<p>I remember going to a seminar where there was an admissions rep from Macalester, and she was simply atrocious. I asked her simple questions and she basically answered like a twelve year old that was trying to sell you lemonade. She often would repeat the same answers, even though I had asked a completely different question. Needless to say, I am still in love with the school and still going to apply, however it is not my number one school.
Any other experiences such as these?</p>
<p>A Columbia rep would not talk to my daughter at a college night. It was very strange; I was observing from afar.</p>
<p>Do you happen to know why the columbia rep did this?^</p>
<p>NO idea at all. It was a college night for prep schools and my DD changed out of her uniform and into jeans and a Doors t-shirt. We just figured she didn’t look good enough. No one else was at the table. It was very strange. DD had no trouble talking with anyone else. The Reed rep loved her shirt.</p>
<p>Well I am sure that you daughter was better off without columbia anyway, so take that rep from columbia:l)</p>
<p>The admissions officer from Cornell that conducted the informatoin session was quite bad. All others have been pretty good.</p>
<p>Why was the rep so bad silver?</p>
<p>I thought Swarthmore’s was the most impressive. The UPenn reps who came to my school were pretty terrible, unsure of a lot of statistics and not up-to-date (the three were very old).</p>
<p>Yeah, old people tend to forget numbers quite easily:)</p>
<p>I had nothing but positive experiences with Cornell’s admissions staff. Since Cornell has 7 colleges though, there might a bit of varience.</p>
<p>Columbia is notorious for having incompetent administration, and my experience was that it was reflected through their admissions staff.</p>
<p>For example, I went cross country to go to their “Days on Campus” and couldn’t sit in on a core class. They didn’t have enough spots for everyone, so some people just had to not go because they didn’t get tickets. I was lucky that my host could take me to his class, but I couldn’t believe fact that they would just leave a good portion of the visiting students in the cold.</p>
<p>If this thread also covers the receptionists and/or tourguides, I could add a few choice examples from Amherst (receptionist never looked up fromher knitting and basically grunted at the visitors, tourguids was a total ditz who admitted she ws only there b/c she was a third generation legacy and had never set foot in the library or scuences bldgs, and marvelled that she fould see her bf’s temporary housing from the schiences bldg 9when we asked her to go in) and the receptionist at Rice was initially a little unhelpful, but that changed).</p>
<p>Bear in mind that admissions reps have no impact on your student’s college experience - no more than a car salesman has on your eventual satisfaction with your car. Once your student is admitted, they’ll never see an admissions staff member again unless they’re hired to lead tours.</p>
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<p>Well, if they don’t care about admissions, what other areas are they neglecting?!</p>
<p>Worst experience for us was a small college called Muskingum. One of the receptionists was wearing a t-shirt from another college. She answered the phone while listening to her i-pod. The admissions’ counselor was bad, too. She kept yawning during our meeting. After the tour, we told them we were no longer interested in meeting with a faculty member. We just wanted to leave.</p>
<p>Apologies for all the typos above!! As for never seeing admissions again, in additin to tour guides, those who offer to host prospies get to know them pretty well too. Since the admissions office is usually the first entree into the college, that should be a good experience, not a bad one, IMO.</p>
<p>Having been to approximately 12-15 colleges, the worst admission counselor was from Illinois State University. Acted like he could care less while at the group talk. Then after we asked to see an admissions counselor after the tour, got him again, and he couldn’t answer any questions about the English program. Poked at his computer, picked up the phone, no one answered, so he gave us a phone number to call. And not a piece of paper on his desk. Acted like we were bothering him the whole time. Worst tour guide was at Millikin. Just walked us from building to building, not talking the entire walk. We went inside the library (in the lobby only) and he announced “this is the library”, and “that desk is where you check out books”. Guess he didn’t know the books gave it away. He didn’t know the hours, thought “maybe open later during finals.” Said he wasn’t in there much and I believed him. A lady whose daughter was obviously interested in the school kept asking questions, but it was like pulling teeth. She asked a couple of questions about the bathroom set-up and he finally said, oh, do you want to see one, and we were standing right in front of the door. All he had to do was unlock it. Duh.</p>
<p>I am surprised that colleges and the reps would act this way, especially when they send out all those misguided information in all thier brochures, letters, etc.</p>
<p>A few summers ago, at a school that I was sure my daughter would love, we were stuck with a really weird tour guide. At the hotel that night, my daughter told me that she had no interest in applying anymore. It happened that we had enough time the following morning to do another tour at the same school. Different guide, completely different experience, and the school went back on the list.
I wouldn’t judge a school by one rude, strange, or unprofessional representative.</p>
<p>I went to the Exploring Educational Excellence meeting and the reps were all generally very likable. Columbia’s rep was really tall and eloquent. Chicago’s rep was pretty funny and charming. Cornell’s rep talked and looked like an austere teacher. Rice’s rep was very interesting and Brown’s rep seemed very lackluster.</p>
<p>It is true that you should not cross a college simply for ONE bad encounter, however if it is more than one, maybe that school is not the right place for that specific person.</p>