"Hi there! My name is Sammy, and I'll be giving you a campus tour today! So, tell me a little about yourself: Where are you from? What are you interested in? Do you have a major in mind?"
Being a campus tour guide is so much more than just regurgitating the same speech and walking the same trail over and over again. It's getting to know potential new students. It's meeting new people and working with incredible admissions staff. It's getting to fall in love with the school you chose every time you walk out on tour.
There really isn't a "cookie-cutter tour" when it comes to being a student ambassador. Each student and family you meet will be unique and will expect different things from both you and the school. Some demands are easy to meet while others come close to impossible, and a few can be pretty ridiculous, but no matter what you've got to make the best of what you're given to work with. Not everything is going to be perfect; heck, you go to the school. You see that not everything is, but that doesn't mean that all of the other aspects you love about the school can't make up for it. You can try to make a college or university look perfect, but the best way to get people to consider your school is to show them how amazing it is despite its faults.
Sometimes you'll feel like you don't know enough, but here's the thing: you can't know everything. It's not a bad thing to say "I'm not sure" when you're out on a tour because making something up is always the wrong decision. You never want to lead someone on when they're visiting a school; I mean think about it, if your tour guide misled you when you were selecting colleges/universities, you'd be pretty angry too. Extend the same courtesy, and don't be ashamed. No one can know everything, and more often than not someone else in the admissions office will have the answer for you.
Don't let the bad tours get to you either. You're going to get a family or a group who's uninterested at least once; they'll argue with you about the school, or ignore you for their phones, or maybe even just plain walk out on you. Truth be told, there was most likely nothing you could have done to change their minds or get them more engaged because they weren't interested in the first place. They might have been there for the free t-shirt, included lunch or just to get an excused day off high school. It's going to happen, but don't get down on yourself because of it.
The best tours are the ones where the students and parents are engaged. You may have to pull it out of them kicking and screaming, but when you find out what interests someone it's easier to get them talking and asking questions. Tours where nobody has anything to say or any questions to ask are just awkward. Nobody enjoys that.
In my opinion, being a student tour guide is one of the most rewarding jobs a college student can have. The feeling when someone asks you where they can settle their deposit right after your tour is something really special. When you truly enjoy the school that you attend, having the opportunity to help others fall in love with it too is a really cool thing.
