Sugarcoated College Tours

By Grace Wofford on April 11, 2016

Spring has officially sprung which means that the season of college tours is now upon us.

Remember your college tour? Many a tour guide voice can be heard from almost every part of campus, discussing in optimistic tones about the helpfulness of the advisors, the state of the art recreation center, and of course how great the food is.

Now that it is almost time to close the curtain on this academic school year, does the University of Arizona’s freshman class feel that UA lived up to their tour guide’s promises?

http://cmw.ua.edu/

When I questioned many of my fellow students I found they felt that many of their college tours were glorified. When I did some eavesdropping of a tour passing through the Student Union I heard the tour guide state: “We have so many great options for food here at the UA; unlike a cafeteria we have separate restaurants and fast food stops so you will never get bored and always have plenty of options.”

However, through my own and many of my other classmates’ experiences this was hardly the case. Many of the fast food restaurants located in the union such as Burger King, Papa John’s Pizza, and Panda Express all have hours that stretch from either 9 p.m. or until 10 p.m. However, restaurants with more options such as Cactus Grill, Core and IQ can close as early as 3:30 p.m., leaving students with very few options.

One freshman, Mary Parker, stated, “They definitely went a little overboard with talking up the food; it’s definitely not as good as a restaurant.”

I decided to also look at some college reviews online about the food to see what they projected to incoming freshmen. One of the popular college ranking and review sites, Niche, granted the UA an A- for food. However, many of the quotes state complaints such as, “Although there are a few healthy options on campus, it is hard to find quality options, especially places that accept a meal plan” (College Freshman 2015).

As for the structure and curriculum of UA, Parker said the following.

“In order to switch majors I have to go to the office of another major … which could be on the other side of campus; it’s just frustrating that you have to go to so many places to get help on one thing.”

But not all 201 freshmen were so negative. Ashley Shows took a more bittersweet stance on the sugarcoated tour she took.

“I mean every school has its problems, but things on the tour were definitely glorified and made to look better than they actually were; but that’s their job, they are basically selling you a school.”

I wondered if the parents felt blindsided by the tour they took. One parent, who currently has a freshman student finishing off their school year, left me with this ominous quote about the tour experience:

“It’s not what they say on the tour, but what they don’t say that students need to worry about.”

So take this as a warning all incoming freshmen: no matter where you tour this spring, make sure to do a little extra digging to find the right university for you.

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