After an especially rough year as a real estate appraiser for the city of San Francisco, Charles Crowder said he really needed a vacation.
Some in his position might have thought white sands and highballs, a Tuscan villa, perhaps a cruise. But Crowder, 49, packed up his twin daughters, Chelsea and Chaya, and drove to UCLA, where they stood last week in front of Kerckhoff Hall, listening to a perky student guide with a thick brown braid extol the virtues of the Westwood campus.
"This is a great vacation. Are you kidding?" Crowder said. "It's a beautiful sunny day, a beautiful campus . . . what else do you want?"
The grand campus tour has long been a ritual of the American college admissions cycle. Any fears the recession would change that were dispelled as schools -- including UCLA, Pomona College and Columbia University -- report a strong start to this summer's campus visits.
"Despite the bad economy, campus visits are still an important part of the college selection process," said Tony Pals, a spokesman for the National Assn. of Independent Colleges and Universities.
In a concession to financial limits, some students are leaving one parent or siblings at home. But families want to share the experience, and many are combining tours with, or substituting them for, their summer travels.
"Campus tours are the new family vacation," said Bruce Poch, dean of admissions at Pomona College.
UCLA hosted 70,000 visitors from June 2008 to May 2009. With campus lore, cheesy jokes and heartfelt testimonials, the student guides do yeoman's work putting the university in its best light -- all while walking backward to face their audience.
A string of puns at the geology building -- "Professors rock, it's the favorite department by a landslide" -- is an audience pleaser, guides say. "If you string them together right, it's a classic," said student guide Katie Frost.
Occupational hazards include the occasional wayward mom "awkwardly hitting on" a male guide, they say. But most college tour scripts are numbingly similar, and information is not really the point. Students and their families are looking for that ineffable moment when, through some alchemy of atmosphere, setting or vibe, they suddenly know this is the place for them.
"They're just trying to see if they have that gut reaction," Poch said.
