Admissions tours

[Anonymous]

Anyone gone on admissions tours yet? What did you like? What did you hate? I'm a parent who has to conduct my first tour soon, and I'm trying to find out what people want to hear about.

No need to even mention the school names, since that will just take the discussion off topic. Just tell me what you want sort of things to hear from a parent leading a tour. And tell me what things tour guides talk about that no one really cares about. Please help me be a helpful tour guide rather than just another blathering idiot.

TIA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone gone on admissions tours yet? What did you like? What did you hate? I'm a parent who has to conduct my first tour soon, and I'm trying to find out what people want to hear about.

No need to even mention the school names, since that will just take the discussion off topic. Just tell me what you want sort of things to hear from a parent leading a tour. And tell me what things tour guides talk about that no one really cares about. Please help me be a helpful tour guide rather than just another blathering idiot.

TIA

So well meaning. I've been on many of these tours as a parent . I've also conducted many of these tours. Look, on these tours, parents either know everything they need to know because they've researched this to death, or they really could care less about what you have to blather about. What's going through everyone's mind is, what are the odds that my DC will get in. As that's not something you'll be asked to address on the tour, parents generally fit into one of two categories: 1) those who simply want to avoid embarassing themselves through words or acts that might torpedo their DC's chances of admission; 2) those who seek to strengthen their DC's chances of admission by asking what they believe are perceptive questions or exchanging witty bon mots with the tour guide. One is accomplished simply. Stay quiet. Stay awake. Smile a lot. Two never works. You'll be laughed at privately by the other parents. At a minimum, those who embark on 2 will have the tour guide thinking to herself/himself, "I hope this boob does not get in."

My best advice, stick to the basics (class size, curriculum, boasts about the warm and nurturing environment). Smile a lot, talk with all the sincerity you can muster, and come across as a nice person. That'll count for more than anything you say. Good luck.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for your response. Although I've never been a guide before, I've been a participant in several tours, and your two categories do describe lots of parents I've seen on those tours. But I do think there's a third category of people -- those who really are trying to judge whether the school might be a good "fit" for their children. It's those people I'd like to be able to help with useful info.

I guess your last paragraph may be good advice though. Maybe I can never predict what anyone else will want to know about what school is the best for them. So the best I can hope to do is be open and answer whatever questions people are brave enough to ask.

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

If area private school parents worship their big 3 private schools why do they clam up like cowards on school tours? If you can't talk to the boss or leadership what kind of company or orgainization are these backbone free folk worshipping and idolising?

[Anonymous]

Thank you, DCUMMIE freak poster! Didn't you mean to say "organiSation" ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you, DCUMMIE freak poster! Didn't you mean to say "organiSation" ?

It's spelled "organiZation" in the U.S.

[Anonymous]

OP is not a reporter. She's a wackadoodle who has been on DCUM for at least a year. You can usually tell her immediately by her bombastic writing style, which is not the least journalistic. She also uses the word "DCUMMIE" a lot. OMG

from George Washington University

[Anonymous]

I think trying to remind yourself of those questions you had -- even the weird ones -- and answering them preemptively on a tour is good.