@lvvcsf I was driven to near distraction by a tour guide who ended practically every sentence with “as well,” even when it didn’t fit.
This really had nothing to do with the tour, but it happened on our way there. Standing outside of the gates to Howard, a homeless man in a wheelchair was aggressively pointing two crutches at me, my mom, and my dad asking if we are students and allowed to be here. My dad begins a conversation with him for some reason, and by the time I look at my mom she’s already darted to the other side of the street.
I would have put my money on tOSU
Oh, you gotta capitalize that “T”!
The rest of us in the upper Midwest ignore that “the”. Their problem, no one else’s, that they feel the need to add it. The rest of us go to the U of X or X or X state. Our schools play against Ohio State.
@lvvcsf , was that tour at Harvey Mudd, by any chance? My daughter and I had a great and memorable tour at HMC in the summer of 2010 with a cheery fellow who kept alternating between, “That being said”, and “Sooooo… yeah!”.
@wis75, I am a Wolverine. We don’t ignore it, we make fun of it.
Good for you. I can imagine the loud “THE” in a stadium… followed by???, I can’t imagine. Nothing like neighbor state rivalries, id there? btw- Michigan has too large a lake between schools to count as close by to WI.
Well, you guys also don’t insist on adding “THE University of Wisconsin” to your name, either. 
I hear people say The Ohio State University or Ohio State . . . but I’ve not heard anyone say Ohio State University and I have to say it would sound odd to hear it referred to as such.
Johns Hopkins University used to be The Johns Hopkins University. They dropped the definite article.
https://library.osu.edu/find/collections/the-ohio-state-university-archives/buckeye-history/faqs/#1
I was curious about the backstory, since we’re not Ohio residents, so I Googled:
FAQ’s
“Why are we called “THE” Ohio State University”?
In 1986, a new University logo was introduced in the hopes of moving away from the “OSU” symbol, which had been used since 1977. The change from simply “OSU” was said to “reflect the national stature of the institution.” University officials wanted the institution to be known as “The Ohio State University,” again, since OSU could also mean Oregon State and Oklahoma State University.
However, the “The” was actually part of the state legislation when the university was renamed in 1878. The following excerpt is from the Board of Trustee minutes:
“…the educational institution heretofore known as the ‘Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College,’ shall be known and designated hereafter as ‘The Ohio State University.’”
Those who wanted the name change thought the original name was too narrow in scope, and that it was inadequate for the institution that was the only beneficiary of the land grant act. President Edward Orton was insistent that a new name would separate the institution from other colleges in Ohio.
Legend also has it that “The” was used to show the other colleges which institution was supposed to be the leader in the state - both in size and in financial support from the legislature."
None of the tours I’ve been on have been particularly bad, the people on the tour all behaved and the tour guides were eloquent and knowledgeable.
Miami University (Ohio): Nice tour guide. She ran into her advisor on the tour and he made sure to tell us she was one of Miami’s best students. Definitely confirmed Miami’s reputation for undergrad focused teaching! The admission representatives were probably the friendliest of any school I visited. They were also very helpful when I called and asked about Farmer business school tours, since there were no tours available the rep sent me an information packet and resources for a self guided tour.
University of Michigan: The tour guide was very good and did a quick icebreaker with our tour group before we started. The only problem was that they didn’t coordinate the different groups well and we had to keep changing directions so as to not run into anyone.
UChicago: The presenter kind of killed it for me. He presented like he had been given a script of exactly what he was supposed to do and say. What’s worse was that he was a recent alum, if you’ve chosen to work at your alma mater you’d think you could come up with someone genuinely passionate to say about it…
UPenn: The presenter reminded me of Elder Price from the Book of Mormom, I was just waiting for him to start singing the whole time 
He also said something along the lines of “We were founded by Ben Franklin and like him we have a great distrust of politicians.” Very awkward, what if visitors had been interested in poli sci or their parents were politicans? Or consider the many alumni of the school who are politicians? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_University_of_Pennsylvania_people#Government.2C_politics_and_law) Very weird.
Funnily enough my number one is the school where I went on a self-guided tour - The Ohio State University 
Nothing like a tour guide who kills your kid’s excitement at being there by making a pointed jab at the those in the desired field of study.
At an Ivy with my daughter, the tour guide stops across from the mathematics department building, then points and states that of all the buildings on campus only the math and philosophy buildings do not have a donor name above them, as “No one who ever works in mathematics is ever going to make enough money to have their name put on a building!”
The ivy fell away from the doorways.
@Snowybuny what’d you like best about the Ohio State tour? We haven’t made it to that campus yet. You say the self-guided tour is worthwhile?
It’s gotta hurt to be a Michigan fan this week…
@ohiomomof2 Not as much as it hurts to be a Patriots fan…but we will see you all in Santa Clara!
We were on a tour a couple of weeks ago during an open house where a mother and daughter (who were touring with the daughter’s friend) got into a messy, nasty argument and then spent the rest of the tour being hostile and nasty. The tour guide really didn’t know how to deal with that. It was massively uncomfortable.
Touring UNC last spring. Our tour guide was a very nice guy but one who was obviously just a little too impressed with his physique. He mentioned he had just been at a Cross Fit competition, wore a very close fitting shirt to show off his brand new muscles, mentioned how many girls he had met during his freshman year and then started talking about last year’s Halloween costume, which he had designed specifically with his ex-girlfriend in mind. He said that he didn’t feel comfortable telling all of us what it was, but would be happy to tell us privately if we wanted to know. I couldn’t resist. Turns out he was dressed as a Chippendale dancer. DD not sending an app to UNC.
@zoosermom On a couple of tours, they separated kids from their parents (though the groups themselves remained mixed). I thought it was a good practice in that it freed both kids and parents to ask questions without fear of embarrassing each other, and also gave parent and child two different experiences to compare later.
Not sure anything beats “Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey” which is the official name.