While tour guides are traditionally known for making jokes about tripping while walking backwards, Wesleyan guides avoid this pitfall by walking forward alongside the group. A leader in a new national trend, Wesleyan tours have been forward-looking—literally—for the past two years.

“Once again, Wes was out in front of a trend,” said Dean of Admissions Nancy Meislahn.

These changes received national attention in a recent New York Times article, which explained that consultant firms now advocate for forward-walking guides because they feel that they can make tours more intimate and informal.

Following in Wesleyan’s footsteps, The University of Texas at Austin, American University and Spelman College are part of a diverse group of schools that now require tour guides to walk alongside visitors. According to The New York Times, Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas hired a consulting firm called TargetX to train volunteer tour guides to walk forwards.

The Cardinal Key Tour Guide Program was revamped in September 2007 after a task force of administrators and students met the previous year. At their suggestion, tour guides now walk with the group and then give talking points at nine designated locations, in hopes of fostering a one-on-one connection with prospective students. The route was also altered to include the Usdan Campus Center and the Freeman Athletic Center.

“The thing about walking forward is that you can chat with individual people,” said Max Nussenbaum ’12, a tour guide. “I try to have one-on-one conversations. I feel like that way the tour is more of us having a conversation as a group and not just me giving a presentation.”

There are, of course, some setbacks to walking forwards.

“I thought it would be more appropriate that they walk in front of the group [backwards] so they can give more information,” said Zach Fischman ’13, who attended a tour as a prospective student. “The tour didn’t show me a lot of stuff I saw when I got here, like Lo Rise and Hi Rise, but it was fairly comprehensive compared to tours at other schools.”

While some schools hire consultant groups and attend peer schools’ tours, the Office of Admissions hands out comment cards after tours to get feedback from tour-goers.

“We do not scope out our peer institutions’ tours,” said Eric Spierer ’10, one of two student coordinators of the tour guide program. “But we have a good idea of what other schools do based on listening to prospective students and their families talk about their experiences with their admissions processes.”

Applications increased by 2318, or 29.9 percent, from 2007 to 2009. Although some speculate that this increase is due to MGMT’s growing popularity or President Obama’s Commencement speech, many prospective students’ first impressions of Wesleyan come from the campus tour, according to Spierer.

“While they may remember how knowledgeable the guide was about the facts and figures of Wesleyan or the fabulous anecdotes that were told, it is the one-on-one connection we try to foster with each prospective student that makes our tour stand apart and encourages many students to apply to Wesleyan,” Spierer said.

Although many freshmen may have forgotten the details they heard on their campus tour, they remember the tour’s overall message.

“The tour definitely made me apply,” said Amara Davila ’13, who attended a tour as a prospective student. “What I got from the tour was I saw Wesleyan as a well-balanced place where I could be an artist and do academics, and I applied early decision. If I didn’t like the tour at a school, I wouldn’t apply.”

Similarly, Adam Forbes ’13 said his tour guide provided him with a lasting positive impression.

“I’ve been on the Wesleyan tour twice and it definitely made me apply,” Forbes said. “I don’t remember the details of the tour, but I liked the attitude and enthusiasm of the tour guide.”