<p>@lookingforward #72 *At one college, the guide asked each visiting kid where they “prepped.” *</p>
<p>You took your tour in 1961?</p>
<p>D registered for a special arts and culture for over a month ago at UPenn. She has limited time to tour schools and a respected friend recommended she look at Penn. The day before the type she gets an email telling her exactly where to meet, etc. The problem was that no one seemed to know that there was a tour scheduled, not the person at the museum where she was supposed to sign in, not the person at admissions where she was sent. Now, they did call a lot of people and try to find out what was going on. But that doesn’t really change the fact that she spent one of her few days off and several hundred dollars to visit a school that didn’t have a tour even after confirming her tour via email. The big problem is that the Penn supplement asked for specific reasons that it is a fit. Well, she TRIED to learn if it would be or not, giving up a day that she could have spend working on essays. She THOUGHT that a tour highlighting her interests was a good sign, but the fact that no one seemed to even know that such a tour existed doesn’t bode well. </p>
<p>Should she send an email asking what happened? We’re both pretty upset that we spent so much time and money to visit and came up empty handed. </p>
<p>Yes. Send an email. Forward the email you received confirming the details.</p>
<p>One of the best tours and tour guides we had was with older d at University of Rochester, info session was great and tour guide had pre-printed business cards that he passed out to anyone who was interested and had more questions.</p>
<p>Great tour guide at Cornell. It started to rain after info session and many chose not to take actual tour so it ended up just a handful and older d and tour guide walked one on one together under umbrella and DH and I followed.</p>
<p>One of the worst tours we ever took was at Northwestern for younger d who was auditioning for music and we flew out early on a Friday morning, afternoon tour and audition the next day. Boring info session and very ditzy tour guide who told us about all the frat parties and how she changed her major numerous times. Did not go into many buildings on the tour, just pointed in the general direction.</p>
<p>University of Delaware, very long info session in which we watched a video and then had a presentation that covered everything in the video. Sweet, well meaning tour guide but not well-informed about overall facts about the school.</p>
<p>Strangest experiences:
Carnegie Mellon in response to email about campus visit at the end of summer, pre-Labor Day… “we ain’t giving no tours” that particular day. I was so appalled that I did forward to Dean of Admissions.</p>
<p>Emerson College- called for tour info for Columbus Day as we were in Boston to visit older d at her school which was hosting very large campus open-house for prospective students that several of younger d’s friends were attending. Had already scheduled tour of BU for AM but could change to PM depending on Emerson. Emerson’s Admission Office told me quite rudely that I must be totally misinformed as " no college in the entire Boston area would be giving any tours that day because all schools were closed for Columbus Day". They basically told me that I was lying when I told them I had already scheduled tour at BU and I knew Brandeis had major open house for prospective students. So younger d never toured Emerson and also never applied.</p>
<p>Older d went with husband to Prospective Students Day (also on Columbus Day, a school holiday in much of the NE) to Vassar. She said the entire day was so poorly organized and discombobulated… that she could not possibly imagine applying and attending there as she did not think they could possibly advise or organize her academically. </p>
<p>RIT: kiss #1 - As we drove into the massive parking lot, D said that it looked like we were going to an office park.
kiss #2 - After the info session, the crowd was broken up based on where we were sitting. D really wanted to go with a guide majoring in engineering, but ended up with a guide majoring in art. She tried to join the other guide, but the aisles were blocked and she couldn’t find the group outside. If you’re going to have the guides introduce themselves and their major, let the people choose who to go with.
kiss #3 - The dorm tour was a separate option later, because “the freshman dorms are too far away for them to be in the same tour.”
kiss #4 - The 17 times we heard about the new hockey rink. I may be exaggerating, but not by much.<br>
kiss #5 - The tour guide pointed out a bridge over a walkway where he said a student had fallen during a campus-wide drunken party.
kiss #6 - It was cute when the boys in the computer science lab/hang out area all waved to the tour. D noticed that there were no girls there.</p>
<p>D will not be applying to RIT. We talked about not letting the tour affect her too much. In the end, she feels RIT is just too big and the campus felt oppressive to her. Who wants to go to a school that feels oppressive?</p>
<p>@MiamiDAP, I like the idea of “the kiss of love!”</p>
<p>My D’s kiss of love at Reed was everything the admissions officer and the tour guide said about the quirkiness of the students – the weird names for student clubs, the crazy pranks they get up to, etc… It sounded like exactly her kind of people. I will still want her to visit during the school year (we went in summer) before deciding to go there, but it was those stories that put Reed up near the top of her list.</p>
<p>Kiss of love at Scripps was the small and beautiful campus, hearing about the Core classes, having smoothies at the student-run coffeehouse, and seeing a poster for some kind of LGBT sports event. D thought it was great that there wasn’t just an LGBT organization, there was an LGBT organization devoted just to sports!</p>
<p>Kiss of love at Pitzer was hearing about how the school finally, in response to student pressure, divested from its holdings in fossil fuel companies.</p>
<p>No real kiss of death – she has yet to see a campus that she totally hated. But she is definitely the kind of kid who can’t get interested in a school until she’s actually physically seen it.</p>
<p>bookmama22, we had a similar experience at Vassar- even at admitted students day. We went to W&M’s day on a Sat and Vassars the next day & the two experiences were polar opposites. W&M was warm, welcoming, organized, creative, helpful. Vassar’s was the exact opposite. Frankly, based on the experience I would have chosen W&M > V like a shot. D2, on the other hand, stayed right with me through the W&M day (except the parent/kid segregated session of course), but within half an hour @ V got talking to current & admitted students and I didn’t see her until the (bag) lunch (v the all-out barbecue at W&M…). That told me all I needed to know: it was clear that D2 had found her people. And, as another poster has said, admissions is sales & marketing, and once the sale is done you never see them.</p>
<p>Btw, your D was right that they don’t really organize you academically at Vassar- they expect you to do that for yourself. She is mistaken, though about the advising: there is great guidance, support, etc. It’s fine at the start, but really kicks in when you start to focus on your major area. The professors actually deliver on the individual bit that all the colleges tout. D2 is very happily ensconced there, but I do think that V, more than many LACs, is a ‘fit’ school- it suits you or it doesn’t.</p>
<p>My older daughter toured Sarah Lawrence, and we kept noticing the poor condition of the buildings, found out there was no wifi on campus (this was in 2006), and heard from multiple students that the relationship between the students and the campus police was tense and unpleasant. </p>
<p>I think the next weekend we visited WPI and noticed how well maintained the buildings were, obviously there was wifi (even then you could get a computer notification when your load of laundry was done) and the campus police were hands down the nicest campus police (or any police, for that matter) I’ve ever encountered. One girl we sat with at lunch said she had a stalker (an ex- boyfriend who did not attend WPI) and she developed a pretty close relationship with the police and she said she felt very safe because they watched out for her. </p>
<p>I like “kiss of love” too. Different kinds of schools, but when we toured HBCUs last summer two really stood out, and are D’s top two right now.</p>
<p>At Benedict - Kiss of love #1: Tour guide, a grad and current grad student in D’s prospective major, showed up late explaining that our assigned person had been in an accident but she’d rushed in to take over. They could have just let us wander around alone.</p>
<p>Kiss #2: Guide took us to meet the dept. chair, who took 30 minutes to discuss the program with us, early entrance, which D is interested in, and the state of education in that city (D intends to teach).</p>
<p>Kiss #3: Guide recognized a recent grad in the school store and asked him to tell D about his experience in the program, getting a job, and teaching locally. He took 20 minutes out of his day off to tell us.</p>
<p>Kiss #4: Guide took us to the Freshman advisory program, where they help kids stay on track, work out problems from bad roommates to homesickness to study skills, and the education majors’ adviser also took time to talk to us about how it works.</p>
<p>Kiss #5: Guide took us to see the person in charge of retention, as that was a concern of H’s. While he talked with us, guide spotted college president who ALSO dropped what he was doing and talked directly to D and her friend who was with us. The tour took a total of 3 hours and not one person seemed to mind being interrupted.</p>
<p>At Fisk: The guide spoke at length about her own experiences as a mixed-race person and the challenge that’s presented, and how at Fisk she felt like she was her tribe for the first time. Although a different major, she told D about the classes, the profs, and what she thought of them.</p>
<p>Kiss #2: Everyone knew our guide, and she knew everyone we passed. D attends a very small HS with the same dynamic and it appealed to her that college could be the same.</p>
<p>Kiss #3: We met with the director of admissions, who answered our many questions, and the former director, now promoted, but who we’d met in Seattle at an event, talked with us for nearly an hour. He gave the girls suggestions for success both in HS and in their college search. We were never pressured to choose HIS program though. </p>
<p>Kiss #4: The history. There’s a library display of artifacts from slave times and beyond that is very moving. The guide knew the story behind the statue of one of Fisk’s most prominent graduates, WEB DuBois. We learned that freshmen girls live in the iconic Jubilee Hall and got to see some of it. We also learned about the tunnels under many of the buildings, built so that students could hide when angry white locals attacked the school, and the bell used to warn them to go into the tunnels. </p>
<p>Worst:
Northwestern: for such a hard school to get into, our guide was a ditz. Adcom rep was boring and the session was a snooze-fest.
Oberlin: Apathetic office workers, apathetic tour guide. Seemed like there was not school pride at all.</p>
<p>Best:
U Chicago: Quirky kids make it fun and interesting
Cornell: By far, the best tour we ever had.
Carnegie Mellon: two guides per group. It was informative and the guides were extremely well trained and friendly.
DePauw: Really great guide, enthusiastic.
Lawrence University: Provided umbrellas for everyone. Made a rainy tour much more pleasant.</p>
<p>So-so:
Case Western: It was cold, so maybe that accounts for the lack of enthusiasm.
Cincinnati: Typical big public university tour. Impersonal info session. They rushed us through like cattle.</p>
<p>collegemom3717,
I am sure Vassar is a great fit for many students, it wasn’t the right place for older d. She did not opt to apply there after Prospective Students Day… but she had many great choices for undergrad with merit money at several, she was accepted to a very selective grad school in her field and she has a great job in her field… so no complaints all in all.</p>
<p>Haven’t toured yet for sophomore son, but he has the “kiss of love” from social media posts by a friend who graduated last year and is at Caltech. Posts he has quoted to me include that preparations for some sort of party at Caltech are going well, because “the milling machines are running full time, and the mine cart tracks are properly suspended over the party venue.” </p>
<p>Mine cart tracks???</p>
<p>CrimsonMommie, during the long and convoluted NYC high school selection process, I learned never, ever, ever to display my opinion about any school, at least not until I heard from my daughter. Kiss of death for sure.</p>
<p>@Ynotgo INTERHOUSE! Great fun and you would not believe what these guys/gals come up with!! My H said they flooded the dorm hallways to make a flume type ride his freshman year…craziness!!</p>
<p>Just saying: at the school that became D1’s number one, I did hesitate, then said, don’t know if I should mention, but I really like this place. Her answer: Me, too, I love it. </p>
<p>There, while waiting for her interview, the admissions dean wandered out and just chatted with her for 45 minutes. We went to check into community engagement programs and again, one of the adults came out to chat her up. </p>
<p>DS seems to love every school he visits and his favorite is generally the one he’s visited last. DH and I have a pact that if DS is invited to admitted students weekends we’ll try to arrange it so he goes to the one we like best last - he’ll be sure to go there! </p>
<p>College #1: “Too many blond people” (S2 is blond himself)
College#2: “Too many trees.”
College#3: “No Chik-fil-A”
College#4: “Middle of nowhere - nothing to do.”</p>
<p>He ended up at College #5: Low diversity (many blond people), lots of trees, no fast food within city limits, and absolutely no night life. I learned very early on to ignore S2’s opinions. haha</p>
<p>Blonds can be very diverse, BTW.</p>
<p>Kisses of Death:</p>
<h1>1 Banana muffins were mixed in with the chocolate muffins. “everyone knows that makes the delicious chocolate taste like nasty banana”</h1>
<h1>2 buildings are terra cotta, “I can’t touch that”</h1>
<h1>3 too much orange “they stopped the tour bus at the stadium…but not the library, or the academic buildings”</h1>
<h1>4 too much fog “ill get lost”</h1>
<h1>5 no boys allowed in dorms “seriously?”</h1>
<p>Although it might have been a kiss of death if I had recommended the school where my D attends, it was a kiss of love that her friend had visited the school and told D it would be a great fit for her. </p>