College campus visits have been slowly coming back. The pandemic might not be over, but schools have been starting to invite prospective students back onto campus mostly for tours. Seeing a college in person can be great, but we have always had a love-hate relationship with college tours. There are some positives to them. You can see the school. You can get a feel for the campus. You can see a fancy library as your dad takes photos on an iPad. We aren’t actually sure if that last one is positive. But college tours aren’t the be-all-end-all that some students think they are.
Why don't we love campus tours?
Students often place way too much weight on tours. Seeing a school in person creates a much larger emotional response than seeing it online. That response can be negative or positive, but either way, it’s usually more intense and if the only thing you are doing on campus is going on a tour, that emotional reaction is going to be based mostly on what they say on that tour.
This is a lot of weight to place on walking around for an hour with one 19-year-old and their admissions office-approved script. We hear it all the time, “I didn’t like the school because the tour guide was bad.” We try to push against this. A tour guide is just one person and they are using their customer service voice. The admissions office is telling them what to say and maybe more importantly what they can’t say. One of our consultants worked for the UPenn tour service when she was an undergrad. She wasn’t supposed to talk about frat parties, but she was supposed to tell everyone that the two-liter soda bottle was invented at Penn’s engineering school. Which information would have been more helpful to you in deciding if you liked Penn’s on-campus culture? We assume it wasn’t the soda thing.
The tour can be a jumping-off point and a reason that you are physically on campus, but try not to give them too much credit. In the end, talking to people who aren’t being paid $16 an hour by the admissions office will give you a much better understanding of what the school is really like.
Ok, so what do I do instead of a tour?
This can be a hard thing to do if you are a bit of an introvert but talk to people. You might want to send your parents to a cafe or an informational session for this part, cards on the table. Go to an area where students hang out. This might be a commons or a cafeteria or a quad. Maybe just steer clear of libraries. Depending on the school, some of them are not the place to talk. Wherever it is, see if anyone will talk with you. It doesn’t have to be formal. You can just ask them a question or two.
Talking to students who don’t work directly for the school will give you a much better picture of what going to the school is actually like. We know talking to strangers can be hard, but remember these people are usually only going to be a year or two older than you. They recently just went through the same process you did and most will likely be happy to help. If everyone shoots you down, also, that’s not a bad marker for how friendly the school is… and maybe that can help you contextualize what it’s going to be like next year when you come and are trying to make friends.
But what do we talk about?
You don’t need to write this down or prepare a bunch. If you are nervous, you can always jot something down on your notes app, but this is a conversation… not an interview. Try to be chill and think of the questions that you honestly want to know the answer to. Here are a couple of questions we love and why:
What do people do on a Thursday night?
You can sub this with “Friday” as well. But most college students don’t have classes or at least a full load of classes on Friday. This means at some schools Thursday evening is the start of the weekend. This is a great question to ask multiple people. If they all say, nothing or study, it might mean that a lot of people commute or that they need to study 24/7. If they all say the same thing and it’s something like “I'm going to a basketball game,” it might mean there isn’t a lot happening on campus or there are traditions that everyone takes part in. If everyone says something different, like “I’m going to a dance show,” “my intramural league has a game,” “my frat has a party,” and “the debate team has a dinner after a talk,” it probably means people are involved in campus life. Whatever they say, if it sounds like what you would want to do on a weekend night, that’s a good sign. It’s a great way to see what people do outside of class.
What’s something you wish you knew before coming here?
This is a big question and might get a big answer. They aren’t being paid by admissions, so they might get really real with you. That’s a good thing, however. If they say something like, “I didn’t know how competitive it was going to be,” it’s better that you know it now vs. when you are already there.
What’s your favorite thing about going here?
You can make this academic specific if you would like. You probably won’t run into someone with the same major or academic niche that you have, but you can ask them about their major and their classes or even the core by asking, “what is the best thing about your major?” or “Academically, what is your favorite thing about going here?” You can also pair this with the least favorite thing about going here. Honestly, double points for that one.
How are the dorms?
This probably isn’t the most important thing to ask. But often tours won’t take you inside the dorms. Since most freshmen live in dorms, it’s something to consider. Will it make or break a school? No, or at least it shouldn’t, but this can also open up a discussion about housing, making friends, special programs, and more.
Where do you usually eat? Study? Hangout?
Questions like this get at how students spend their time day to day. This can help you imagine where you would fit in on campus while doing things.
These are some jumping-off questions. Feel free to follow up depending on what they say.
Some more things to think about when talking to students on campus.
Are you a minority? Try to find someone who shares that with you. Many schools have centers that might make finding someone to connect with easier. Whether it’s an LGBT Center, a Women’s Center, or a Black Student Union, connecting with students who share lived experiences can help here. You can also ask them questions like “Do you feel safe? Do you feel represented on campus? Etc.” For example, if you use mobility aids, asking someone in a wheelchair about which buildings are ADA compliant will give you a far better answer than a tour guide.
We also need to talk about drinking. Honestly, that “what do you do on a typical Thursday night?” will probably bring it up at a lot of schools, but not all the time. Tour guides are not going to tell you about parties in front of a bunch of parents. Try asking “what are the parties like?” to an average student. They might try not to bring it up to a high schooler unless they are asked directly. But take that same UPenn tour guide turned counselor. When she was a tour guide, UPenn was named “America’s Best Party School” by Playboy Magazine (it wasn’t exactly a good choice by Mr. Hefner, he obviously never spent time at FSU). She didn’t bring it up on a single tour. Whether you are a party monster or go to bed at 8 pm every night, it’s important to know these things before you say yes to a college.
Campus visits can be a double-edged sword. They can give you great insight, but tours can give you a less-than-real version of what campus life is really like. Talking to students and asking them about their experience is the best way to get a real vibe about what the college is really like. TLDR: make sure you are learning more than just the admissions office-approved tour version of the college. Try to get the real thing.
Need help planning a tour? Contact us here.