Decision Day tours: How honest are they?

2/13/08

By Ben Holbrook
Managing Editor

Throughout the school year, there are a number of tours that are given; are specifically designed to give prospective students a taste of what campus life is like.

Student ambassadors are trained during the fall and go on training tour guides with a senior member of the student ambassadors, Donna Gile, admissions assistants said. Each ambassador is also given a cheat sheet supplied by the faculty and different departments so the correct information is given to each tour.

Although the ambassadors have cheat sheets, “they are not expected to know every detail,” Gile said.

Each tour group is geared towards specific majors although during decision day, “all majors are thrown together,” said Erica Hoyt, admissions counselor at LSC.

The purpose of giving tours on decision days is to allow the applicants to get a brief overview of the campus while the admissions department decides if they are accepted. Most tour groups are taken into the Wheelock residence hall because most freshmen will live there and, “we want freshmen to see freshmen dorms,” Gile said.

Families are encouraged to go on tours during the week but “programs are done on the weekends for convenience,” Gile said. Since most families can’t miss work or school to come during the week the majority of the tours are done on weekends, Gile said.

Since many students tend to go home on the weekends to work or for other reasons, “we always tell them [families] it is quieter on the weekends,” Gile said. The student ambassadors giving the tours are able to tell tour groups anything that is pertinent to the college because, “we don’t tell them not to say anything,” Gile said, “because they [the student ambassadors] are responsible enough that if they have a problem to keep it to themselves.”