College Tour Guides Are Getting Very Honest About What They Wish Incoming Students Knew When Deciding Which College To Pick
I spent three years working as a campus tour guide for my college, and while I loved my job, there were definitely times when what I said was definitely not what I was thinking.
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So I asked the BuzzFeed Community, "What's something that you want prospective students to know?"
Here are some responses to enlighten you:
1."Don’t act embarrassed to be seen with your parents. We get it, you’re aching to be independent, adult, and respected among your peers. But acting embarrassed to be with your parents is the opposite of those things. Be confident, be chill, talk to them and joke with them. That’s how to get your tour guide and other college kids to respect you."
2."Push your tour guides to tell you something that they dislike about the school. Don’t take 'I love everything' as an answer. That means their administration is telling them to hide things. No organization is perfect, but the ones hiding their flaws are always significantly worse. Transparency and willingness to discuss (and work to fix) issues are qualities of a school you want to go to.
"Even in a great institution, people will have reasonable complaints. Seeing different schools is all about figuring out where you will do best and if you can deal with the annoying parts."
"Ask for the best and worst thing about the school. If they give you a decently believable worst, then you can trust what they say. If they say there is no worst thing or give a canned answer, take everything they say with a grain of salt. My bests were the supportive community and hands-on opportunities as undergrads; My worst was the terrible landlord of the only approved student apartments."
—Anonymous, 27 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2014-2015
3."I was a campus tour guide for two years and we were trained to tell a story or anecdote at each stop. EVERY story was recycled between guides for years, and we all told the exact same stories of things that we pretended had happened to us. Who knows how many years the same stories were being used."
"Also on another note, we know which jokes get the laughs every time, and after a while, it kills a part of our souls to keep on retelling them!"
4."Pay attention to how other current students (not the tour guides) look. If they look miserable, it’s because they are. Even during stressful times, a good school will still have lively and decently happy students."
5."I’m only like a couple of years older than you at the most, so no need to stress. Just ask what you want to know."
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6."I was a guide and had several friends at a really good engineering school in the United States. Applications are very competitive, so kids would always go way too hard during the tour. Tour guides do not affect your application. They won't remember your name. If you speak with a counselor, this interaction will not affect your application. They won't remember your name. Don't treat this like it's an interview or like you have to impress anyone. Just enjoy the tour and ask questions that are actually relevant to you!"
—Anonymous, 21 years old, Worked as a tour guide in 2020
7."You don't need to bring a parent/guardian on your tour, for my university at least. I gave a lot of tours to high schoolers visiting with their school who told me that they wanted to tour a university, but they either couldn't or didn't want to bring their parent along. They were floored when I told them that it was totally okay to take a tour alone."
—Anonymous, 23 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2017-2020
8."Everything is spun to make the college look good. My college was tiny, and instead of saying we had small classes (six students on average), we were told to say we have a 13:1 student-to-professor ratio. Any time we passed an empty classroom, we were supposed to offer a chance to look in before 'students came and filled the room back up.' In reality, there weren’t enough students to have classrooms occupied for more than an hour a day. It was crazy once I realized all of the things that drew me to the campus were lies spun to make it seem better than it was."
"We always walked by the big lecture halls when they were being used so that we could say that even with our big lectures we still have only 30-40 students in each class so you can get a personal connection with every professor. What wasn’t said was that 30-40 people in a classroom was a lot. We would talk about ice skating on a pond (never happened in the years I was there), people creating intimate relationships with professors (with six other students in the class, it wasn’t hard), and how we worked closely with the town and even shared buildings with them (if they didn’t share they would have had empty buildings and vacant lots). There's more stuff, too."
—Anonymous, 22 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2018-2019
9."I hated when prospective students felt like they needed to impress me. I was there to share the truth about the school (as I knew and experienced it) so they can make an informed choice. That was it. Ask about tutoring resources, the reality of getting around with a car, the things you need to know for actual everyday life. I loved the ones that asked specific and sometimes difficult questions. (Especially when they asked, not their parents!)."
"Speaking of parents, my most memorable tour moment was when we walked by a dorm on campus and a mom leaned over to her daughter and pointed to a window to say 'That’s where your dad and I first kissed, and you know…' and the daughter just turned bright red and stopped engaging with tour. Needless to say that was an unsuccessful legacy recruit."
—Anonymous, 30 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2009-2012
10."Pay attention to how people interact on campus, especially at a smaller school. Does your tour guide run into people they know? Do people in the dorms know each other or have their doors open? Do people hang out between classes or just go back to their dorms? Small things like that give you an idea of how the social culture is and what your social life will be like."
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"I chose the school I later gave tours at in part because on my tour, the guide ran into some friends of his and stopped to say hi and I felt like I'd be able to do that as well and have a community during my four years there (And I did!)."
—Anonymous, 30 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2012-2013
11."Most of the time, the parents on tours are absolutely worse than the kids. I was giving a tour to a few families when one kid's dad asked if you could choose your own roommate. I told him, yes, you could request another specific student. Then he asked me if his son could request a roommate that was 'like' him. I was a bit confused but told him that we had Facebook groups for incoming freshmen if his son would like to reach out and see if anyone had the same taste in music, movies, etc. Then he could see if they'd like to room together. His dad kept pushing before I finally realized that he was asking if his son could specifically request a white roommate.
—Anonymous, 23 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2017-2020
"Honestly, the parents often behave 10x more annoyingly than the incoming freshmen or transfer students. This was the 'pre-Karen' era. Most of the problems we encountered were with the parents. Prospective students, you know your parents. Consider leaving them at home if you know they tend to get bent out of shape because we ran out of the donuts they like. Your day and ours will be so much better!"
—Anonymous, 34 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2006-2009
12."My school has a mask mandate, so wear your goddamn mask over your mouth and nose because I hate having to remind people nonstop."
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13."The cafeteria food is always amped up for visit days. Ask what it's like on a normal day because it's not as fancy as what they're serving you that day. At my school, visit days came with three or four desserts at lunch, when in reality, it was generally some sad cookies."
—Anonymous, 27 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2014-2015
14."Ask your guide if they'd choose that school again knowing what they know now."
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—Anonymous, 27 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2014-2015
15."Ask if there's a dorm they wouldn't want to live in. In case you end up going there, you'll want to know. The answers may surprise you. The fancy, newer building may turn out to be spider-infested and the dark, ugly building may have the best sense of community.
—Anonymous, 27 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2014-2015
16."It was always astonishing (and uncomfortable!) when parents asked super controversial or hot button questions. Some examples: 'Well why did the president of the university come out/not come out with a statement about XYZ?' or 'How do you feel about XYZ?', 'Do you think my student is going to get filled with XYZ ideas and come home (Fill in the blank: conservative, liberal, etc)?'. Or my FAVORITE: 'Do you feel like the cost of the university is worth it?' Like, SIR. I am paid minimum wage, an undergrad, and clearly am STILL attending the university. If you want to go find a high-ranking official and ask them these questions, go ahead. But I’m pretty sure your student is wanting to disappear into thin air."
"My response (While smiling!): 'That’s a great question for ____, I’m sure they’d love to answer that for you!' And then bitch about it as soon as they left. YES, tour guides talk about you."
—Anonymous, 31 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2009-2013
17."I can't believe that I have to say this, but please don't flirt with your tour guide. I've had freshmen ask me if I have a boyfriend, and I've had high schoolers try and finish a tour by asking me out on a date. It's super inappropriate, and it makes us so uncomfortable. Oh, and this is also a message for parents too! There's no better way to mortify your child than to try and flirt with their college tour guide."
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—Anonymous, 23 years old, worked as a tour guide from 2017-2020
