College Tours are Horrible

Scenery of Fordham University during Zia's visit. All photos by Zia Shaikh.

College visits are often listed right at the top of to-do lists for incoming seniors and juniors. Advocates of this practice often say that it’s vital for students to visit the college they are applying for, in order to understand exactly what the college offers in terms of campus, social life and physical infrastructure.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, college tours seem to be the latest innovation in late stage capitalism where schools attempt to sell you the school rather than show you what it means to live there for the next 4 years. When I went to visit colleges in New York, I found the campus tours showed me shockingly little of the college campus. At Fordham University, the college tour guide showed us to the cafeteria, where they remarked that the University no longer had horrible food. Unfortunately, this was far from the truth, and the University was hiding their food. Additionally, nothing in the tour taught me of the research and internship opportunities within the school. To make matters worse, very little time was set aside in the 4 tours I visited that showed me what academic daily life would uniquely look like in each university.

Scenery at Colombia University during Zia's visit.

However, other students still see the benefit in these pointless visits.

“Actually being on campus can help you make application decisions. The oat milk matcha latte from Rice University's coffeehouse was just another reason for me to apply." Says senior William Liu.

Unfortunately, students like Liu don’t understand that this is the point of college tours. They entice you with matcha and frappucinos, in order to pull wool over your eyes. The real things they are hiding are the ones most important to you. For example, at Cornell University, there is almost nothing referring to the admissions processes, or even specific programs that are accessible for students, specifically related to their major.

Additionally, as a result of university policies, the majority of these tours do not allow for tour guides to be frank about specific policies that the University implements, and the true reality of collegiate life. Although this is to be expected, it does leave a lot on the table in terms of actual understanding of the University.

Cornell's track and field stadium during Zia's visit.

Additionally, college tours remind students about the never ending dread they will experience, separated away from their parents as full fledged adults.

“College tours remind me that I have to be an adult soon." says senior Alex Blacker. The verdict is obvious: if you want to be forced to grow up, sipping matchas and receiving indoctrinated education about your future college, go on a visit. If you want to stay in the real world, but also not become an adult, just stay home.