SAC changes risk misleading prospective students

By Staff Editorial     9/25/08 7:00pm

Recently, the student-led tour program facilitated by the Student Admissions Council has undergone several changes (See story, page 1). "Professional" polo shirts, optional visors, applications, training manuals and paychecks are in; flip-flops and a number of veteran tour guides are out. The admissions office itself has been renovated, and plans are even in the works for a model dorm room to become part of the standard tour package.What strikes us as the principal effect of all of this change is standardization, stagnation and, with that, sterility. With the push to make Rice's tour program more centralized and overseen (faculty replaced students as the principal selectors of new tour guides this year), we fear the consequential result could be a bland shell of its former self.

Student-led tours should be given the freedom of expression necessary to provide an accurate glimpse of Rice life for any interested parent or student. Too many restrictions have the potential to blur this picture, which can lead to nothing but problems in the future. For one, a run-of-the-mill tour could fail to grasp the interest of a prospective student, who might then be less inclined to identify Rice as a unique institution with a special opportunity to offer. For another, a student who receives a glimpse of an experience dimmed by administrative hands might base his decision to attend on a false vision, and his eyes could be quite rudely opened by a situation he did not expect when he arrived.

For these reasons and others, we feel that it would behoove the Admissions Office to reconsider exactly how much of the prospective student experience it would like to direct. Tours can be an integral part of any student's application decision, and while it might be a well-intentioned aspiration to ensure some sort of all-encompassing standard of measure, we feel the aforementioned risks outweigh the envisioned benefits.

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