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The Dark Side of College Education
When College Tours Open Doors To Drinking and Sex By Laura Cone
Robert Rummerfield, director of College Visits Inc. in Charleston, S.C., agrees it is important to visit colleges while schools are in session. Some teenagers wind up visiting empty college campuses during the summer months simply because it's more convenient for their parents. Rummerfield, who was the assistant director of admissions at Johns Hopkins University prior to starting his own company, offers college-bound students a firsthand look at colleges and universities throughout the United States. "Sometimes if it is during the academic year, they may have some free time to be able to sit in on a class," he says. "They have a little time to go and explore on their own."
Rummerfield points out that with his company's services, high school students, who are always chaperoned, stay in hotels, although occasionally they will stay in residence halls. Students often visit 10 to 12 different colleges on the tour, such as urban, rural, private, public, small and large schools. The hectic schedule leaves little time for drinking and partying, which is not tolerated. A group of 20 to 30 teenagers may start a tour on a Saturday night and finish the following Friday.
"They sign an agreement as well as their parents before they go on the tour," he says. "Once we start on the tour we go over all the ground rules as well. We recognize that sometimes you have a bad apple that can ruin it for other people. We do room checks and curfews, because their safety is the most important thing. We are constantly on the lookout to make sure that they are not doing something foolish or something stupid. If the case arises, then they are gone there are no questions, and they are sent home."
During the college visit, teenagers participate in information sessions with admissions officers and also get to have lunch at different college campuses and dinner in the neighboring communities. "We get them on the campuses so they see it with their own eyes," Rummerfield says. "They are not relying on information that is passed over from their friends or relatives or other people."
