college tours BEFORE you get admitted.
it's summer and the campus is flooding with college toursists. especially the HUGE groups of asians, the arrogant second generations, the proud parents hoping their sons and daughters would become dragons, and the even more arrogant asian + white 1/2s. also the not so interested annoying suburban white girls, and their "oh this is the responsibility of the parents to take their children to college tours even though it's so much trouble for me to travel this far with the kids" parents.
here is why i think college tour before admission is such a waste of money, time, energy and mental space--
1) all the info about the college's academic reputation, lifestyle, curriculum, etc can be found online nowadays and they are more than enough for you to decide whether that college is worth your effor to put together an application. the tour guides of the guys at the admissions office won't tell you any more than what you already know from internet research.
2) in case you see a campus which is really pretty on the tour and you fall in love with it, it will be even more pitiful when you are rejected from that college. it's better to not have an absolute favorite before you apply, or you will commit suicide when they don't take you and you want to go nowhere else.
3) if you absolutely wants in person contact at the college and here a real voice tell you it's like this and that, many colleges offer call in phone chats with students and admissions officers. it's not necessary to visit, and on the phone or by email, you get more personal attention than in a conference room or on the noisy streets with a HUGE group of similar trouists.
3) it's not too late to know the tinny binny details of a college after you are admitted. that's when you look at what how big the dorms are, taste a meal in the dinning hall, sit in a class etc -- in order to decide whether you want to spend 4 years there. if you do the college tour after admission, you only have to tour the colleges that you got in, so you feel more powerful and confident. hey now it's really that you are choosing them!
ok, you may ask, if i don't tour before i apply, what if i miss a really good college? well, the suggestion from me is, you have to choose which colleges to tour, right? and that choice is based on some info. so why not just apply to all those colleges? or do more research and look narrow down the candidates a little bit. unless you are just a lazy bum and think of college tours as a form of vacation and escape from high school.