Myth #12
“I don’t need to go on any official ‘campus tour’; it’s better if I just explore the college on my own.”
This actually wasn’t a bad idea until a few years ago. It was never a “good” idea but now it really is a very bad idea. The reason it’s so bad is something called “demonstrated interest”. That’s a college biz buzz word to rate just exactly how likely a student is to attend . . . if the college sends them a letter of acceptance. It’s a very hot issue in the admissions biz right now and definitely not something to be taken lightly . . . no matter how silly it might seem to everyone in this room. An applicant’s demonstrated interest is now so important to their application . . . and so carefully tracked . . . that it’s important to pay careful attention any time there’s an opportunity to confirm interest.
Unfortunately this creates some unfair experiences . . . but there’re not going to change anytime soon so be aware! For example, consider the following possible situation. A conscientious student is seriously considering a college as his or her first choice; they’ve carefully researched the school and make a special visit to the campus with their parents for an entire weekend. Being serious about the school, they decide to make an in depth exploration of the campus on their own and skip the superficial “pep talk” at the admissions office and the 30 minute student led walking tour. Instead, they actually sit in on classes, they ask a couple of students if they can look at their rooms, they walk the entire campus, tour the school museum, eat two meals at the dining hall and even attend a student production at the performing arts center. For this effort, that student will receive “zero” credit for showing a demonstrated interest.
On the other hand, another student who is only casually interested in the same school stops by for an hour or two one Saturday morning on their way to visit another college in which they are much more interested. They don’t have much time so they arrive a few minutes late for the “pep talk” at the admissions office which they had signed up for online the night before. They sit in the back of the room, fill out the questionnaire and then read a brochure about the other college they’ll be visiting later in the day. They begin the student led campus tour but because they’re anxious to get to the other college they thank the tour guide, drop out of the group early, head back to the parking lot and drive away.
In the real world there’s no question about which student is more interested in the college. But . . . and I cannot stress this enough, in the highly computerized tracking environment of today’s top colleges which are somehow trying to work their way through thousands and sometimes tens of thousands of applications . . . the disinterested student receives much more credit. In fact, if both of their applications were equal . . . it might mean the difference between an acceptance and a rejection! If you’re interested in a particular college, you should do everything you can to prove it and that includes taking the official campus tour. Who knows . . . you might just learn something!
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