<p>athletic facilities- emphasize either how great the team is OR how much school spirit they have dispite the numbers</p>
<p>Food- their college never offers the typical cafeteria food you might find elsewhere</p>
<p>The libraries offer "unique resources", like rooms to rent out for studying, peer tutors/teachers to help with essays, and not to mention, a computer helpdesk incase something happens to your laptop!</p>
<p>The "unique" superstition (Georgetown, WashU, Hopkins, probably more):</p>
<p>If you step on the school seal that is engraved on the ground below the school's main building you will not be accepted and if your parents step on it, they will not get financial aid.</p>
<p>"Over here we have ____ Hall, the dorm known as home to 50 freshmen students as well as 3 ghosts...rumor has it this builing used to host an insane asylum, with many of its former residents still lurking about..."--heard a ghost story at EVERY tour...</p>
<p>"Most classes are not taught by TAs, but the TAs that do are great. Trust me."</p>
<p>"The professors are very accessible. I'm actually going to one's house for dinner tonight with some classmates."-every tour guide has said something about eating dinner w/ a prof......ugh!!!! I'm not impressed by their hospitality anymore!!!</p>
<p>"We were just voted as the school with the happiest students by [insert name of media source here]."</p>
<p>"One of our 'unique' traditions is the stress-relieving primal scream that students participate in during finals week."-very original! never heard that before...</p>
<p>And my personal favorite:
Prospective student: "Why did you choose X University?"
Tour guide: "While the school is ranked #___, I couldn't care less about prestige. I truly felt like I was at home here and would have chosen it over any school, even Harvard."---applies to every school other than Harvard. And besides, nobody would have to ask why a person chose Harvard in the first place...hehe</p>
<p>LOL this just shows how some schools are becoming more and more similar to one another...and yet they still make us write those "unique" why college essays...</p>
<p>they always tell the story of the kid who applied with 30+ recs</p>
<p>OOOHHHH I lied...my actual favorite is how EVERY TOUR GUIDE mentions how something (dining hall, building's exterior, etc.) looks like HOGWARTS!!! </p>
<p>^^^I win with that one...lol</p>
<p>My favorite tour was at Haverford; first the College President joined us and actually knew the tour guide; then later on the tour a trio of "pirates" held us up and we were filmed..</p>
<p>We actually made a Bingo Board of college tour cliches and played during info sessions. Helped liven things up a bit when we leapt to our feet yelling "BINGO!" as the adcoms droned on.</p>
<p>As a tour guide I avoid/don't do a lot of these things, but I will say that I far prefer a tour when everyone is asking tons of questions.</p>
<p>A tour where people are constantly asking questions is always far superior. We're not kidding when we say please ask us questions. After nearly 150 tours, I'm still able to easily muster excitement about what it is I'm going to tell you about my school, but there's a separate plain of passion I can only reach when other people actively express an interest in what I'm saying.</p>
<p>The number of a cappella groups on campus. Our first tour was at Penn and the remarkably frank and entertaining guide mentioned how annoying, useless and prevalent he found that info. By our last tour up the east coast we couldn't suppress the laughter when told for the umpteenth time "and we have x number of a cappella groups on campus"</p>
<p>Andorra-- funny thing to mention about my tour. After the a cappella shtick I always tell my tours that my freshman roommate and I knew that we were going to get along when the first night at Brown a bunch of people were going to a massive a cappella concert and the two of us looked at each other with a face that said, "Lame!" and stayed in doing something else.</p>
<p>Some of the information we're supposed to mention on tours is so pointless I don't even bother. Anything I talk about that I find entirely meaningless I only discuss if no one is asking questions and I have nothing else to say/point out that's connected to the place we're standing/walking through.</p>
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My favorite tour was at Haverford; first the College President joined us and actually knew the tour guide; then later on the tour a trio of "pirates" held us up and we were filmed..
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<p>They're in their own little world over there at HC...</p>
<p>SATs arent everything.</p>
<p>This is actually from information sessions: Don't think you can't afford it! Don't let financial need keep you from applying!</p>
<p>They always talked about how rankings don't matter, but sure enough, they brag about some sort of ranking a few times during the talk</p>