Well, I spent a good bit of the summer traveling, and in that time I visited more than a handful of colleges and universities – from the highly sought after, such as Georgetown and Duke, to obscure gems, such as Hiram, one of just forty college profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives.  Here’s some advice regarding college visits – some trivial, some substantive – for students engaged in the college search as well as for college admissions officers…

To the students:

1. Try to determine what makes a college different from others.  Or, “Why should I attend Gettysburg instead of Franklin and Marshall or Dickinson?  Or Franklin and Marshall as opposed to Dickinson and Gettysburg?”  (I choose these three schools because they are often lumped together as small liberal arts colleges in central Pennsylvania, though each of the schools does a good job of distinguishing itself from the others.)  But as colleges try to keep up with the Joneses – prettier landscaping, more eateries on campus, newer climbing walls! – it is becoming more and more difficult for students to determine what distinguishes one college or university from another, especially when the handful a student might be considering have a particular similarity – strength in intended major, nationally ranked football or basketball teams, coop programs.  Perhaps even ask the admissions rep, “Why should I come to school here as opposed to someplace else?”

2. You should ask the questions, not your parents.  I was, quite simply, appalled but the voicelessness of the students in the group info sessions I attended.  Sure, the parents are, for the most part, footing the bill, but they are not the people who will be spending the next four years at the schools.  And college admissions officers, because they do not want to bite the hands that feed them, are more than willing to answer the parents’ questions, but the parents won’t be seeking admission (despite their rather annoying tendency to phrase their questions using the pronoun ‘we’!).  Kids, it will impress college admissions officers if you, and not your parents, ask the questions.  If you’re on the fence in committee, and the officer remembers you for taking control of the process, you might get the nod.  Besides, you’re preparing for the most important four years of your life – be active instead of letting it happen to you.

3. Eat the local food.  It’s true that one of the things that makes fast food so profitable it that you can always count on its sameness from franchise to franchise – that is, a Big Mac or 7-Layer Burrito will taste the same in Chapel Hill as it will back home.  Food ought not be the deciding factor obviously, but the local student hangout will tell you at least something about what your next four years will be like – especially if McDonald’s or Taco Bell is the local student hangout!  And college is about trying new things, right?  But what if you don’t get into the College of Little Ivy or Big State U?  You won’t get the chance to sample the local fare unless a friend attends and you visit him or her.  Personally, the goat cheese and scallion ravioli I savored as an appetizer at Weia Teia, an Asian fusion restaurant in Oberlin, was one of the most heavenly things I have ever eaten, and I enjoyed a decidedly satisfying grilled vegetable sandwich (I am a noted carnivore!) at the Middle Ground coffeehouse at Kenyon.

To college admission reps…

1. Be sure that tours finish on time.  Tour guides do thankless work and most of them do a good job – some even do a great job!  And I always counsel students not to let a good or bad tour guide be a deciding factor in choosing a college (I am flabbergasted at how often it is a factor!).  But families are on a schedule.  Chances are, if they are touring your college in the morning, they are touring your competitor in the afternoon – and they need to eat lunch in between appointments.  (I was terribly disappointed to miss lunch with my family at a landmark restaurant in Atlanta because of a ‘too-thorough’ tour guide.)  All tour guides must wear watches.  (They also tend to walk briskly at the beginning of tours and flag quite a bit as the tour wears on: families are usually having a difficult time keeping up at the beginning and are overtaking the tour guide by the end.)

2. Please stop using the word ‘unique.’  Very few programs, much less colleges or universities, are unique.  Yes, St. John’s can argue that its famous Great Books program is unique.  And the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture, which offers only naval architecture, is unique.  With the advent of Olin, even Cooper Union isn’t unique anymore.  A program might be exciting or innovative or even rare, but again few are unique.  And things are definitely not “rather unique” or “really unique” or especially “pretty unique.”  Unique means one-of-a-kind.  A thing is either unique or it isn’t.  I suspect that the abuse of the word unique is very likely an attempt on the part of admissions officers to distinguish the college or university from its peer schools, which brings me full circle round.

3. Be able to convey what makes your school different from others.  Or, why should I attend George Washington instead of Georgetown?  Or Denison as opposed to Kenyon?  Or UNC rather than Duke?  The principles of good practice which govern the profession very likely forbid an admissions officer from saying, “We’re better than Elite U. because…,” but most colleges and universities were founded because someone thought he or she had a better idea or that students ought to be educated differently.  Admissions officers need to be able to articulate this.  And if the institution has abandoned its original mission, why?  Right now, colleges are enjoying their largest applicant pools ever, but in several years, they will again be vying for students.

These are just a few musings after a very long hiatus.  But with another college admissions season on the horizon, there will be plenty to discuss.  Stay tuned.

Posted by Pat Admin at August 21, 2007 10:00 PM

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