Molly Turventine sat on the steps of the Wooden Center around 8:30 p.m. on Friday, taking in the atmosphere of what may become her future home ““ especially after her positive experience on a campus tour, which she took later in her visit.
Turventine, a senior at Bentley High School near Oakland, took one of the many admitted-students campus tours that have been given regularly since the beginning of April.
These two-hour tours, in addition to introducing the campus, cover a wide set of issues such as class sizes, research opportunities, athletic events and residential life.
While many students have different perspectives of the campus even after the tours, many said they felt that attending a tour helped them gain a better understanding of the campus and its atmosphere.
Some students who had not previously visited UCLA said they were surprised by the architectural and physical beauty of the campus.
“(Powell) Library is breathtaking in the way that it looks; the campus was just amazing,” said Andrew Abayan, a senior at Santa Barbara High School in Santa Barbara.
While the campus appealed to some, the tour actually motivated others to attend a school other than UCLA because of their personal preferences.
Maka Gandhi, a senior at Irvington High School in Fremont said she finds the urban nature of UC Berkeley’s campus more alluring than UCLA’s closed campus.
Though Gandhi has not yet made a final decision, she said she felt there was a greater sense of community at UC Berkeley.
But Gandhi also said she liked that UCLA excelled in several areas, a characteristic important to many admitted students.
“(UCLA) is academically strong. (It has a) strong social life. I want a college that has a good blend of everything,” said Tommy Zhang, a senior at Temple City High School in Temple City.
In addition, students also said UCLA appealed to them after seeing a diverse student body during their tours.
“There are so many different types of people here (that) you can see yourself fitting in with at least one (group), if not more,” Turventine said.
Kenni Palmer, a tour guide and third-year English and psychology student, said one reason the tours are helpful is because tour guides are carefully selected after a rigorous application process that involves completing a written application and two interviews.
“A lot of people like the energy we have. We really are enthusiastic about the school, and we like to convey that in the tour,” Palmer said.
Palmer said while she enjoys admitted-student tours, she also finds them the most challenging relative to general group tours and prospective-student tours.
“You really are trying to get them here. We are how they make their decision,” Palmer said.
While many students did feel more enthusiastic about attending UCLA after their tours, they are each at different stages of their decision-making process.
Skye Lawter, a prospective business economics student, said she was concerned before the tour about the strength of UCLA’s alumni network and the lack of an undergraduate business school.
But Lawter said these concerns were addressed by her tour guide, Palmer, who discussed the existence of pre-professional societies and how she had benefited from a strong alumni network.
Lawter said that after her tour she is now more likely to attend UCLA rather than USC.
But regardless of what decision students have reached, they chose attending a campus tour as an aspect of their decision-making process, as it exposed them to students, campus buildings and the general atmosphere of UCLA.