As just about any High School senior could tell you, the most important factor in their college search is their impression of one person who they will know for around an hour. Wait, what? No, really: Kids just can’t get over college tours as being a crucial piece of the college-judging process.

Personally, I feel that guides like Fiske need to acknowledge the tour’s importance and realize that all tour guides are not created equal. If they provided a ranking of a school’s average tour quality, students would know whether or not to feel short thrifted by their tour experience. This could be done quite simply, using only one criterion: The guide’s ability to walk backwards. Admission officers, listen up: This is the #1 most important “pull” that a school can exert on a student. That’s right. So make sure those guides can walk backwards with confidence and authority.

Tour Guides at University Master Diplomacy and Deal with Reality
By KATE STONE LOMBARDI
July 5, 2006

[...] despite all the money that colleges and universities spend on brochures, Web sites and other marketing efforts, high school students and their parents often base their impressions of an institution on the young man or woman who has led them around campus for 45 minutes.

“We know that the campus tour has the biggest impact on whether a student decides to apply to Tufts or not,” said Kerrin Damon, its assistant director of admissions.

Ms. Damon said the university had done surveys, querying those who enroll and those who do not, as well as students who visited Tufts and decided not to apply. Historically, the campus tour, which is given all year but draws heavily throughout the summer, is cited as the biggest influence on students’ decisions, she said. [...]

So while Colleges and Universities are hopefully putting their best feet forward (or, backwards, as the case may be) to ensure a fine touring experience, I would still caution fellow students to think twice before becoming 100% prejudiced against a school by virtue of a bad tour experience. A sample n of 1 is not representative of the student body! Likewise, if you have a perfect tour, don’t sign the Early Decision form right then. More applications means more rejections means more prestige, so colleges will be training their tour guides to be as appealing as possible. The article I just linked in fact describes the tremendous lengths colleges go to to groom their tour guides. Sometimes at the expense of full disclosure or complete honesty.

Then again, what did Oscar Wilde say? “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances.”

Always do your research!

[tags]College Admissions, College, college tours, tour guide, walking backwards, university, Fiske[/tags]