Everybody Is Too Friendly.
The College of Wooster taught me possibly the most important rule in the college search: it’s not about the college; it’s about student fit.
When we arrived for our tour and admissions session at Wooster, we were greeted by a couple of admissions representatives and one of the college’s deans. They were professional but also very kind. They were enthusiastic without being pushy, happy to see us without being desperate, and friendly without being intrusive. In fact, they were awesome.
Our admissions session was similar. We were welcomed into a room where we could completely social distance, but we were close enough to the student panel to talk to them without yelling. All three of the students were shining examples of the special things about Wooster: amazing social organizations, a strong international population, and research opportunities unlike any in the country.
After the session, which lasted slightly less than an hour and included a lot of laughter, we headed out for our campus tour. If I remember correctly, there was some snow. One of the traditions at Wooster is to fill an enormous archway with snow overnight in order to force a “snow day” cancellation. I enjoyed this idea so much, I took several pictures of the (unfilled) archway.
Our tour guide was sweet and intelligent, the tour filled with information and humor. We walked all over the campus, admiring the architecture and landscaping, until we were led back to the admissions office.
As was always the case with Shane, he did not want to be questioned about his opinion until we were safely away from Wooster students and staff. Excitedly, I closed my car door and asked, “What do you think?”
“No,” he said.
“NO?!” I repeated, incredulous. “Why not?” I didn’t dare add my own opinion: This is one of the best colleges in the country! I love this place!
“Everybody is too friendly,” he said. For a moment, I thought he was kidding.
“Too friendly? What do you mean?”
“I mean the dean came out and talked to us. Everybody talked to us. The tour guide was happy, like, the whole time. Everybody was just too nice.”
This didn’t stop me from forcing him to look at Wooster again. On our way through Ohio on a different trip, we stopped in to see the campus on a hoppin’ Friday night. We found very little to suggest that the campus was “hopping” and when we finally found people having a good time, it was a group of three guys who were blasting bad music and smoking weed in the quad.
It wasn’t until we toured Lawrence University that I understood what Shane was trying to say about Wooster. Shane was looking for “his” people – and they were nowhere to be found at Wooster. In spite of its excellence and an incredible financial aid package, Wooster dropped to the bottom of the list and stayed there for the remainder of his search.