<p>At another school we visited on an Open House, all the faculty members who were there to chat with prospective families were definitely skewed to talking to specific students and basically ignored everyone else. There were a lot of legacy kids and athletes in the bunch, and after standing in the room for more than one hour trying to capture ANYONE’S attention, we decided to leave. It was very clear they had specific people they were trying to “woo” and didn’t care much for anyone else. One school we visited we REALLY liked, but we were borderline too far to be a day student, and Moosieboy didn’t want to board. We would’ve gladly driven the distance each day to take him there, but when he visited the one school we finally chose, the other school paled in comparison, so we ended up only applying to the one school that felt JUST right for Moosieboy and our family :)</p>
<p>At one school’s revisit day last year, they had the parents sit in on an AP History class. The entire class consisted of the teacher standing in front of the room and going through a huge list of index cards, each with a sample AP question, asking a question and having the kids spout out the answer. FOR THE ENTIRE CLASS!!! Again, even if that’s something that’s part of an AP class at that school, WHY would you choose to make THAT the class parents see on revisit day? We were definitely less interested in that school after that day.</p>
<p>During a visit to one very good school (I still think it’s a wonderful school), the student guide (for whom English was a second language), commented on the swimming pool, “someone die here… no more swimming”. That was an eye-opener. Though a great school, it wasn’t a good fit for my daughter anyway, but still, this statement was the icing on the cake.</p>
<p>And to reference a comment earlier, it is very common for VIP applicants and their families to receive very preferential treatment. Frequently, the student guides are specially selected and also from VIP families (at least in one well known school I can think of). However, at the school I am thinking of, the “fawning” is kept much more low key and behind closed doors.</p>
<p>Have I told the one about the AO who farted?</p>
<p>True story.</p>
<p>SevenDad–at a school you kept on the list? Just curious.</p>
<p>@SevenDad …were you able to hold it together or did you just lose it lol. Did the AO say excuse me? </p>
<p>@Daykidmom: No, my older daughter did not apply to that particular school…but not just because of the “incident”. This was during our first time around…I think we visited/interviewed at 8 schools before selecting the final 3 she applied to (contrast that to the process with my younger daughter, where she only interviewed at schools we were pretty much certain she would apply to).</p>
<p>@NYCMomof3: It was not an audible one, so we did not have to acknowledge it. It was just the smell elephant in the room, and an malodorous one at that! But you can bet it was the first thing my wife and I talked about when we got to the car. </p>
<p>@Benley Send me a PM, I’ll try to ask my mom as soon as I get a minute. </p>
<p>Aw, come on, SevenDad-- even the Queen of England accidently slips a squeaker out now and then… :O) </p>
<p>^^^Cite your source, GMT. Everyone in my household knows that women are incapable of such offensiveness.</p>
<p>The only turnoffs we experienced related to the behavior of parent volunteers, but we tried to be forgiving, since they are not staff. At one school the parent vol was like an uncomfortably aggressive used car dealer, and at another school she was just plain weird, raving about how the school transformed her “flaky ding dong” of a daughter to a responsible human being. We weren’t impressed.</p>
<p>Other than that, there were certainly things we didn’t like, but it was more a matter of preference, nothing egregious, insensitive or embarrassing. No audible farts that I can recall.</p>
<p>Our son didn’t like one interviewer who fired him with question after question, never giving him the opportunity to convey who he is as a person. But the direct questioning style might just as well appeal to some students.</p>
<p>I have to say (and apologies to ChoatieMom!) that our worst experience was at Choate! We had that whole situation with unbelievable Admissions-office-fawning over another family. What made it so obvious was the fact that the other family was from DS’s school! And they are arrogant loudmouths… Anyway, it really turned my DS off at first. But he needs to learn that there are people like that out there, and it’s understandable that a school would respond.</p>
<p>“flaky ding dong of a daughter.”</p>
<p>Too funny! Who would refer to their own child in that manner? </p>
<p>That’s exactly what we thought, HarvestMoon. It was too weird, and we still talk about that odd conversation to this day. It was a very competitive, well known school, too.</p>
<p>@honoraryamom: My wife was very turned off by a parent volunteer at one of the schools we visited this season. Felt this mom was OVERLY name-droppy with regards to where her recently graduated daughter was now a college student.</p>
<p>Interesting, 7D. From your example and my examples, I gather than parent volunteers sometimes try too hard to sell the school. Well intentioned, but a real turn off when they go too far. I’ll have to keep this in mind, for next year, when I hope to be giving tours to prospective families at my son’s school (although he is against the idea, so we’ll have to see how it goes. I’ve assured him that I’d never say anything like “my flaky ding dong son”)</p>
<p>Maybe that’s what’s keeping SAS from inviting me, perhaps their most vocal social-media super fan, to greet prospective parents on revisit day! 
</p>
<p>At my kids’ school, where parent volunteers give the tours to prospective parents, the admissions office specifically directs the parent tour guides not to sell the school, but just to present it. That’s easier said than done, since the parent volunteers are generally extremely happy with the school.</p>
<p>@honoraryamom: I encourage you to give tours next year. It’s a great excuse to walk around campus in the middle of the school day once a week.</p>
<p>School A- an inarticulate pair of tour guides who talked about little besides the sports for which they’d been recruited. DD was a jock, but it was too much even for her.</p>
<p>School B- well regarded school with deep tradition, but to us it felt crumbling and gloomy. Knowing from her application that she had an interest in music admissions tried to match her up with a suitable faculty tour guide. Unfortunately he was the choirmaster, and spent most of the tour talking about the school’s many singing groups. She was a violinist, and the only kid in her MS class NOT to participate in the school chorus. The DVD of the prep school’s choir never made it out of its case.</p>
<p>School B also had a parent who kept grilling my 13 year old about what other schools she was applying to. Luckily we’d prepped her for the possibility, but it was still uncomfortable. We were willing to give the school a pass knowing that there are whacko parents at every school but I think it still colored the visit.</p>
<p>@GMC, </p>
<p>I realize that big-donor boot-licking probably occurs at all the schools, but geez, get a hotel room, already!!! </p>