Walking tour: Big draw for students

Student tour guide Jana Bodensteiner offers applicants and their parents an undergraduate point of view along with the sights of campus. Photo by Kirk Murray.

The tour is one of Iowa’s most effective tools for recruiting undergraduates. Last year, almost 6,700 prospective students attended either a group or individual visit. About half of those who see Iowa’s campus in person enroll.

"All of our data, research, analysis, and word of mouth says that one of the top reasons people choose to attend UI is the visit," said John Laverty, assistant director of admissions. "The feel. The gut-level reaction to the people they meet and what they see."

A typical campus visit includes a variety of activities, such as a general information session, classroom visit, tour of a residence hall, complimentary lunch at Hillcrest, and meetings with admission counselors and faculty members. But the heart of the visit is the walking tour. One reason is that the tours are all led by students. It’s an opportunity for prospective students and their families to ask a current student what it’s really like at Iowa, out of earshot of faculty and administrators.

Elaina Fratengelo, a junior from Oceanside, Calif., majoring in health promotion, has been a tour guide for a year.

"I gave a lunch escort to one student and his family," Fratangelo said. "I ate with them, and we had a great conversation. Now I see him all around campus. One day he came up to me and said, ‘I came here because of you. Because of the tour you gave, how friendly you were to me and my family.’

"Then just a few weeks ago on my lunch tour, when one family saw Hillcrest, they said, ‘Oh my God!’ They decided right then and there to come here."

But it isn’t always smooth sailing. Some students and their parents save the tough questions for tour guides.

"I have had parents concerned about drinking on campus," Fratangelo said. "They hear things. I try to point out that there are lots of other things to do. I talk about every other possible program. Night games, residence hall activities, movies. I mention Stepping Up."

Fratangelo was prepared to handle tough situations by a rigorous selection and training process. The goal is to have tour guides who are genuine and who can describe the student experience in their own words. At the same time, they’re trained to offer certain core messages about the University’s history, strong academic departments, areas where UI is highly ranked or has created a "first," and campus lore. Jacqueline Kleppe, admission counselor, is the tour guide coordinator.

"We have 35 tour guides on staff right now," Kleppe said. "We train extensively. We make them shadow other tours. They have to be prepared and comfortable. We cover public speaking issues, introductions, speaking loudly and clearly," Kleppe said.

"And little things," Laverty added. "Like never walking backwards. When there’s a question, you stop, answer it, and then move on."

A walking tour takes about an hour and covers the east side of campus. Starting at Bowman House, it travels in a loop around the Pentacrest. The tour stops at Pappajohn and other major buildings and residence halls. The groups go inside some buildings, including what for many high school students is their first look at a college lecture in progress. They visit a smaller classroom as well, often in the recently renovated Schaeffer Hall. They stop at IMU. From a vantage point behind the Old Capitol, they take in the view of the west side of campus. And the groups climb the IMU foot bridge to get a glimpse of the arts campus.

Not all tours follow the same route. Special tours can be arranged for groups with special interests. The Colleges of Engineering and Business offer their own daily tours for students interested in those areas.

"We took a group to the cadaver lab one time," Laverty said. "It was an anatomy class from Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs. While they were here, they also wanted an admissions presentation. Some groups want to see Hancher, the Theatre Building. We work with all these departments to make the visit personal."

Personal is the key word. The world of admissions is becoming more competitive, with institutions vying for applicants more actively than ever. Kathryne Bassett is senior associate director of admissions in charge of the Admission Visitors Center.

"Admissions has become aggressively personal," Bassett said. For example, the complementary luncheon is a recently added part of the tour. Visitors also get a pass for free parking and a coupon for 20 percent off on apparel at the IMU bookstore. "We’ve had wonderful support from central administration. It’s clearly a priority to this university."

Although the Office of Admissions has a full staff devoted to recruiting students, the support of faculty and staff is essential. Prospective students and their families are savvy and know that after they enroll, it is the faculty and other departmental staff with whom they will be most in contact for the next four years. More and more visitors to campus want to meet faculty on their initial visit.

Departmental support can take many forms. It can be as simple as a smile when a tour group passes by. Some academic departments take an active role in recruiting. They keep track of applicants who have expressed interest in that major, place phone calls from faculty, and send letters from department chairs to woo students. It may seem like an onerous duty, but today’s applicant could be tomorrow’s star student. Faculty and administrators interested in doing more to recruit students should contact Michael Barron, director of admissions, at (33)5-1548 or michael-barron@uiowa.edu.

Then there are the special occasions. Sometimes a visitor arrives unexpectedly with a disability. The staff always find a way to accommodate, such as altering the tour route or locating a sign language interpreter on short notice. When a sudden cloudburst strikes, tour guides know all the open doors to duck into. When it’s icy, they know all the detours through parking structures with elevators to avoid climbing slippery slopes.

"We’ve had children of famous people," Laverty said. "Patrick Duffy was here. He sat right in our living room at Bowman House."

On the day that fyi visited the house, the grandson of the president of an Ivy League institution was visiting, with Iowa on his short list.

"But the thing is," Laverty said, "we treat all visitors with the same level of hospitality and courtesy. To us, everyone is an important person."

Article by Sam Samuels