Tips for Parents on College Tours

There was a very straightforward and somewhat humorous article on the Huffington Post website by Ann Leary (wife of actor and comedian Dennis Leary, and parent of two teenagers) last week about the behavior of parents on college visits. Her tips are summarized as follows:

• Everything you'd like to know about the college you are visiting is most likely their website.
• Please do not ask questions that are meant to prove that your child is the most amazing child in the room. Also, don't ask questions that are overly specific to your child. You can always ask a question after the general information session or send an email to an admissions representative. But the answer is probably on the website.
  
• The bathrooms and dorm floors in many colleges are co-ed. This may come as a surprise the first time you hear it, but most people have heard it before. Information about the college's dorms can be found ...on the website.
• Let the tour guide do the talking, even if you are touring your alma mater.
  
• Your tour guide probably won't remember how kind and complimentary you were to them or the school, and ability to flatter isn't what your child is being evaluated on.

Even though Ann Leary's style is a little more blunt than mine, I did laugh a little when I read this part:

"Please, I beseech you, do not raise your hand and ask if the school offers programs abroad. YES! YES THEY ALL DO! It's on the website."

It's true. The vast majority of colleges offer some sort of opportunity to study abroad, no matter how small the college (I have yet to come across a college that does not offer study abroad). Many small colleges are part of larger networks that allow students to have their choice of countries in which to study. Vassar College, with 2,450 students, has a wide variety of study abroad opportunities during the school year and in the summer, in addition to opportunities to study at other campuses in the US and. Grinnell College, with 1,500 students also has a variety of study abroad opportunities.