Lasell College
“This tour isn’t about Lasell it’s about me and my daughter.”
PROSPECTIVE STUDENT:
JC Swag
Fashion Design & Production
Graduated in 2011, just finishing up a gap year spent in Boston with best friend from home who attends Emerson College.
THE REVIEW:
First Impressions:
Location - 10
We began our journey as we hopped on the T at Hynes, a convenient stop near the Back Bay office. Little did we know, as we journeyed further down the D-line, our green line train would pass through the MBTA equivalent to the door to Narnia and we would suddenly find ourselves winding through the wilderness. From the bustling streets of Boston to the rustic railroad out towards Newton, we traveled to Lasell College.
Once we got off the train, we were left with a short walk to the campus. The smell of freshly cut grass and the warmth of the sunshine brought us back to our childhood, our hearts filled with the happiness we felt the first day of summer camp.
We found ourselves deep in the middle of an unexpected suburbia. We felt as though we had been transported to the south. The area surrounding Lasell has a very quaint old Georgia town feeling about it - very “Sweet Home Alabama” or something. Before we even walked into the Admissions office, we were totally in love with the campus.
The Admissions office was kind of far from the T stop but with the help of our trusty iPhone we found our way with ease!
Lobby Appearance - 10
The Admissions Office was literally a beautiful Victorian home, as many of the college’s buildings are. That being said, the lobby (also referred to as the living room) was literally an ornate Victorian drawing room, complete with fireplace and decorative rugs. Although it did break from the time period a bit, we loved that we got to sign in on an iPad and that my name was on a welcome slide in the slideshow being shown on the flat screen TVs. We also really liked the “Meet the Admission Ambassadors” slides.
Tour Guide:
Max, Sharon, MA, Freshman Sports Management Major, Fun Fact: Max works at Gillette Stadium (According to Helicopter Mom who doesn’t work for the Patriots anymore, that’s a good way to get your foot in the door.)
Personality - 6
Max was definitely not the bubbly fashion major we were expecting to be the face of Lasell, but he was polite and very nice. He made some attempts at walking backwards and did a good job of trying to relate each stop on the tour back to our majors. It seemed as though he may have been new and therefore, we could understand that he was at least mildly nervous, especially with Helicopter Mom who no longer works for the Patriots wanting to talk to him about sports all the time.
Appearance - 3
Max was wearing a classic “Matt Noel” outfit with his striped polo, khaki shorts and sneakers. While this is definitely appropriate attire for everyday wear, he probably could have dressed up a little more to represent his school. On the hotness scale, Max also received a 3.
Ability to answer questions - 4
Several questions were posed during our tour and Max’s ability to answer them is actually what led us to believe that he is probably a new tour guide. Helicopter mom who no longer works for the Patriots asked about post-graduation jobs for fashion majors, and while it is more understandable that he wasn’t sure about fashion, he also didn’t know when she asked about his own major. Then, when JC Swag asked what they were building, he proceeded to describe something else that was going on and never addressed what exactly JC Swag was asking about. (Turns out, it was a parking lot…)
Ability to relate - 6
At each stop on the tour, Max was sure to find a way to tie everything back to fashion since both JC Swag and Helicopter mom’s daughter, Seriously Needs a Gap Year Girl were intending to major in fashion. We understand that it may have been difficult to relate as a Sports Management major, but fashion is one of the biggest majors at the school and it is important that the tour guides are well informed.
Tour:
Informative (1) vs Entertainment (10) - 3
The tour was primarily informative. The slideshow presentation in the lobby was an effectively used Prezzi presentation, which deserves special note because, in the words of our intern, “Nobody uses Prezzi effectively.” (But they certainly did!)
Quality/Quantity of free stuff - 0
We were not offered or given any free stuff whatsoever. We think it is important that prospective students are given at least something to remember their visit by. There was informative literature scattered throughout the tables in the admissions building, but we are always sure to wait until the free swag is offered to us.
Quality of literature provided - 0?
We have no idea. We didn’t receive any informative literature, except for maybe the Admissions Counselor’s card.
Length of tour (1=too short, 10=too long) - 5
It was a solid tour length. We saw what seemed to be the entire campus, but it was not an overly lengthy tour. The only thing that was DEFINITELY too long was the useless meeting with the admissions counselor, in which we learned very little about Lasell and very much about his dislike for BFA programs, deciding on a major, his commute from Quincy and his ex-girlfriend.
Quality of tour content - 7
We covered the whole campus and learned at least a little about the fashion and Lasell as a whole. We got to see almost every building and every type of dorm offered. We were very happy with the content of the tour as a whole.
Miscellaneous:
Was there Dr. Pepper? 0
Was there a sitcom TV set in the library? 0
Font choice/use? 5 - okay, most default fonts, and nothing terribly exciting
Favorite tour member? Helicopter Mom who no longer works for the Patriots and Seriously in Need of a Gap Year daughter - yikes. I now know your current place of work, where you used to work, who you know at Sharon High School and that your daughter will soon be traveling to Australia, also I know some things about Lasell. They didn’t need to know any information about the Admissions Process though, because Helicopter Mom works at Boston College right now.
Meal Plan Breakdown:
There are three standard meal plans: Gold, silver and bronze.
The Gold plan has 19 meals per week and 25 Dining Dollars. The Silver plan has 14 meals per week and 75 Dining Dollars. The Bronze plan has 10 meals per week and 125 Dining Dollars.
Lasell also has “Laser Loot”, a form of on campus money that you can load onto your “Torch Card” and use at the on campus facilities.
The BEAUTIFUL Admissions office - our favorite one so far for sure!
Inside the Admissions office in the “living room”.
Checking in on an iPad?! Awesome!
I felt so welcome! (Even though my name was spelled wrong…) We loved the slideshow, especially the welcome slide and the Meet the Admissions Ambassadors slides!
New studios in the fashion building.
Standard double dorm room.
Athletic fields
Standard classroom.
Common area in one of the Victorian home style dorms.
Room in the Victorian style dorms.
The gym - currently being used as a temporary dining hall while the new one is under construction.
OVERALL LASELL COLLEGE EXPERIENCE - 5
We were pleased overall with the tour experience at Lasell. We absolutely loved the campus and felt like the tour gave us a good feel for what Lasell has to offer. The tour guide did a great job giving us an overview of the college and telling us what all the facilities had to offer, but he will probably benefit from a little more experience to improve his ability to relate to prospective students and to answer questions - breaking away from his script a little more!
However, we had a very negative experience with the admissions counselor we met with after our tour. He did not offer us any of the informative literature to take home and, in fact, did not give us very much information about Lasell at all. Instead, we were discouraged from coming into the college with a major in mind and encouraged to come in Undeclared. He also talked badly about BFA programs. He should probably not do this with prospective students, since he never knows who they know, where they are coming from and who their guests are. In our case, both JC Swag and VDB are current BFA students and were very offended by the way he talked about our degree programs. Even if our prospective student back story had been true, VDB was still a BFA student, and this kind of negative energy is not needed. He also gave us a lot of useless personal information that was completely unnecessary. We did not need to know about his car, his commute, his ex-girlfriend or any of that. After leaving the admissions office, we felt so uncomfortable that we left as quickly as possible. This is something that we hope never happens to prospective students. We did not let this experience effect the overall score, since it is not technically a part of the tour itself, but all of the very positive feelings we had about Lasell just after the tour were completely overtaken by the anxiety we had after meeting with the admissions counselor.
If you want to know actual information about possibly attending Lasell College, head over to StudentAdvisor.com to find out if this is the right school for you.
