I just came across this old but still open thread on CC about which schools candidates crossed off, promoted, or demote on their college lists. It is so interesting.
Also, many students based their decisions on their tour guides or visits: Colleges your child crossed off the list after visiting, schools that moved up on the list. Why?
Gosh, it’s been a while since we heard from the OP. The short answer to the question is “No.” I do not believe Tufts set out to recruit students who curse mildly and don’t know a lot about the school outside their own area of interest. I think they thought they were providing a service that lots of parents have come to expect (a way to walk around the campus without getting lost or, in the case of a virtual tour - without a fitbit) and gathered whoever they could find to fill in the required hours. Some schools apparently put a lot of effort into professionalizing their tour guides. I’m taking a wild guess that these are larger institutions with a lot of people to choose from, but not all colleges do. And, maybe that does reflect something about the school’s priorities. Another data point, as someone else said upstream.
I pinch hit for her parents and took my granddaughter on a live tour of Tufts, and like the OP, I was really underwhelmed. The first 15 minutes of the info session was good, but it went down hill from there. The tour guide was uninformed and spent too much time on trivial aspects of the campus and too little time on important aspects. I’ve been on a lot of college tours and this was one of the worst I’ve ever been on - not because of swearing or anything like that but because it was so uninspiring and lacking in information.
As a professional, I thought that this event reflected poorly on the Admissions Dept. The info session was obviously poorly organized, it turned quickly to Q&A, and the presenters allowed the program to be derailed by a few in the audience pursuing questions which were clearly not of general interest. The tour guides were poorly trained and were ill prepared for their task.
There were people on our tour who had flown into Boston from California and other parts of the country and were paying for hotels and meals. What Tufts offered them was to completely waste their time. I can’t imagine that the students we saw were reflective of the students who attend Tufts or even of themselves in their better moments. It simply spoke to a poorly run operation, which is a shame because I know that Tufts has good things to offer.
I agree. My comments are not associated with Tufts, but at any school that would do this. We have been on enough tours of schools, and I’ve even conducted them myself. I would always try my best on something like this and, if I couldn’t answer a question, I would at least know where they might go.
Our students invest so much of themselves in this process and the family invests so much time and money, that it is really troubling when this happens. In earlier post, I mentioned I came across an absolutely fascinating CC thread starting in 2016 that is still open today where parents discuss what caused their student to promote, demote, or remove a school from the candidate list. Bad tours and guides was one of the recurring points.
If I recall my limited French, it’s referred to as “je ne sais quoi”. It is that certain something that makes a student want to go to a school or not. And if my DD felt badly about a tour or a guide or an AO, I would encourage her to consider other things. But if that’s what she bases her decision on as to applying, that is perfectly fine with me.
With all due respect, could someone please explain what the purpose would be for flying all the way from California to Boston for an “info session”?
To look at schools. If everyone could afford this, then students could apply to a reasonable number of schools as they did in the past. Unfortunately it costs so many cannot do it. There is no substitute for an actual visit in order to get the “vibe” of a school but it really should not be in the summer at most schools.
When I did the college tour thing with our 1st daughter, I found every info session to be a waste of time. They spend 90% of it telling you how to apply and what they are looking for in an applicant, which is the same everywhere. Most of the info sessions didn’t even have a slideshow and were just an admissions office taking at the crowd for an hour. I seriously couldn’t believe how little effort went into these.
Live tours are useful but not because of the tour guide- just as a chance to see the vibe of other students as they wander around. The tour guide itself is irrelevant, usually. Unfortunately this means summer or vacation time tours are not very helpful.
With daughter #2 starting the process now maybe I am coming across as bitter…
You said it exactly right: It’s the physical, tangible visit to the school. Everything else is window dressing. IMO.
It was for a tour of the campus, which starts with an info session in span auditorium. Pretty standard. I imagine that they were visiting other colleges in the Boston/New .England area as well.
The math (acceptance rates) and pressures (prestige) will require a lot more than just visits to reduce the number of applications. It will require some sort of process change that force ranks or limits apps.
I would suggest the reason folks (who can afford to) see so many schools is the proliferation of ED, and the idea that you have to decide where you “really” want to go before applying anywhere.
We visited 15 colleges with our D. There were truly some wonderful info sessions and some absolutely awful ones. IMO, if a school can’t get students excited with their info session, their admissions department is doing something wrong.
I am wondering if 1) these were new tour guides given the time of year and 2) how much COVID has affected the tour guides available. I just wouldn’t judge anything this year.
Covid doesn’t explain why I had the same experience in pre-Covid fall, 2019. I don’t hold the students responsible, I think it reflects poorly on the Admissions Dept. The same day we toured Tufts in the morning, we toured Boston College in the afternoon. The contrast couldn’t have been more stark. At BC, the info session was polished and highly professional with power point and multiple presenters including students. Very professional. The tour guide was well prepared, was knowledgeable in answering questions, and took us through the most important parts of campus. She had obviously been well trained by those who run the tours for campus visits.
My take away was that some schools try hard on these presentations and some don’t.
I think that is exactly right. And, last year Tufts’ acceptance rate was ~15% while BC’s was ~28%. This jibes with my brief experience on the alumni interviewer circuit many years ago for a Little Three college. When I arrived at a high school auditorium for a giant College Day event, it was nearly always, on my own time, after my regular work hours. A suit and a tie were the only insignia I had that might identify myself as a school authority of any sort. And, I would say that was true for most of the Ivies and NESCAC colleges. But, every once in a while, someone would set up shop nearby with a suitcase and slideshow and right away, I knew it was a paid employee. Invariably, the school was a private college that had a high acceptance rate. In fact, it wouldn’t have surprised me if the rep was paid by the “head”.
I always think about that when I hear stories about how boring or unpolished these dog and pony shows are.
The variation in polish at schools can be a factor beyond just admissions. I would guess most of the tour guides and students working in the office are there as part of their aid package. The admissions office I’m sure has some say, but they don’t have unlimited abilities to find the most engaging students and pay them to give tours.
That also goes for overnight stays. Our experience with those went from amazing to unimaginably bad. Our one daughter ended up sleeping in the common area of the dorm when her “host” suggested she might be more comfortable alone. Didn’t eat with her…didn’t show her around…the only thing she didn’t do is physically assault her. Our other daughter had a similar experience while overhearing the host say “at least I’m getting paid”.
They both ended up at the schools above. The reason…the rest of the community was amazing when their hosts rejected them.
If you’re going to do tours and spend time at schools, you have to look below the surface and observe those not “on display”…for better and worse.
This is true in my D’s case because Tufts also offers ED2. So the questions is, is Tufts a top choice, and should it be ED1 or ED2? For reasons deeper than the info session experience, I think it’s fading in her estimation as ED1, but the rarer ED2 option explains the continued “stickiness” of Tufts on her list.
My D went to one of the BC sessions with my Mrs. Metawampe. She said it was the most engaging and well-produced so far. Not sure BC will rise or fall on her priority list due to that, but it confirmed her decision to apply this year.
I also wonder if admissions office excellence reflects excellence at the school itself.
My kid got into one school and went to visit after acceptance. Noone from admissions greeted her as an admit, and when she attended a class the professor encouraged her to apply and talked up the value of going to college. Quite a glitch and it affected her regardless of what she might otherwise know about the school.
BC’s acceptance rate dropped to 19% this year. What they’re doing must be working for them.
BTW, I’ve toured all of the Little Three in recent years. All of the presentations were compelling, organized, and very professional. The tour guides were well prepared and were a credit to their. Schools. Tufts is the exception in my experience.
I would tour in person. Tufts moved to the top of my list after I attended an in person info session and tour few years ago. I’m a rising sophomore. My brother did a virtual tour (not the same!) and that can be said for a lot of schools. He had a listless virtual tour with Northeastern but loved his in-person tour. I though I liked Georgetown until my tour and hated it.