions officer I noticed he had a hole in the sole of his shoe. It made me feel sad that he couldn’t afford new shoes.</p>
<p>PhotoOp, reminds me of a tour when the guide had what we call (not sure what others call) a “messy pony tail”. Hair just pulled up, but sort of scrambled beyond that. My D on the tour also had… a messy pony tail (always does, can’t really be bothered with how it looks, just wants it out of her eyes). That is when I knew this might be the school for D, and it turned out that it was. So while some might scratch their heads, for others it is a sign.</p>
<p>At the info session one parent asked whether water was available on campus. Without laughing or even missing a beat the guy conducting the session answered “Yes, water is available in every building on campus and students may drink as much as they want.”</p>
<p>I think the parent may have been referring to bottled water, but that wasn’t what she said.</p>
<p>Re: water. Perhaps the school was one of the many that has invested in water bottle filling stations and ended the sale of bottled water on campus. In that case there would be nothing weird about what the guide said.</p>
<p>I remember when I was visiting one school on a particularly hot day we asked if there was any water available. They said yes, just go buy some at the store across the street.</p>
<p>This was at the same school where they started off their tour with a Big Official Person saying, “Odds are, none of you will be accepted.” I wonder if that’s because nobody would want to even apply after listening to that windbag for half an hour.</p>
<p>We went to a tour a few weeks ago on a day that was about 94 degrees and terribly humid. It was a 2-hour tour, and they didn’t offer water (or even stop by a drinking fountain). I was thinking that for a $15,000+ a year possible sale, they could offer a free drink.</p>
<p>We toured one college along with a dog that for some reason the family dragged along.</p>
<p>At one school we asked the admissions representative (adult, not student) about religious organizations and were told that there were no chaplains or religious groups on campus. A week later, at the resource fair, we introduced ourselves to the chaplain and suggested she pay a visit to the admissions office.</p>
<p>On our tour of a LAC in New England, the tour guide’s favorite phrase was “If you’re queer you’ll like it here”. I swear she said it at least 5 times. Resulted in many puzzled looks among both parents and prospective students.</p>
<p>My favorite moments were listening to the over-the-top Columbia presenter talking about how great the school was … as if Columbia needs to attract more applicants. It wasn’t that Columbia has engineering but that you aren’t just an engineer but you’d be building NYC. Second was the Brown guy … as if Brown needs more applicants … telling blunt lies about how “easy” it is to take classes at RISD.</p>
<p>My favorite tour was the one we took in Ann Arbor. I really wanted our D to go there. We had lunch at an admitted students gathering along with current students. Our D asked the student she was sitting next to what I thought was a silly question - “Would you choose to attend U of M again if you knew then what you know now?” But the student answered “No, probably not.”</p>
<p>We were on a tour once when a mother asked the tour guide how the school would punish anyone who was not nice to her “Davey.” I still remember the poor kid and his name. The mother wanted to be sure that Davey would be included in all activities, and wanted to know what the specific consequences would be for any students who “misbehaved.” The poor tour guide–he had no clue of what to say.</p>
That’s awesome. I would be impressed with a shake machine too! :D</p>
So while some might scratch their heads, for others it is a sign.</p>