<p>What are your perceptions and expierences at larger school tours? Seems like most of the comments are centered around liberal arts colleges.</p>
<p>i.e. UCLA, Michigan, Texas, Washington, etc</p>
<p>Did TX, Chicago, Georgetown, Northwestern, UPenn etc. Not much difference, except at TX, we had to get there about a half hour or more before tour time so we could meet, catch a ride on the tour bus to the start of the walking tour, since campus is so big! Each had the presentation before a walking tour. The differences were that in some schools we couldn't get into the dorms. The process is the same at all the schools we saw, including large unis and LAC's.</p>
<p>the UT tour that I went on mostly just pointed out the major buildings and then we walked through the gym. someone had just (accidentally?) sprayed pepper spray, and even though the gym is huge we all automatically started coughing when we walked in and were confused at first. it was really hot and sunny and so i don't remember much.</p>
<p>The UCLA tour was fine. The tour guides split us up into smaller groups and answered all of our questions. It was a walking tour (the campus really isn't that large).</p>
<p>The UCLA tour I went on was terrible. Maybe it was just my guide but I learned absolutely nothing, and some of the questions we asked weren't even answered.</p>
<p>The only big school we have toured so far was Penn State. Frankly, you'd think that big schools would be trying to at least "appear" smaller -- but there were so many people on the tour it was ridiculous. We never heard a single thing the tour guide said. When all 40 or 50 of us were literally stuck in a dorm hall we squeezed out and walked around alone. (But actually I still don't think the poor tour really reflected the reality of the school - the campus is lovely, and the students are obviously happy there...)</p>
<p>The UPenn tour we took had the worst tour guide out of over twenty schools that we toured. The tour was simply awful. However, we did all like the school very much, based upon our observations.</p>
<p>Did a Berkeley tour two years ago. Seems the tour guide spent more time talking about how great Berkeley is than anything else. Probably the biggest waste of time we did.</p>
<p>We ultimately decided we could get more out of our time exploring on our own, so when my D and I did a major college tour in September that year, we only did tours at Oberlin, Rochester and Chicago. CMU had none that day, but a do it yourself walk was better anyway. </p>
<p>Better yet, we did bicycle tours of Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern (maybe one other?). IMHO, bicycles are the BEST way to tour the larger campuses. You can cover more ground, and do it from a student perspective, and see the stuff they don't want to show you on the tour.</p>
<p>I like that idea of bike tours! Maybe we'll pack our bikes if we ever get organized to do some more tours...</p>
<p>Agree with newmassdad, the Berkeley tour was by far the worst of any we've taken so far with either son. If we were interested in things other than "the big game" or the parking spots for Nobel Prize winners, we were out of luck.</p>
<p>I went on a tour at Texas a long time ago, and I think it was just typical look-at-pretty-buildlings with a little bit of information about the school. I was in 8th grade, and the only thing I remember in particular was the tour guide talking about how easy it was to get alcohol into the dorms.</p>
<p>We've gone on tours of the UCs and also UW. It is definitely the luck-of-the-draw regarding tour guides, but I also think it is a matter of what your expectations are for the tour. I've only seen them as a way to orient to the physical campus and to possibly get some tidbits of information. More than anything, they were to get my Ss thinking about, and relating to, the school. Where possible, we visited classes to get an academic reading on the school.
We've had good tours at UCLA and UCSD. The rest have been ok, but none have been horrible.</p>
<p>Its interesting to hear all of the Berkeley tour bashing. S1 attends Berkeley, but we never went on a tour there. We did go to CAL day after he was accepted. There is lots going on during CAL day. For us, it was a good energy and we were focused on housing issues, so we had something specific to drive our visit.</p>
<p>I did a Penn State tour with my daughter four years ago. It was actually one of the best tours we had. There were two or three tour guides, and about 20 people. They did the backward walk, spoke clearly and answered questions well. We were all given a coupon for a free lunch at the dining hall as well as a small PSU car sticker.</p>
<p>UCLA tour was good as far as getting to know the campus, but very eye-opening as to how totally unaware most campus student guides were that there were actually states out there OTHER than California. Really a turn off. Focus was "Are you from SoCal or NoCal?" The thought that there were other possibilities never crossed their minds. Very unwelcoming.</p>
<p>Georgetown students, on the other hand, were fantastic. Most impressive group of college students I'd seen. Friendly to everyone.</p>
<p>No matter what the school, the experience is only as good as the guide. A good tour guide can improve the impression of a campus considerably. Likewise a bad TG can end a school's chances. </p>
<p>A good TG should know some of the history of the campus and be able to talk freely about what a student can experience while attending. They need to make sure they are clear about any personal bias they may have about certain campus aspects. When a Tg shoots down say the Greek system, because they personally don't like it, it turns the potential student away from the school. Likewise science, math, etc..</p>
<p>That said, I do like to hear the TG personal experiences good and bad while at school. I do ask what the best thing about ^^^^ University for you personally? And the least?</p>
<p>ColoradoMomof2: Not to defend them, but the UCLA tour guides' remarks were probably reflecting the fact that it is a UC. When I attended the school, I met only one student who was from out of state. </p>
<p>Don't know if any of your kids are thinking of attending UCLA, but I had a wonderful time there. However, I was in a very small major (music) and had extremely small classes (except for the GE's). UCLA definitely feels very "California"--lots of tanned blonds ... w/brains. :-)</p>
<p>Sloparent, you are right that the fact that 95%+ of the UCLA student enrollment is from California should be part of our thought process, and it was. </p>
<p>Maybe we hit them on a bad day, but what shocked us was that the other students in my daughter's sub-group had little or no geographic understanding of where California cities were outside of the specific area where they lived. The student guide was from Bakersfield and the L.A.-based student asked "Where's that?" Heck, I'm from Colorado by way of Nebraska, and even I knew that!</p>
<p>Our biggest concern was that being from out-of-state was more of an oddity (in a negative way) than a welcomed difference/change of pace. We thought the UCLA campus and the academics were both impressive.</p>
<p>By the way, D is going to UC-Boulder. At first I was disappointed that she wasn't going to either Georgetown or UCLA, but SHE'S happy, the in-state tuition can't be beat, and she's going on to graduate/professional school, most likely out of state, so I've changed my tune/put my own ego away.</p>
<p>Colorado,</p>
<p>When I went to grad school at UCSB, I was amazed at how many fellow grad students had never been out of the state. More amazing was that they did not have any desire to do so.</p>
<p>I remember well showing someone a picture of the Ponto Rialto from Venice. They responded that when they were in Venice, they never saw it. I explained that the picture was from Venice Italy, not near LA...</p>
<p>Kids and young adults from CA have an amazing geographic sense: Somewhere east of CA is NYC. East of there is Europe. Nothing else is in between. (they consider Tahoe, Reno and Las Vegas to be part of CA.)</p>
<p>Now, regarding the CA north/south split, that's another topic...</p>
<p>Colorado--Point taken re geography (and the general ego-centric nature of Californians, by the way--and I'm a native!). You may want to check out the thread I started a few days ago here in the Parents forum. It deals with issues similar to what you mention here.</p>
<p>Congrats on UC-Boulder. We have a niece and nephew who just graduated from there and they both loved it.</p>
<p>And newmassdad, we struggle daily with the north/south thing, as we are almost exactly halfway between LA and SF, on the coast (San Luis Obispo). The debate has yet to be settled ...</p>
<p>slo,</p>
<p>Yes, a few years ago an effort to split the state died for two simple reasons: (1) water and (2) where to put SLO?</p>
<p>Let's see if any easterners understand the water issue!</p>