New Student Tour Guide: What do you wish your college tours had been like?

Parents Forum
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I was just hired as a new student tour guide for my college and have been browsing the threads about eyebrow-raising tours (and fervently hoping stories of my tours won’t end up there!) Curious to know, from a parent’s perspective:

– What information about their colleges do tour guides often not know/share that you want to know? I.e., what do you find “missing” from the typical tour?

–What do you wish tour guides understood about prospective students/parents?

– What are the real highlights of great tours? Has a tour ever sold you on a school? If so, what did that tour guide do to make the difference?

Thanks in advance :slight_smile:

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Here is a tip. Make sure you have the right entry card to get in the dorms. More often than not the tour guide could not get in a dorm and it looked really bad.

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For me, I always watched the excitement level/happiness/pride of the student tour guides. Did they look like they really enjoyed being there? Did they have a positive attitude? Did they seem to have a pride in their school? I always looked at those aspects because to me, student satisfaction is important. If the student tour guides don’t seem too elated about their school or eager to give back/serve it in a positive way, how can I expect to be happy there?

Besides that, I think being friendly, explaining all the aspects about class environment and campus life, and answering every question to the best of your ability is the best way to go. :smiley:

Another thing, what tour guides need to understand is that both the parents and the children are very nervous. Some students may feel shy and out of place and not ask many questions (shield in the shadows) while parents are combating their stress and compensating for their children’s quietness by asking a LOT of questions. So just be patient because students may not be too talkative and parents are…too talkative. xD

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I went on way too many tours where the tour guide rambled on and on about school traditions. Traditions are great, and I’m glad that the tour guide has pride in them, but most of what they would say seemed to have little to do with everyday life on campus (i.e. UVA tour guide talking about secret societies every five minutes, W&M tour guide speaking at great length about a certain picnic). It’s one thing to make mention of these things, but how many prospective students will make a decision based on some spooky secret society talk?

What impressed me, on the other hand, was when the tour guide went over more of the practical things about living on campus, like where freshmen live and eat, which buildings house what departments, what the general vibe of the community is, etc.

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On one tour, we were in the Library and S asked a question about hours or some such thing and the tour guide said she didn’t know because she never really went in there except for the lobby when giving tours. S was NOT impressed.

Agree with the overemphasis on traditions talk.

Also, some guides had verbal tics and repeated the same phrase over and over a la “and the X is like totally awesome”, “and the Y is like totally awesome”. You might try giving your tour to your own parents or visiting friends to see whether you can think on your feet and not say the same thing 20 times.

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My daughter & I went on an eight college tour across California last October. It was the small, genuine interactions that made all the difference.

Awesome:
Our first school was Pitzer, right off a red eye flight. We only had 15 minutes before the tour started, and I asked the guide if someplace was open where I could get a quick snack. Nothing was and she insisted on running up to her dorm room to get me a granola bar. Cool, caring, down-to-earth – just like the school.

Our Cal Poly Slo guide was an admitted goofball. The jokes were bad, but she was still cracking herself up, which lightened everyone’s mood. Also, she was excellent at throwing out questions to random students (Ex: workload question to engineering student in front of engineering building) It was great to hear from a variety of people.

Stanford was the best because we took the golf cart tour and no one else had signed-up. We had the guide all to ourselves, and she was very genuine with us. She happened to be from Hawaii too so she bonded with my D over outrigger canoeing and owning a ridiculous number of bikinis. Obviously, you won’t always be able to have one-of-one chats with everyone, but the more common ground you find with those taking the tour, the more positive the memory will be.

Not so awesome:
The was very hot at Occidental during our tour and jet lag had set-in. Both my D and I were sick at different points in the tour and had to leave and come back. The group was only about 10 people, but at no point did the guide acknowledge we were literally dropping like flies. She had a timetable, she had a script, and no amount misery was going to change that.

Pamona. Our tour guide was hard-working, brilliant, multi-faceted, a favorite of the ladies, and an all-around superstar. How do I know? Because pretty much all we heard about on the tour was how awesome he was, which, in fact, was not so awesome.

Good luck, and have FUN! :slight_smile:

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Talk about the school…not only about yourself.

The very best tour guide we had in 28 college visits was at University of South Carolina. When DD became a student ambassador, she remembered that tour, and tried to make hers as appealing.

So…think about the tours YOU went on.,what made them appealing to you. What did the guide do to make your tour informative, but fun…and not a turn off.

The worst ones we remembered were the students who rambled on and on about how perfect the school was…or rambled on and on about themselves and why the school was perfect for them.

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The best tour guides to me, as a parent, were enthusiastic (funny if that’s natural, otherwise friendly or self-effacing was fine!).

Substantively, the best tours took us to AND INTO every building practical given time constants (at least one academic building/classroom/lab/lecture hall, a dining hall, a dorm (and room), library, student center, an athletic facility…some tours omitted one or more of these…why?). I hated tours where we just looked at the outside of buildings.

I liked tours that were small - 15 or fewer people with a guide.

I liked tours where you could choose a guide based on major or interest.

Hard to see a college in much less than an hour, and much more is tiring.

I like guides to be able to adjust tours with weather. It’s raining? Be inside a bit more. It’s hot? Pick a shady spot to stop to talk about the quad. Etc.

And for the love of God, when 5 tour groups go out at once, maybe some start at one end of the tour and some the other? Waiting for all the groups to move on was super annoying.

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I agree that it’s important to go intro buildings especially the dorms, dining halls , library and athletic facilities. I hated walking past buildings and just being told what building it was and what classes were taught there.

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I used to be an admissions rep at my undergraduate school. We represented the school at college fairs, conducted interviews, and conducted tours (my favorite). I had numerous people tell me that my tour was the best tour they experienced anywhere. Boy did that pump me up! I credit my admission rep experience with my transition from a relatively quiet, shy introvert to an extrovert who loves a podium!

It’s good to be flexible so you can adapt to the needs of the day – based on weather, size of the group, and interests of the students. I found that people often appreciated a chance to sit down. People also seemed to like to visit typical classrooms. So I found an example of a smaller humanities classroom in an older building that we visited early in the tour and a large lecture hall in the new science building that we would visit later in the tour. If we were able, I’d let everyone sit down in the classroom(s). I would spend a few minutes discussing something relevant (average class sizes, general ed requirements, etc.) and then open it up to questions. People often appreciated the chance to see actual classrooms, rest a bit, and be able to have a conversation in a forum where everyone could hear.

In general, I think people like a tour guide who has genuine enthusiasm for the school, who is willing to open up and share some of their personal story, and who is able to connect with the group (listen, read, pay attention), and adapt for the group.

Good luck and enjoy!! It should be a very rewarding experience!

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I like to hear the tour guide. My advice would be:
Project your voice.

Don’t talk when a big truck goes by.

Face your audience (learn to walk backwards . :wink: )

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Lots of good comments already. We appreciated the enthusiasm and pride in their school shown by many of our tour guides. I think it’s really interesting to get to see (1) inside a dorm including the lounge area and somebody’s room (usually the tour guide’s), and (2) a sample classroom, usually chosen to show how small the classroom is. On our Pomona tour, the tour guide showed us inside two classrooms, to contrast what she said was considered a large class at Pomona (could seat 35-40) and what she said was a more typical one, which had a conference room table that could seat maybe 10 max. Also when the tour guide says hi to specific people (students or staff) as you walk across the campus it makes the campus seem friendly and welcoming.

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Obviously it’s not possible with large tours, but our favorites were smaller tours where the guide made a point of introducing us to people from the department where D was interested in majoring. The best actually noticed a recent grad from D’s major in the student bookstore and asked him to share his experience with us. Then, when H asked a question she didn’t know the answer to, she took us right to that department and asked the person in charge of that issue if he could provide an answer for us. That in turn led us to the school president’s office, where he dropped everything to speak with us. That school remains at the top of D’s list.

For large tours, yes, either walk backwards when speaking, or stop and turn to face us to talk. I am hard of hearing and walking away from me while talking is useless. Try to speak with families in smaller clumps somewhere along the tour.

Act like you care to be there, not just because you’re getting paid. If you’re asked a serious question and don’t know the answer, try to find the person who does know, or at least share the department name or a way for parents/students to find out. Don’t pretend you know everything. If something about the school makes you really love it, say so on a personal level. Your experience is only one, but it’s valid, especially if you have an unusual reason to be there or have an uncommon story (like why a kid from urban San Francisco would choose a tiny southern college). Smile a lot, but don’t be fake about it.

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If your school has certain policies that people might question or be curious about, prepare an answer. For example, I sometimes asked about schools’ alcohol policies. I appreciated it when the tour guides gave what I considered to be honest answers.

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I appreciated the tours where the guide attempted to connect with each visiting student in a personal way (Where are you from? What are your interests? Is there anything in particular that you would like to see? etc.). I didn’t like the tours where they went through a robotic presentation.

One guide at Oberlin went on and on about bands that the guide liked. Okay, but maybe tell us something meaningful about your school?

I always thought it was interesting when they talked about a specific class that they enjoyed, or a professor on campus who was really great.

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Speak so you are heard by everyone in your group. Biggest gripe for any kind of tour, whether it is a class field trip or a college tour. And we did have a tour guide at Ga Tech that walked backwards for an entire hour while speaking loudly and engaging the entire group.

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Thanks so much to everyone for all the tips and suggestions, please keep them coming!

I’m becoming more and more sympathetic to all the less-than-stellar guides out there-- it’s hard to remember all the facts, stories, and trivia while also keeping on track, herding everyone across a busy campus while also personalizing the tour and connecting to the students while also keeping a good balance between personable and professional! Harder than it looks for sure :slight_smile:

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I’ll add:

Be careful not to get behind schedule, particularly if there’s an information session planned for the time you’re supposed to be bringing your tour back. If you run late and have students who need to peel off from the tour because they have an interview make sure they know how to get back to admissions. While the layout of the campus may seem obvious to you it may be confusing to a visiting family, and the extra care you show in helping a prospective orient him or herself will be very much appreciated.

Remember that your tour may include students with disparate interests. Just because a student has indicated a possible major doesn’t mean that they won’t want to hear about other programs. On smaller tours D, a recruitable athlete, was often matched with athletes as guides. Unfortunately a couple of these guides spoke about little other than their sport, leaving the impression that the school was lacking in the “scholar” part of the scholar-athlete equation. Some of the best tours were given by students with interests very different from my D’s. They gave a good sense of the school culture as a whole while being able to answer questions about specific programs and policies.

Do point out major buildings you aren’t taking students into and tell your tours whether and how they can access the buildings on their own. Some of the tours we were on didn’t have time to visit the athletic center but we liked to be able to see it afterwards. We appreciated the guide who pointed out buildings that weren’t part of the official tour, in particular the frat houses and his favorite coffee shop.

If you’re doing cold weather tours remember that students from warm weather places may not be as prepared as you for the cold. We had one spring break tour during unseasonably cold weather and the otherwise excellent tour guide kept stopping in front of buildings to talk about what was inside them while we all shivered until someone on the tour finally begged him to let us go inside the buildings. Rain, snow, wind and excessive cold may all call for some flexibility.

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I suggest you work into your conversation the fact that you are a new tour guide. That might help the folks in your group to be a bit more gracious. I am also thinking of the opposite part of the equation…what awful things do parents and prospective students ask/demand on a tour? You may encounter rudeness and find yourself bombarded with multiple conflicting requests. You will need to develop a strategy for saying no in the kindest way possible, or deflecting more personal questions to the end of the tour, etc.

I have been a tour guide for individual families at my college, and that was not stressful. But I am glad I never led a large group. Multiple families, maybe students or siblings that don’t even want to be there, parents with their own agendas, and the helicopter mom that asks so many questions the rest of the group just wants to walk away.

I hope you still want to be a tour guide after all these posts. Good luck to you!

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@powercropper http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhpoYCbvxGk