<p>I visited my alma mater today with my daughter and her friend and, hands down, had the WORST tour in the history of college tours. </p>
<p>This girl was the worst representative for a fantastic school. We know all about her, where she was raised, what elementary school she went to, how her boyfriend writes haiku, her amazing dorm, that her bicycle is 2 inches too big for her...and nothing about the school. </p>
<p>The only time we could get any relevant information out of her was when we asked direct questions. However, she never once - not once - uttered the normally ubiquitous tour question: "Any questions?" </p>
<p>So, my question to all of you is: would you contact the office of Admissions and tell them about the tour? I'm so frustrated because I wanted my daughter to love the school as much as I did and while she keeps reassuring me that she still does, it was very hard to get past this girl. </p>
<p>I know from the other multi-page thread on tours that the campus tour is not and should not be the be all and end all of college admissions, but this girl probably did more harm today than good for the Admissions office. </p>
<p>So, do you think they want to hear what I have to say? (By the way, I'm quite diplomatic and would put it in a constructive, not antagonistic, fashion).</p>
<p>My daughter…who works as a tour guide and admissions office worker…says go ahead and write. Their office gets letters (both complimentary and not) and these are given to the person in charge of the guides. If it’s a particularly disparaging note, the info is shared with the guide and changes are suggested.</p>
<p>And just a note…if you are taking the time to write a letter about a BAD tour, please take the time to write about the good ones too. Too often, the only time folks speak up is when they are NOT happy. These kids work hard and if they do a good job, that’s nice to hear also.</p>
<p>That’s terrific advice. We recently had an incredibly positive experience at Cornell, so I’ll let them know that…while letting today’s school know how truly problematic the tour was.</p>
<p>We’re sitting here in our hotel room trying to remember what we actually learned about the school today - and the answer is nothing. We could win Final Jeopardy if it was based on this girl’s life however…</p>
<p>I would definitely write about the bad tour. I had a wonderful tour at the school I chose to go to, and that tour was instrumental in both me choosing the school and my parents supporting me choosing to go there. My parents drilled her about why she chose to pay OOS tuition to go to Michigan when she could have gone to NYU and she was absolutely fantastic and had great answers to everyones questions. She had all our names on a list and at each stop on the tour, if nobody had a question she picked one person and said by the next stop they had to have come up with SOMETHING to ask (but if they didn’t she didn’t embarrass anybody.) My parents and I had a blast and learned a lot about the school, and her question game got a lot of kids to open up and ask questions about college life that I’d never even thought of. Those kids are employed to do a job, and talking about her boyfriend’s haikus and her bicycle is not doing her job. I don’t think it’s any different than complaining about a bad employee anywhere else.</p>
<p>Thanks. We’re composing the letter right now. Our only concern is that it not be held against my daughter when she applies. </p>
<p>Here’s another example: a parent asked about drugs/alcohol on campus. She replied: “I’m very sheltered and don’t associate myself with those people. I live in a campus house with religious people and we don’t drink.” Ummmm…thank you for letting us know about YOU, but how about telling us about campus? </p>
<p>I agree to providing feedback. The school should want to make sure that they are being represented in the most positive manner by their students. It can also potentially help them improve their training for the students.</p>
<p>Believe me, they want to hear if the tour guides are turning people off. It’s a sales job and the school is spending money to attract students. What if they lose applicants they really wanted?</p>
<p>4gsmom, I would write a letter as i really do think they want to know.</p>
<p>Having said that, I think the tour guide answered the drugs/alcohol question just fine. We’ve heard the same speech about drinking/drugs on just about every campus tour and, frankly, it’s the same one you can read on the website. Really, what are the student tour guides supposed to say? At least she shared a little personal insight on a question that typically gets answered in a rote manner.</p>
<p>I’d write a letter in a heartbeat… last spring DD and I took a tour at a University in the Pacific Northwest that was 300 people and one guide - so I wrote to complain and got a very prompt note of apology.</p>
<p>We also had a very bad tour guide (actually, a pair, who couldn’t answer a question without consulting each other) and left feedback. The college really needs to know about this. If you write a well-crafted, polite letter, it won’t affect your D’s chances.</p>
<p>While writing, remember this is only a young college girl, she could depend upon this work/study job…this could be your child giving the tour, and write the letter constructively with that vision in mind…I am sure she did what she thought was her best - perhaps trying to personalize it and making it more intimate by getting to know her as a person, or perhaps she was very nervous or new in the role? Hopefully, with your positive tone, the admissions office could advise her on providing less personal information and more specific info related to promoting the school. Thought she did a fine job with the alcohol/drug question - shows she has good character! Give the kid a break!</p>
<p>I thought her answer about the alcohol/drugs was naive and kind of snotty to be honest. Oh, I don’t associate with THOSE PEOPLE. It comes across that she things college kids that drink are some how less because they aren’t religious like she is so they drink. And using the religious house as an answer was jsut odd. That would have turned me off, it came across as superior and aloof and better than others who might have a beer once in a awhile.</p>
<p>I would send in a review of the tour, and would be honest and not sugar coat it. My daughter gives tours and takes great pride in representing her school well, and being knowledgable and sharing that with her guests. </p>
<p>And if this was any other job on campus, say she was doing paperwork, and did it so poorly, shouldn’t she be told to get it together? She is the front lines of the school and as such should not disparage other normal students and should be able to talk about the school and enlighten her audience, especially if she is paid, that makes it even more of a reason for a review to be sent.</p>
<p>I have sent in reviews, and I would say most of the tours I was on were 9 out of 10!!</p>
<p>Perhaps because I don’t drink nor do I think I am superior to people who do drink, the guide’s answer came across very differently to me. I’m also an atheist and it struck me as nice that the guide had found housing she was so comfortable with. </p>
<p>As I said above, I am truly curiuos as to what the guide is supposed to say to a group of potential students and their parents about drugs and alcohol? We had one guide who told the group that there was not much to do weekend nights on campus and so most students take the train into (near-by big city.) Let me tell you, that went over like a lead balloon with most of the parents.</p>
<p>I can understand that some might find her answer about drugs/alcohol on campus satisfactory - it just wasn’t helpful to us. She was telling us her experience with it - that’s fine, but the mother was asking about the campus culture with drugs and alcohol. She didn’t answer that. </p>
<p>Here’s another exchange that really turned my daughter off: a mother asked about safety on campus and she said: “Well, you have to be smart. Don’t take the El at 2 am wearing a mini-skirt.” </p>
<p>I think she’s very young and very naive and just needs a little more guidance as to how to answer questions in ways that would be more helpful. And she needs to be told not to overshare. I’m guessing the admissions office told them to use anecdotes to personalize the tour, but she just went too far. When asked about mealplans, rather than tell us what the various plans are, she told us that she eats with the interfaith ministry once a week and at her sorority house before their meeting once a week etc… it was like she just didn’t realize that we wanted the facts and not her personal history.</p>
<p>I would have spoke to her directly, gave her some advice/opinions. Like another poster said, she could be depending on this job. Then again, I am the type to never report anyone. We all have bad days or faults…that doesn’t mean everyone should be jobless.</p>
<p>It seems like she didn’t have a clue that other people maybe weren’t going to have interfaith ministries or soroities, etc. And that she had a narrow view of college life- her own. Its like have an athlete answer questions from just their point of view, which is very narrow as well- specialized dorms, etc.</p>
<p>If you don’t know much about your college beyond your own narrow path, you sholdn’t be giving tours.</p>
<p>This tour guide needs constructive feedback. If the university didn’t provide feedback forms (shame on them! :eek:) then a letter like yours might help them to re-train this tour guide to be more effective. Write the letter.</p>