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Health & Fitness

College Admissions: The College Tour by Dr. Paul Lowe – College Admissions Guru

I visit each Elite Eight and thirty top-tier colleges and universities every winter, spring, summer and fall.   These visits are lots of fun and help me to see, feel and understand the many changes that occur on campuses so that I can discuss them directly with my clients or at my college admissions seminars.  

 

On each visit, I talk with professors and department heads, sit in on a class or two, visit the admissions office, the athletic department and of course enjoy the gastronomy unique to each college dining hall.  I love to talk with students as I discover why they decided to attend a particular school, what they like least or best about the college, their academics and experiences adjusting to college life.  The more I visit a campus, the easier it is to discern differences, to assess dynamic changes and to pinpoint key campus priorities.

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Last week, was the “spring break college tour season”, where high school and college spring vacations do not overlap and where visiting campuses during spring break is an annual tradition. On these particular tours, I see the eager, anxious parents with their high school juniors.  Since most juniors have the entire week off, I actually have had the opportunity of seeing the same families at tours.

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Tours can be extremely interesting, to me, even after being on the same tour over and over again, because I listen to parents as they lead their children!

 

I overheard one parent announce to several other parents that her daughter was a shoo-in on an Ivy League school tour because she had connections   A shoo-in?  Connections? Really?  Did the parent embrace the acceptance rate at this particular school – 6.26% or conversely that her daughter has a 93.74% possibility of being rejected.  As I listened to her brag about her daughter, it dawned on me, as a professional admissions advisor that the admissions committee would probably view her daughter as an applicant “unique just like everyone else” in the 93.74% category.

 

One parent, on another tour, asked questions about the college that was obviously readily found on the college website.  I hope his son doesn’t make that mistake at an alumni interview!

 

Another parent stated loudly that the tour guide was boring and his son was a great tennis player from a particular high school.  I guess he did not realize that the tour guide, a junior, was also a student admissions officer – Oops!

 

For me, the spring college tours are always exciting.  The college students playing frisbee, kickball or juggling on the campus greens are happy and relieved that it’s finally spring.  I get to wear my high top sneakers, jeans, baseball cap and absorb that energy I felt when I toured colleges as a high school junior and as a parent with my wife and my children.

 

Dr. Lowe is President of Pinnacle Educational Center and Managing Director of the Admissions Advisors Group.  He is the lead admissions expert at the Admissions Advisors Group: Woodbridge Admissions Advisors (www.woodbridgeadmissionsadvisors.com) (203) 387-1574 and Greenwich Admissions Advisors (www.greenwichadmissionsadvisors.com) (203) 542-7288, Manhattan Admissions Advisors (www.manhattanadmissionsadvisors.com) (212) 829-4341 and International Admissions Advisors (www.internationaladmissionsadvisors.com).

 

Ivy League Admissions Advisors (www.ivyleagueladmissionsadvisors.com) and corresponding Ivy League Application Boot Camp: (www.ivyleagueapplicationbootcamp.com) assist U.S. and international families navigate the competitive, global admissions.

 

Dr. Lowe is an active member of several professional organizations including: the Higher Education Consultants Association (HECA), the New York Association of College Admission Counseling (NYACAC), the New Jersey Association of College Admission Counseling (NJACAC), the Overseas Association for College Admission Counseling (OACAC), and NAFSA: Association of International Educators, American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), and the Admissions Leadership Consortium (ALC).

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