Questions to Ask College Tour Guides - No April Fooling

Although I am no longer on the college search, I participated today in helping my friend visit Penn State Schreyer Honors College as she tries to choose her college for next year.  Often, on many college tours, the tour guides become very bleak or just start preaching about the school.  Other times, parents ask really stupid or obvious questions.  The tour guides most likely become bored with the usual tedium of answering questions, and I also like to keep them on their feet (especially since they're walking backwards, haha), so I often ask seemingly weird, but relevant questions.  Below is a list of questions you should demand answers to when on a college tour:

• Are we allowed to have pets on campus, if so, what kind?
• Have you ever been attacked by a squirrel, if not, do you know someone who has been?
• How does laundry work?
• Where is the nearest non-campus convenient store?
• What is your favorite college meal?
• How much time do you actually spend studying?
• Do you sleep?
• Has an animal, such as a bird, ever come in through an open window in your dorm?
• Is there AC in the dorms?
• Do you get along with your roommate?
• How are the advisers?
• How many classes are you currently taking?
• What clubs/organizations would you suggest getting involved in?
• Are the bathrooms tolerable?
• Do you feel safe on campus?
• What advise would you give freshmen?
• Are other students nice/polite?
• Are you actually able to obtain help from your professors?
• How is public transportation?
• Do you ever have free time, if so, what do you do with that time?
• Is there sufficient medical care on campus?
• What kinds of clothing do most people wear?

Yes, some of these questions are obviously normal, but others you perhaps wouldn't think of regularly.  Asking the tour guides lots of questions is a good test of their attitudes.  Their attitudes can usually give a good understanding of how they feel about their college.

Be respectful on campus tours and don't talk loudly to others while the guides are speaking.  Don't hesitate to finagle yourself to the front of a group, you really want to hear what they're saying about the campus and their experiences.  Be bold, polite, and take a lot of pictures; you want to be remembered and you want to remember it.

My final piece of advise to those on the college search:  Don't attend a college that you don't think you can happily stand living in for at least four years (dorms are especially important).