<p>At my D’s safety school, the tour was great. She paid attention to everyone, made personal connection – told me she had an interview later that week with major hi-profile employer in my area – whcih was best airport to use. She helped me and D love her safety, I was so greatful.</p>
<p>IMHO, if schools cant arrange for dorm room tours, they should have them available on computer to look at sample fresh rooms.</p>
<p>“Hmm…a lethargic, ignorant, surly liar might make a bad tour guide, but certainly an interesting one!”</p>
<p>Sounds like my friend’s adopted son. Yes he’s been interesting, and quite the counterpoint for his parents … who like most CC parents, had become accustomed to success.</p>
<p>PS, my D is thin as a rail, but if I ever hear anyone critizing people for being fat, I would think a lot less of that person (not the fat one).</p>
<p>Will concur that our tour guide and the information session sold son hugely on the school. Not that son had a lot in common with the tour guide per say EXCEPT for what they were looking for in a college. </p>
<p>I believe Brown has a sample dorm room set up and all decorated for students to see (and actually in our case it was one of those “take a load” off moments. I think one of the reasons they don’t show dorms all that often is that even on one campus the dorms all over the map in terms of size, amenities, location, etc that to show one is kinda pointless. However, I do wish more schools would take the time to show pictures of actual dorm rooms/lounges instead of a mere floor plan. Even with the differences of singles, doubles and suite situations, it’s only like three pictures a dorm. How hard can that be?</p>
<p>“Even with the differences of singles, doubles and suite situations, it’s only like three pictures a dorm. How hard can that be?”</p>
<p>I was helping D move into her freshman dorm. I’d brought a measuring tape and considerable prior experience, so we were done in a couple hours. BUT, not all rooms were the same size, and some parents who arrived with preconceived notions of room dimensions and amount of “stuff” to be stored (hint, girls bring more) were still struggling with set up at 9 PM when we left. Same dorm, same floor. I’m thinking that colleges don’t show room pics due to the number of variables.</p>
<p>That said, during informal “walk arounds” D was invited into dorms at several schools (by residents, who obviously knew how important dorms were prospective students).</p>
<p>Between having 2 college-bound students, I have toured 15 colleges/universities. Every single one at least ATTEMPTED to show us a dorm room. At Holy Cross we just walked thru a dorm hoping someone would have their door open, but they didn’t. In my book, that was a strike against the college. If the college is offering tours, they should know that people want to see dorm rooms and make plans for that accordingly. Every other school either had a “sample room” set up (UMass, UConn, Clemson, Union) or showed us someone’s actual dorm room. At Stonehill, they told us kids could sign up to have their room be on tours and it would get them a discount on their housing fee. The students were given specific days and time slots that their room might be used, it wasn’t a 24/7 kind of thing. At others, tour guides had arranged in advance with a friend.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine touring a college and not seeing a dorm. For gosh sakes, you’ve got to live there! I think either a sample room or Stonehill’s idea of paying kids to allow their room to be a tour room on certain times/days are good ideas. Any college who leaves it up to their tour guides to find a room “if they can” is not running a well-organized admissions office, IMHO.</p>
<p>We saw a dorm room at RPI, CMU and WPI, and Caltech, but I think CMU only shows them as part of a special tour during the accepted students weekends, but they also have multiple “sleeping bag weekends” during the year where you would be able to see at least one room. Harvard doesn’t show rooms, but again if you come to accepted students weekends you can stay in a room. Berkeley didn’t show rooms or even the outside of the dorms. Brandeis we walked through a dorm, but didn’t see a room. We didn’t see a room at Bard just the outside of dorms, at Vassar we only saw the lounge of a dorm. I don’t think we saw a room at Tufts. </p>
<p>Frankly all dorm rooms look similar. As it happens, my son got a much nicer room at CMU than any room we saw on any tour. (It was a one bedroom apartment with two HUGE rooms.) I can speak for Harvard that there is no typical freshman room - most (all?) freshman rooms are suites, but they are divided up in a million different combinations and some have the bathroom in the suite while others have it on a corridor, some dorms have corridors while others are organized around entryways.</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has floor plans and views of their dorm that are really very good. For example this is the info we had on mathson’s dorm: <a href=“http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/shirley/[/url]”>http://www.housing.cmu.edu/buildings/shirley/</a> You see the floor plan, a 360 degree view of living room and bedroom and can even see that you are likely to get a view of a nearby parking garage!</p>
<p>Lafalum, that’s nice to hear about Stonehill, we are visiting this Fall and one of my daughters really likes what she sees/hears. They are supposed to have nice dorms, larger than most.
I feel when a college never wants to show you a dorm, even when the students are gone, something is wrong, even seeing the building inside, laundry rooms is something. One time a guide took us in a freshman dorm, although I got the impression he/she was doing it on their own. It smelled so musty and was so drab, but I know she wanted us to know that, she emphasized that the upper-class dorms were much better. I heard through a friend, the freshman dorms at Tufts were awful, echoed by her husband who isn’t a fussy type…maybe that’s why they avoid it.</p>
<p>Debruns, I was very impressed with Stonehill. They seem to sincerely listen to their students about what would make their experience better and their life as a student easier, and try to implement those suggestions. One thing they said is that students can earn and lose “points” - earn them with GPA, joining activities, volunteering, etc, and lose them by disciplinary infractions - and those points help determine where your place is in the room-pick lottery. More points moves you up in the line to get a better choice of room. I thought that was a great idea. I have a friend whose D just graduated from there and loved it.</p>
<p>Marist has something similar. I haven’t heard anyone in our small neck of the woods hate it at Stonehill, they seem ready for work when they graduated, felt they were prepared for grad school and loved their study-abroad experiences. You have to like a smaller campus, not want to be in a big city and at least want to try to be involved.</p>
<p>When we visited Fordham, we saw 2 dorm rooms and Providence was also nice about showing us rooms, some students had their doors open and welcomed a “peek”. They varied in neatness of course, but you get an idea of the size and more importantly, the upkeep of the dorm in general. I think that is very important too.</p>
<p>I don’t have time to read every post, regretfully, but this happens to be a favorite subject. I’ll add my favorite tourguide story.</p>
<p>At Oberlin College, as the guide passed by Student Union building, we passed by a table where students were gathered to smear peanut-butter on bread for sandwiches, soon to be taken to the homeless in downtown Cleveland. We saw massive amounts of food, a hygienic set-up for handling it, and environmentally-friendly paper products. The gathered crowd was very friendly and humorous, having fun. </p>
<p>The tourguide paused the tour, saying, “Excuse me, I can’t not help here…” and she did a few sandwiches. My D and some on the tour pitched in. Others used the time to mingle with current college students. Five minutes later, the tour resumed. </p>
<p>That confident tourguide was in the moment; completely organized; realized she could pause briefly to help others while performing her paying job. </p>
<p>To generalize: if a tour guide finds something happening immediately/spontaneously during the tour that typifies the college’s mission, consider stopping for a moment to let the tour group witness or experience it. One image, event or human interaction can be worth a thousand words trying to explain the college culture.</p>
<p>We’ve been on almost 40 college tours by now (3 kids, different interests). Some of the 40 we visited twice.</p>
<p>One thing I don’t understand is the concern with seeing dorm rooms and eating halls. I want to say to parents – the kids will eat and they will sleep (maybe!) So what? What about academics? Why don’t people ask more questions about that? You see something on the website and you want to know more about a certain major – you are on the campus, you should ask questions and check it out. Who cares about the beds, honestly? Bring your pillow and your special bed thingies if you need them. Mom will send your favorite snacks, rest assured you will not starve. </p>
<p>The funniest was Harvard, which we visited twice. I asked a question about a certain major and the guide answered with some quotes, which I then responded with some statistics, and he threw his hands in the air and said “I don’t know anything about math.” Same guide, I asked about science research and he pointed in a vague direction and said “the science buildings are over there, I know that.” But lots and lots was said about the rooms, the food, etc. We left when they went into a dorm room because they squeezed about 40 people into a tiny room. I didn’t think this was really necessary to our understanding of the school.</p>
<p>I also don’t understand why people place any importance on whether, or how well, a guide walks backwards. Come on. That’s a little silly, don’t you think? I am much more concerned with how engaged he/ she is with the group, no matter how they walk (or dance, as the dance major at Sarah Lawrence did as he answered questions and negotiated the stairs! He was fun.)</p>
<p>Last week at Brown, a huge group of us (maybe 50 people) waited outside the gates – they could have used that time to talk to the group, but instead they had a loud conversation between themselves, which we were all unfortunately privy to, about their trip to the beach! I thought that was incredibly inconsiderate as they made us all just stand there and wait.</p>
<p>I think the reason I care about dorms,etc. is that I’m spending a good deal of money and want to know the conditions of the rooms, dining halls, etc.
The academics is most important, but I would never expect a tour guide to give us that…they are at most, well versed in their own major or give canned responses to the rest. Some are a lot better than others, but you can’t gleam too much from it. I would rather my children talk to the admissions staff and maybe meet with someone in a department they are interested in. I know the guides try, but they don’t know everything and I can tell when they are fibbing a bit to cover not knowing an answer. Some are more honest about just being your guide around the buildings, please don’t expect them to be the schools’ encyclopedia!
For me, the tour can be informative, but it’s more to see the campus, as much as possible, look beyond the pretty, glossy pictures and take it from there.</p>
<p>Totally agree, Debruns.</p>
<p>So you want to see a dorm room on a tour. At most colleges, the quality, size, age, etc. of dorm rooms vary widely primarily because dorm structures were constructed over time as the school capacity grew. Seeing one dorm room tells you very little about what kind of dorm room your kid will inhabit should they choose that school. And think about the security and privacy issues of the following year when your kid is living in this dorm and random tour groups are wandering through. No guarantees that some pervert/criminal hasn’t attached themselves to the tour group to gain access to your kid’s dorm. </p>
<p>Most colleges have (or should have) pictures of typical dorm rooms on their websites. A much safer, private and informative option, IMO.</p>
<p>Debruns, in addition to what was generally known on websites, and from students or alums my kids know, they got a feel of campuses and the students from walking around. Personally, it’s just my opinion, but the reason to tour a campus and not just get all info off the website is to hear about the school from a living, breathing individual.<br>
If they experienced this:
" know the guides try, but they don’t know everything and I can tell when they are fibbing a bit to cover not knowing an answer."</p>
<p>I don’t know – at what school did you ever see a guide “fibbing a bit”? I would think that would be something you should tell the Admissions Office. That doesn’t sound okay to me.</p>
<p>"Some are more honest about just being your guide around the buildings, please don’t expect them to be the schools’ encyclopedia! "</p>
<p>I don’t need an encyclopedia, I already have one (I’m typing on it, lol), I like a student that is so enamored with his or her school, and takes his tour guide role seriously and doesn’t blow off or spurn questions. Some kids like to learn and tell the lore, the history, the fun things (like “hacks”), anecdotes, and about what they or their friends do. I like a kid who, for instance, may be a theater major, but if you ask about physics, has friends who major in physics and they know something about it. Of if he doesn’t know, can tell you who to ask.</p>
<p>Really, an over-riding concern over dorm arrangements is a bit misplaced. Any incoming freshman’s dorm room may not resemble the “sample” dorm room you are shown. Some parents may be horrified when they see how their precious 18-year-old is eventually housed, but guess what, most kids are just so thrilled to be there, they are fine with the room and everything. Most kids survive it. Most kids survive the food. Most kids survive the bathrooms, the co-ed halls, the noise, and the whole ball of wax. Most kids would rather sleep on a bed of nails then have their Mom obsess over the dorm room, and show up with a bed rail and ergonomic chair.</p>
<p>And every guide will tell you that the food at his school is good; hate to break it to you, but the food they serve during “Accepted Students’ Weekend” is not the same thing they serve during the school year. One of my kids uses his Dining Hall, and the food during the school year happens to be very good, there are always salads and non-fried entrees, soy milk, juices, fruit, etc. Another of my kids has no eating plan at all, he survived that too, and is a very good cook and has friends who cook and bake. Most kids survive, despite parents fears to the contrary.</p>
<p>Lately we’ve been shown “the worst/smallest room you could get as a first year”, usually with a set up sponsored by BB&B. But the most interesting dorm room we toured was at Amherst, where the guide brought all 30something of us through a friend’s room on a Saturday morning…while the friend was asleep in the bed.</p>
<p>I can see caring about whether the dorm buildings seem relatively clean. At Caltech the murals on the walls of both the rooms and the corridors tell you a lot about the culture of the place (both what they paint, the fact that they are allowed to paint them at all, and that they are loved as historical artifacts.) See: [url=<a href=“http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/caltechnews/articles/v41/walls.html]The”>http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/caltechnews/articles/v41/walls.html]The</a> Writing’s in the Walls<a href=“unfortunately%20a%20lot%20of%20quirkiness%20was%20erased%20in%20a%20recent%20renovation”>/url</a>. </p>
<p>In my experience the accepted students weekend food isn’t that different from the normal food. In a number of schools visiting students can have a meal (either on the house or paying for it) with the regular every day food. I can tell you the tour guide wasn’t lying, Tufts does have exceptionally good food, while Carnegie Mellon’s is pretty bad. The tour guides at Carnegie Mellon diidn’t tell us the food was good, they said “It’s not as bad as it used to be.” Brandeis’ tour guide explained to us how the cafeteria is designed so Kosher and non-Kosher students could eat together instead of what happens at many campuses where the orthodox students eat most of their meals at Hillel. I’m actually kind of put off by dorms like palaces. I think a scruffy sofa and halls where people congregate are more convivial to making friends than gorgeous suites you never want to leave.</p>
<p>We saw sample dorm rooms at UConn, NYU, William and Mary, UVA, Villanova - it’s been more the norm than the exception.</p>
<p>Anudduhmom, I can find out almost everything I need to know about a major or academic program from the school’s website. They virtually all have links to particular depts, which state their dept philosophy and list the course requirements for the major. If I needed to know more, I could contact that dept directly via phone or email.</p>
<p>I can’t see how clean a dorm hallway is, or if it feels like a basement from a website. I can’t get a feel for the neighborhood, or the atmosphere on campus, or what the other students are like, from a website. That’s why I take a tour. I really value seeing the dining hall (preferably at lunch time) because that’s where I look at the current students - do they seem happy? Stressed? Is there a good mix of kids sitting together and chatting, along with a few kids sitting alone and working?</p>
<p>I don’t expect tour guides to be experts about every major at the school, especially a large school. I do expect them to know the basics (and a bit more) about the things that apply to all students - living conditions, meals, rec facilities, activities, and general academics (libraries, work loads, professor accessibility, available support services, computer access, etc).</p>
<p>I’m not being shallow or surface. I’m getting the info I need from the most appropriate source. Details on majors & programs = website. A feel for student life = tour/guide.</p>
<p>My one piece of advice to people touring is: eat in the dining hall. Not to try out the food, but to observe the other students. Can you see yourself fitting in there?</p>