By Rachel Lutz, Columnist
On Saturday April 10, 2010, I opened up my residence hall room door in New Complex to the Admitted Students’ Day tours throughout the residence hall buildings. I realize that it was early in the morning and they may have been tired from the drive, or whatever their excuse may be. However, I think the students went about doing the tours wrong.
Throughout the duration of the tours all day, I was required to stay in my room, for obvious reasons. I was an available resource for the parents and prospective students that were traipsing in and out of my room and admiring my lovely lounge walls, which are covered in magazine pictures, ads and posters. While comments were made about whether I was on Team Jacob or Team Edward (because of said posters), I wasn’t asked legitimate questions at all. They didn’t take advantage of the chance to speak with a real student.
Last summer, before I had officially decided on attending the University, I remember my parents and I asking tons of questions to the residents that I saw in the rooms, and the tour guide, “Is it safe? Do you have fire drills in the middle of the night? Is this building easily accessible from anywhere on campus? Where are you going next year, since this year is a first-year building?” Yes, yes, yes and I have no idea. I also asked questions such as what clubs residents were involved in on campus, how tough the workload was and if they got along with their roommates. The residents always answered truthfully, and I appreciated that. The rooms actually were a factor in making my decision, so I was glad that I had asked those questions.
One person asked me a couple of the questions I just mentioned; it wasn’t a prospective student, though, it was his father that was doing the talking. I realize that the prospective students that I am talking about in this article may never actually get the chance to read it, but let me make use of the space that I have in this article: next time you are on a tour of a room, make sure to ask questions. You’ll be happy you did, especially if the answer takes you by surprise.
So, while I was happy to open up my door and allow people to take a look at a typical room, I thought it was strange that the people on the tours didn’t seem to fully grasp the opportunity that they had in their hands. I wish I had been asked more questions… Sitting in my room all day on my computer and playing Monopoly got boring after a while.
