Ivory Towers: The Long Walk

They descend every spring. Amorphous packs of teens and their parents wandering around campus led by smiling Kite and Key tour guides. It's not hard for a careless, unsuspecting student to get stuck inside one of these masses. They could spend the next few minutes trapped between a New Kids on the Block fan and her inquisitive, over-protective father. After months of decreased inactivity on the tour front, Kite and Key expects to receive between 3000 and 4000 visitors this month. For the most part, this horde of prospects descends upon the University hoping that a first-hand view will help them decide whether or not to enroll next fall. Throughout the year, tours take guests around to see the major sights on campus. During Locust Weeks, however, Kite and Key adds another dimension for admitted prospects: tours of actual freshman residences including the Quadrangle, High Rise East, Hill House, and King's Court. Kite and Key president Stephanie Newman said that she believes both the tour and the guide serve important functions in the decision-making processes of many students. "The tour makes such a big difference," the College junior said. "[The prospective] attributes to that one person [the tour guide] all the aspects of the University . . . The crucial part of the tour for the prospects is that this is their chance to meet a real student." "One of the most challenging parts of the tour for the tour guide is making sure that you present yourself well," she added. Kite and Key tour guide coordinator and College junior Debbie James said that she enjoys helping both the University and the prospective students. "We really are a competing university, even in the Ivy League," she said. "For every student we have come, it's somebody we can help choose . . . It's good that we can help pre-freshmen make their decision." James and other tour leaders have actually received letters from prospectives they have guided seeking further inside information on the University. "It's nice to know we actually influence people and they remember us," she said. The director of Kite and Key's On and Off Campus Recruiting program, Wharton sophomore Peter Wang, expressed similar feelings. "A lot depends on the specific tour guides," Wang said. "We try to make sure that the guides are personable. I definitely think that the tour guide system is worthwhile." Many prospective students also seem to consider their college visits as time well spent. "I'm pretty sure that I wanted to come here," said Vijay Venkatesh from Rochester, New York. "This tour just added to that feeling." "It's not so much the tour [that's important], it's the feeling I get from the person who's giving it," said Aaron Altschuler, another prospective student. But not all prospectives regard campus visits as important factors. "The tour itself is really not that important," said Engineering prospective and Philadelphia native John Bloom. · The University does not stand alone in its use of tours as a recruiting tool. Other Ivy League schools also recognize the importance of student-led tours. "It depends on how someone sees the tour guides," said Ann Lightcap, an admissions officer at Brown University. "Positive anecdotes really help put the school in a good light to the prospects. A lot of times tour guides are actually the ones who first interest people in applying." "Your student guide is the representative of the entire student body," said Andrea Huebner, a member of Princeton's Orange Key Guide Service. "I think that if the tour guide is some brainy engineering major then the pre-freshmen will think that everyone here is a nerd. Or if the guide's a weird Psych major, that everyone here is a snob. I try to talk more with the prospects than at them." At Yale, the touring procedures are more regimented. "The tours are all given by tour guides chosen through a very selective process," said Shirley Johnson, the director of Yale's Visitor Information Office. "The guides are trained thoroughly to give an overview of the student life, architecture, and history of the university, complete with anecdotes." Though members of the University's Kite and Key Society work strictly on a volunteer basis, Cornell's tour guides receive both pay and a prestigious name. "Students work paid as 'Information Specialists,' " Cornell Information Specialist Scott Zeller said. However, an Information Specialist seems to have the same role as a tour guide in the assistance process. "I think the tours at Cornell are effective because they are first-hand tours given by students," Zeller said. And as corny as it may seem, student guides say there exists a special bond between the guide and his or her tourists. Fortunately or unfortunately, many unplanned portions of a tour often help to cement the bond. Tour guide and College junior Doug Hodis nearly caused a fatality on one of his jaunts around campus. "One of the parents," he said, "decided to walk in front of me and almost got hit by a car as I was turned around talking to the rest of the group. After that I stopped using my captivating speaking style when I led tours across streets." Sometimes, the tour guides reveal more about student life at the University then they intended to, especially to parents. Wang, who also leads tours for Kite and Key, inadvertently created one of those special moments last year on a residence tour of the Quad. After picking a room at random, Wang knocked, explained his purpose, and was told to come in by the male student who lived there. "I walked in with three or four prospects," he said. "The room was totally dark and the guy was lying under the covers with his girlfriend. It's a good thing the parents were still out in the hall." And College freshman Todd Lieberman realized that memories of Spring Fling can occur even after it ends. "I took a group of ten or twelve prospects on a tour of the Quad after Fling," he said. "The guys let us in and the room looked like a recycling bin at Anheuser-Busch. Thank God there were no parents on the tour." Guides also recognized the distraction of good-natured hecklers during tours. "A lot of times students will say 'Oh, there's a tour, let's heckle them,' " Wang said. "They yell out bad things about the school [trying to scare off the prospectives]. I just smile and try to play it off." Princeton's Huebner described some of her hecklers' favorite schemes. "Kids will yell out the window 'Don't come here, it's too stressful!'" she said. "Some have even screamed 'I'm gonna jump!' I've had bean bags thrown at me from out windows. One almost hit a parent. One time, a frat put a dummy on a noose. That kind of shocked some of the parents."