S/O - any disappointing tours?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern. The auditorium was ancient. A dean spoke and then brought an awkward student to speak of his experience he made no eye contact and looked at the floor. The campus is claustrophobically tight with zero green space.

That's too bad. Maybe we were in a different auditorium. The student who spoke at our tour was very impressive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern. The auditorium was ancient. A dean spoke and then brought an awkward student to speak of his experience he made no eye contact and looked at the floor. The campus is claustrophobically tight with zero green space.

It's always interesting when people comment on the appearance of a college, as if they never looked at it while making travel plans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Marymount. Didn't realize how tiny it actually is and the athletic field the size of an elementary school yard.

Which Marymount?

[Anonymous]

In the past few years (with three kids) we toured: CNU, VCU, Virginia Tech, GMU, Longwood, American, Roanoke, JMU, MWU, Miami (oh), Xavier, St. Joseph, Loyola MD, University of Vermont, and William and Mary.

Of these schools, the tours made two of my kids fall in love with Virginia Tech and William and Mary.

The worst tour we took was of Miami of Ohio. We really wanted to love it- great merit aid, we have family in Ohio, etc. We arrived in Oxford early and went to a local bagel place where there it was a challenge to finish the menu of all the items. Cute idea, but we look over and see a photo of one of the students who won the challenge and it's titled "XXXX XXXX, first African American to complete the challenge." It is dated 2021!!! This sort of set the tone for the day. My DC goes to school in NOVA and diversity is important for her. The tour guide was a nice kid, but when asked about diversity she told my DC that a few students at the school had told her she was the "first black person they'd ever met." She was very honest, and we appreciated her candor.

The Admissions sit-down session talked about diversity but there were no signs of it around campus. They also kept talking about "being in the middle of a cornfield" which might be charming to some, but not to my DC. The other part I thought was really weird- they kept talking about being named a "Public Ivy." I know that book was written in 1986, and even within the state- Ohio State is by far the hardest school to get into now so I thought that was weird to boast about this book that had been released 37 years prior.

Then during the actual tour part- they split the tour into two parts but didn't tell the families first. So we saw the "social" part of the tour first- dorm, hockey arena etc.. and wondered why on earth the tour was focused on the hockey arena and not the business school. Then during the second part of the tour- they took us to the Union and put us in the tiniest classroom ever for a question-and-answer segment. The carpet in the room was covered in stains and it just generally left a terrible impression.

I know Miami is a great school and we wanted to love it, but it just was such a weird experience.

[Anonymous]

My DC feeds off of the energy of the tour guide. For that reason, a few of our least favorite tours weren't necessarily about the campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In the past few years (with three kids) we toured: CNU, VCU, Virginia Tech, GMU, Longwood, American, Roanoke, JMU, MWU, Miami (oh), Xavier, St. Joseph, Loyola MD, University of Vermont, and William and Mary.

Of these schools, the tours made two of my kids fall in love with Virginia Tech and William and Mary.

The worst tour we took was of Miami of Ohio. We really wanted to love it- great merit aid, we have family in Ohio, etc. We arrived in Oxford early and went to a local bagel place where there it was a challenge to finish the menu of all the items. Cute idea, but we look over and see a photo of one of the students who won the challenge and it's titled "XXXX XXXX, first African American to complete the challenge." It is dated 2021!!! This sort of set the tone for the day. My DC goes to school in NOVA and diversity is important for her. The tour guide was a nice kid, but when asked about diversity she told my DC that a few students at the school had told her she was the "first black person they'd ever met." She was very honest, and we appreciated her candor.

The Admissions sit-down session talked about diversity but there were no signs of it around campus. They also kept talking about "being in the middle of a cornfield" which might be charming to some, but not to my DC. The other part I thought was really weird- they kept talking about being named a "Public Ivy." I know that book was written in 1986, and even within the state- Ohio State is by far the hardest school to get into now so I thought that was weird to boast about this book that had been released 37 years prior.

Then during the actual tour part- they split the tour into two parts but didn't tell the families first. So we saw the "social" part of the tour first- dorm, hockey arena etc.. and wondered why on earth the tour was focused on the hockey arena and not the business school. Then during the second part of the tour- they took us to the Union and put us in the tiniest classroom ever for a question-and-answer segment. The carpet in the room was covered in stains and it just generally left a terrible impression.

I know Miami is a great school and we wanted to love it, but it just was such a weird experience.

Geez, that is bizarre. The tour guide doesn't get out much. This town must be tucked away. But really, there are only white students at Miami U, Ohio?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Boston University -- focus was on internships and not one word about the classes or clubs.

+1. BU felt like it was really about just being in Boston than it was about the school. We felt zero school spirit.

Same experience as above posters BU was the worst out of 5 tours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC feeds off of the energy of the tour guide. For that reason, a few of our least favorite tours weren't necessarily about the campus.

The guide definitely has an outsized impact. I think this is part of why we preferred to open houses wherever possible. You could more easily interact with students other than the tour guide, get details on specific schools/majors, talk with someone about an EC that was important to you. And take a tour but it was put in perspective by the other things. DD had a very strong focus on one major and a couple ECs she wanted to continue. Both things rarely/never covered in a standard tour so open houses made a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC feeds off of the energy of the tour guide. For that reason, a few of our least favorite tours weren't necessarily about the campus.

My youngest was the exact same way. To a point where I thought it was crazy, it's just one student! I could not get her to change her views about this though...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Northeastern. The auditorium was ancient. A dean spoke and then brought an awkward student to speak of his experience he made no eye contact and looked at the floor. The campus is claustrophobically tight with zero green space.

That's too bad. Maybe we were in a different auditorium. The student who spoke at our tour was very impressive.

I thought the presentations from doth the Dean and students were great, and our tour guide was also impressive. While there is limited green space, I found the campus to be brightened by the murals and art installations. By comparison I found BU's campus to be downright depressing.

[Anonymous]

Hamilton was the worst for us.

[Anonymous]

Hated the Trinity College in Hartford tour. The guide had zero self-awareness nor humor.

Wesleyan was meh.

Yale was intimidating. Harvard felt like a tourist visit.

BU was weird. We walked across a highway right in the middle of the campus. I thought the NEU one was well done, much better campus feel than BU. I doubt we will apply there but the academic building we went in was one of the most impressive we have seen.

UMass didn't look run down but felt like it if you know what I mean.

UVA is still the top but it was nice to see the competitors up close. UVA just had the vibe, the students, the buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s so strange to hear how many tour guides are poor representatives. Isn’t there usually a screening process? You would think those types would be weeded out

It's just parents not respecting that students can be different from their own. Every time I talk to parents about these "horrible" tours, they are angry, because the kid isn't some attractive blonde guy in the Econ department who is a super whizz but also a partier but not too into partying. They can't accept that some kids are shut ins, others are nerdy beyond measure, or have neurodivergence.

You need to stop being so invested about the negatives others think about job individual tour guides do just because your kid has the same job. If a neurodivergent doctor or teacher is cold and standoffish, are we allowed to have impressions about him and his practice/school?

Sure, didn't know your tour guides do life changing procedures. The inability to think about students beyond the tour guide is stupid, but I'm glad that works well for your family.

[Anonymous]

My kid ended up at a school she initially disliked because of the tour guide. I made her apply anyway, and when she went to admitted students day, she absolutely loved it. She's currently a student there and couldn't be happier. It's a crazy how one bad tour could possibly alter the trajectory of a kid's life!

[Anonymous]

DS did not like tours at Wake Forest, Richmond, UVA and Pitzer.