Elon was hands down the most impressive and in-depth tour we went on. They really roll out the red carpet. It is no wonder it’s becoming a “hot” school for a lot of kids.
ETA: Our tour was pre-covid. We were impressed not only with the food and beverage, but mainly with the personal attention. After a more traditional tour with one guide for our family, my D21 was given an extended tour of her major department by the department head and an Elon senior. After that the Elon senior took my D for coffee and a more casual conversation about “life at Elon”. I call Elon the school that got away because she ultimately ruled it out. But I don’t hesitate to recommend it.
We’ve officially toured/visited about a dozen schools in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, NYC, Florida, Colorado, California, Ohio, Alabama, West Virginia. Barnard offered cookies and water at their open house. West Virginia’s “prospective students” event had lights snacks and bottles of water. Claremont McKenna had water bottles. We don’t remember other schools doing much more than that. Doesn’t mean the other tours weren’t excellent, sometimes there were just a whole lot of people in the room.
We went to a weekend for high school seniors at Wyoming. Daughter had not yet applied, but she got a whole bag of stuff. I’m sure there were some snacks around the info desks and some things like granola bars in the bag, but the biggest ‘treat’ was a ticket to the football game (value $30). When we did something at the administration office (maybe filled out a questionnaire, she got a really nice water bottle (which she promptly lost). I’m sure there were t-shirts, key chains, chapsticks, tote bags, etc.
They had had a big recruiting day in the summer and I know that involved BBQ and a free application code (we didn’t attend that).
I remember at Florida Southern every applicant got a t-shirt, water, cookies/other treats. We were driven around in golf carts, and it was at least 140 degrees out so we needed that water. and even though the walkways were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, hiking up them when it was 140 degrees was hard. Presbyterian had water and snacks (also 140 degrees). Duke had water and some other snacks. Florida Tech had breakfast and then you could buy meal tickets for a much reduced price (like $6) if you wanted to eat in the dining hall.
Most of the schools we did an official tour on had food, either a voucher for the dining hall, or snacks and drinks. Some had plastic water bottles or soft drinks.
I think Hollins had little goodie bags and drinks for everyone because they didn’t want us visitors going in the cafeteria during COVID times, but usually you are allowed to.
UNC gave us a dining hall voucher. I can’t remember about drinks because it’s been many years since we did that tour.
Warren Wilson gave us a whole meal with much of it grown on the farm (I remember there were fresh apples). You had a choice of vegan or meat tacos if I recall correctly.
Agnes Scott had a nice spread of snacks afterwards. I remember popcorn and there was a whole thing on the front porch of one of the buildings (Main?).
UNC-Asheville gave us a t-shirt and I think offered us water. I can’t remember that one very well.
We usually travel with water bottles anyway so I don’t always register if plastic water bottles are available since I usually have my hydro flask with me.
Agree! It was D2013’s first college tour and she was “SOLD!” after the breakfast spread It fell to the bottom of the list by the end of the process because of size and remote (ish) location. D2021 toured right after they resumed tours post-Covid. No breakfast but we did have our own personal tour guide for just the two of us. He even offered to eyeball her essay if she wanted. Unfortunately Elon was not her vibe, but she indulged me with the tour.
I don’t have a water bottle tally for any of the tours we did but kudos to those who take on summer tours in any of the southern states and live to tell the tale! I purposely only scheduled southern tours in late fall & winter (I live down here, so I know what the summers are like). Cheers to bringing your own bottle!
We have done 20 or more tours all on the Eastern half of the country in the last 3 yrs(‘21 and ‘23kids) and only one had small water bottles(it was very very hot but I cannot remember now if it was Wake or Emory in 2019) for some who didnt bring, and another had ponchos(princeton, because it was going to rain and with covid it was an all-outdoor rain or shine tour). No one else ever had anything besides brochures and it was never expected as the emails clearly said prepare for weather and bring your own water. And nobody had food, ever.
Really?? No food? Dang! Cheapskates! Did they at least give you a voucher for the dining hall? I mean we got that at UNC when my kid was like in 8th grade and clearly not yet a prospective student!
Oh Guilford is another one that gave us a free meal from the dining hall.
Colgate gave out ice cream pops. They were good…but we were there on one of the coldest days in April ever.
It’s interesting how the “main thread” becomes more of a justification than an experience. A recent comment was…
“Someone above didn’t choose Swarthmore, because the presenter said “um” more than 60 times. We are allowed to assess schools based on any conditions we want.”
What the original poster doesn’t appreciate is that there is a fair amount of research showing that the use of words like “um” and “ah” are not signs of nerves or lack of intelligence, but an awareness of the situation. The use of these words can be a sign of increased intelligence.
If all you heard at Swarthmore was “um”, then it’s highly likely you and your progeny don’t belong there.
Just as in performance reviews at work, a review says more about the reviewer than those being reviewed.
In spite of the ice cream, no application to Colgate because the primary focus of all discussion was about professional opportunities after graduation, not the next 4 years. The next day we visited Hamilton, and the juxtaposition dropped Colgate.
Final thought. If you’re out for the day touring a large facility, bring your own water.
Back in the late 80’s SMU used to give out cars during campus visits (but that was primarily for football players).
Choosing a college based on water bottles is like choosing a spouse based on the shoes they wear on a first day. Some significance maybe but worthy of impacting a life decision hardly. FYI my wife of 30 years had on Converse Chuck Taylor’s…as they say in the movies she had me at hello. Kismet!!
Honestly food and all that would feel very weird to us—as if trying too hard or something? Maybe because none have done that type of thing, it would be a big outlier. In general though all but one school was smallish, 3-8k undergrad range , with a lot of overlap of applicants so maybe they know all the other similar ones don’t do it?
When my son and I toured Furman University we were the only ones on a summer tour and when we walked into the dining hall they had a basket of individual bags of trail mix and the tour guide told us to take some. That was the best trail mix and I kept asking my son, who ended up going there, if he could pick up some more. He never saw the basket of trail mix again so we realized it probably was for some other event.
And honestly, if colleges get to decide based on kind of pointless bases whether they’ll take one student or another (we have a choice between a bassoonist and a tubist, so let’s admit the tuba player because why not?), well, then it seems only right for potential applicants to whittle down their lists based on kind of pointless bases, too.
I’ve read a few reviews in the main thread in which the parent didn’t like the college before visiting and after the tour/info session that opinion was confirmed. Nothing like going into it with a closed mind.
We once visited a school D wasn’t excited about. She wanted a LAC and we toured a number of them. Close to one LAC was a mid-sized university that was in her academic range. We thought it would be good if she toured one of the “next size up” colleges in order to get a better get a feel of what other types of college options were out there. (For full disclosure she attended a LAC and loved it!)
To be fair we visited schools that I had doubts about, either because the kid wanted to or we had already traveled to the area and “might as well”. I like to think I was open to being positively surprised but didn’t happen ha.
Sometimes you have to cross it off for the child, believing it’s not a good fit for your student even though they do. That’s what I was referring to in the performance comment above. If you go there looking for issues because it’s too expensive, your kid isn’t going to get in, etc… you can find them. Posting those in the thread is (I guess) a review, but isolating guide behaviors, speech patterns, or fashion is more about the reviewers’ taste or pre-dispositions than about the product presented.
If I had a nickel for every vocal fry we encountered on the tours… but the visit is about the content, not the individuals.
We dropped Princeton because everyone we observed in the department we were focused on seemed miserable (true statement - went back to confirm, and were presented even more misery on the second visit), but dropping Princeton because the tour guide looked down the whole time suggests someone looking for support for a decision already made.
Places we visited had water bottle filling stations everywhere (the dual drinking fountain/tall filler combination you see also at airports) plus email confirmations ahead of our visits suggested the type of clothing and shoes to wear (as there would be plenty of walking outdoors) and they encouraged everyone to bring a water bottle.
Coffee and tea were available at most admissions offices when we sat in on information sessions, but nowhere that we went were disposable water bottles offered.
It fell to the bottom of the list by the end of the process because of size and remote (ish) location. D2021 toured right after they resumed tours post-Covid. No breakfast but we did have our own personal tour guide for just the two of us. He even offered to eyeball her essay if she wanted. Unfortunately Elon was not her vibe, but she indulged me with the tour.