[quote="RedStormNC" post=400975]Prior to COVID, my daughter and I visited a lot of schools including a Philly road trip to see Villanova & St. Joseph's.
Specific to Joe's, it reminded me very much of St. John's from a location, look etc but a smaller feel. Hagan Arena only seats 4,200 but it had a lot of seat backs !!
Anyway, the one thing they did differently than any other college during an open house was had prospective students attend their choice of 1 of 4, 30 min. sample courses to catch kids attention and experience a college classroom experience with a professor with catchy titles like Ethics in Pro Sports, Psychology of Social Media Marketing, Brand Building, etc. (Just made up those examples but you get the idea).
My daughter said that was the most real any visit as every other college visit all was the same pitch and tour. She said the HS students, all strangers, interacted w/ a cool professor and each other.
Give Joe's credit for trying something different. I enjoyed the trip to Philly and loved the cheesesteaks at Pat's & Gino's. How I ate two of them over 60 min, I dont know. Pat's was 10 x's better. Next time Im ever in Philly I still need to hit up John's Roast Pork. Only did the tourist Pats/Ginos thing for a 2 for 1 experience.[/quote]
We visited st Joe's in 2013 and it was so horribly done, we left the tour before it was over. We learned over time though with both high schools and colleges that a great tour doesn't make a great school and vice versa. You have to look past certain things, both good and bad to get to the heart of things.
I wouldn't be surprised if St Joe's heard a lot of negative criticism about their tours and revamped. Jesuit schools are all pretty well tied together and a school like BC, while in a different class, does a really great job with their tours. In the summer for example, tour guides all wear school issued t shirts and shorts, and were supremely prepared to answer questions. All were sharp kids who looked and spoke well. St. Joe's was the opposite of that when I visited.
I'm glad you had a good experience and glad they upgraded the tours there. A tour may just be the equivalent of Macy's window, but you can learn if your kid feels comfortable there or not.
