Everyone has heard snippets of the BC Tour Guide’s talking points as you maneuver around the large group of people they are addressing. You hear them explaining how Lower Campus used to be a reservoir as they stand on the Million Dollar Stairs, or that the huge bronze eagle at the end of Linden Lane was a gift from the Japanese government. You smile and marvel at the fact that after at least a year of successfully attending BC, you never knew these little odd trivia facts about the school. Which begs the question, are these amusing anecdotes necessary to mention in order to convince prospective students to apply? Are the tour guides mentioning relevant facts about the school during tours?
Given the immense significance I gave to my own experience of college tours while I was applying almost two years ago, I can say that a student’s perception of a school may come mostly from the tour, and perhaps a perusal of the school’s website.
After attending a tour this past week, I was quite impressed, and it appears to be unchanged from when I took my BC tour as a high school senior. My tour guide was efficient, spoke loudly, and could effectively answer some of the more ridiculous questions asked by parents. But, there are several instances when I thought perhaps the guide was forced into talking points that neither he/she nor the tour group cared about.
For instance, the tour guide spent a few minutes describing the Master Plan. While the plan is interesting to current students, as they can accurately imagine the extent the changes will have on the existing model of the campus, it is because they are familiar with the current layout. But the Master Plan does not effect the prospective students or their parents, since they will presumably be graduating in 4 years and not see the plan actualized in 10. Instead of harping on the $1.6 billion in improvements BC feels it has to make, why not capitalize on the positive aspects of the existing buildings?
The most major flaw I find with the BC Tour is its failure to show the groups a residence hall room. First year college students spend an immense amount of time in their rooms, and not showing them one puts BC at a disadvantage. In the BC Student Admissions Program’s Tour Guide Handbook, it cites the reason for not showcasing a dorm room as a “liability issue.” I distinctly remember seeing dorm rooms at Villanova, and even Rutgers, when on my college tours. BC should perhaps find a way to overcome the liability issue, as clearly these schools have, in order to make their tour experience a complete one.
In addition, my tour guide seemed to quickly breeze by the academic curriculum of the school, as if it were a filler between interesting historical anecdotes and trivia facts about the campus. As I mentioned before, these stories are interesting to hear and laugh about once, but they are not what will become the deciding factor in a wavering prospective student’s mind. For example, there should be attention given to the strength of BC’s academics, with explanation of a seemingly extensive and constrictive core curriculum that actually allows a student generous freedom in choosing many classes to fulfill the Core.
While that point is in the tour guide handbook, I did not hear it stressed. And while these little facts are funny, students will not pick the school with the quirkiest history, but with the most solid chances of succeeding in their academic program.
