Selling a University to Next Year’s Freshman Class

UCLA sophomore David Regan led a group of high school seniors and their families around the Westwood campus on a rainy afternoon last week, pointing out such landmarks as Royce Hall and a food court for pizza, pretzels and Chinese food.

On the two-hour tour, Regan told them that former Vice President Al Gore and other notables had taught classes at the school. He sat with the students in a large classroom to answer their questions about classes, sports, AP credits, parking and things to do in Westwood.

Regan’s mission: Sell UCLA.

“I wanted to do tours because I have really enjoyed my experience with UCLA, and I wanted to share my experience with people,” said Regan, 19, who has led UCLA tours since the spring of his freshman year.

People such as Regan are very important in the annual college admissions cycle, which reaches fever pitch this month. Regan and other tour guides are the school’s ambassadors and can form potential students’ first positive or negative impression of a school.

A campus tour allows students to see their possible future dorm rooms, chat with their future classmates and experience where they could be hitting the books -- and partying -- for at least four years.

“That’s the only way to get a feel of the campus,” Pollyana Salas, 17, said about touring. She said she especially looks at the dorms and dining halls to help her make a decision.

Salas, a senior at Bishop Union High School in Bishop, southeast of Yosemite, applied to six schools, all in California. She and her father, Miguel Perez, recently drove to visit San Diego State and the University of San Diego, as well as Pepperdine University and UCLA, in one day. “It’s her decision, so I want her to have all the input she can get,” Perez said.

Matthew Schneider, 17, a senior at Point Loma High School in San Diego, visited UCLA and UC Berkeley. Schneider said he probably wouldn’t enroll in a university he hadn’t toured. “You wouldn’t be able to feel it, smell it. See if it feels like college,” he said.

That’s why, he said, the tour guide could affect his decision as much as the campus itself.

“At Berkeley, the tour guide was funny and so much fun, and you could tell that he just loved the school,” Schneider said. “You can tell by the student’s reactions how good the school is.”

Colleges put significant resources into their touring programs. UCLA leads more than 50,000 people on tours every year. The school has an office dedicated to coordinating tours, which employs about 45 student tour guides and three coordinators. Reservations are required for UCLA tours and, since 2001, students and their families have been able to reserve their spots online.

Fremont Chang, admissions counselor and director of the tour office, said guides are carefully selected to be articulate, honest, knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

Each year, there are as many as 150 applicants for just 15 tour guide spots, which pay about $8 to $10 an hour.

Occidental College, a liberal arts school in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of Los Angeles, has 10 tour guides this year, four more than a year ago. Arman Davtyan, admissions counselor and tour guide supervisor, added guides because of the increasing number of people taking the tours. In a busy week during the peak spring season, Davtyan said, nearly 400 people tour the campus.

“I think the consumer mentality is ever-present now. You want to know what you’re getting,” Davtyan said.

He said students are more likely to choose schools where they can picture themselves fitting in, being fulfilled and having their needs met.

For example, a recent tour at Occidental stopped in a two-student dorm room, nicely furnished by its current occupants with purple and pink tapestries over the window and photo collages on the walls.

The training for guides takes weeks, drilling them with information about campus buildings and courses. Guides at Occidental earn about $6.50 to $7.50 an hour, but the pay isn’t why they take the job.

“I do this job to share my love of the campus,” said Jenni Kephart, an Occidental senior and tour guide. “I sincerely love this school.”

Kephart, 21, who has led tours at Occidental for three years, said students whom she has led on tours remember her after they enroll, crediting her with helping them make their decision.

A tour guide also can turn a student off a school.

Zan Donovan, a high school senior from Minneapolis, attended a tour of Occidental led by Kephart. Donovan, 18, said he had applied to 17 schools on both coasts and visited about 10. He decided not to go to Tufts University in Massachusetts because he didn’t like his guide there.

“She didn’t make it welcoming,” he said.

Families will often make a trip out of visiting colleges or squeeze campus tours into their vacation itinerary. But many families can’t afford to stay in hotels or fly around the country just to visit colleges.

Esther Hugo, president of the Western Assn. for College Admission Counseling, an organization of college and high school counselors, said students without the resources to travel should contact the schools they’re most interested in and ask if they can help them with the costs of a trip.

Just showing that level of interest could help a student’s chances, she said, and private schools particularly interested in increasing geographic, racial and ethnic diversity in their classes may be willing to put students on planes and their families in hotels.

“They’re treated like rock stars,” Hugo said.

Vu Tran, director of undergraduate admissions at UCLA, said students should take advantage of tours.

“My advice to students and families is to ask very hard questions about what is presented to them,” Tran said. It’ll help students decide if a school is really the right place for them. “If you hate the environment, you’re not going to study.”