It wasn’t until his sophomore year that Weinberg junior Neeraj Malhotra said he started enjoying himself at Northwestern. Now Malhotra wants to give something back by sharing his enthusiasm with prospective students.
“The reason I was here just sort of clicked and I started having a good time,” said Malhotra, who will interview to become a campus tour guide on Wednesday. “Since then, I’ve wanted to participate and do my part for the school. I’m really glad I’m at Northwestern and I want to do my part to as many people here as I can.”
Malhotra is one of 250 students who will be interviewing this week for a job as a campus tour guide for prospective students and visitors.
This year, as many as 250 students may try out for 25 open spots, a jump from 140 applicants last year.
Interview spots are still available and students can sign up by e-mailing [email protected].
According to Kevin Byrne, assistant director of admissions, the number of students trying out to be a campus tour guides has been increasing steadily for the past three years.
“When (students) find out that something is more selective, they become more interested in it,” Byrne said. “Tour guides have also become more visible in the past ten years.”
To become a tour guide, students must interview with Byrne in front of other members of the admissions office. Interviews are held in a round-table format with five or seven other prospective tour guides.
Applicants are asked questions that, “students know from just being NU students,” Byrne said. The questions are chosen at random from a “cup of death.”
“I want to see how prospective students interact with larger groups of people,” he said. “I like students who are strong communicators, active on campus, knowledgeable about what’s going on at NU and just a warm and engaging personality.”
Those who stand out during the interview process and are chosen to be tour guides are notified by e-mail and begin training during the second half of spring quarter. Once students are chosen to be tour guides they can keep the job for the rest of their undergraduate career without reapplying every year, so long as they meet basic standards.
“Once you’re a tour guide, you’re always a tour guide,” Byrne said. “As long as students are good about attendance, showing up on time, not missing tours, and as long as they’re giving out good information (they can keep the job).”
Tour guide training includes meeting with Byrne, observing veteran tour guides do their work and performing practice “walk-throughs” with tour coordinators or veteran tour guides. They are also given a tour guide manual and are quizzed on various facts and statistics about the university.
“(The quiz) is mostly a self-test thing,” Byrne said. “If they don’t do well, then they must go back and study from the manual.”
Tours are offered year-round one to three times per day, depending on the time of the year. Every tour guide gives an average of one tour per week and is paid $7.75 per hour. A tour usually lasts one hour and fifteen minutes, but guides receive two hours of pay per tour.
Weinberg freshman Adria Rice, who had her interview Monday, said she tried out for the position because she thinks she knows a lot about NU and that giving tours would be fun. But she said the high number of talented students who applied was daunting.
“I have no idea how they choose people because everyone was very articulate and they all could have done very well,” she said. “But the interview itself was actually kind of fun.”
Reach Allan Madrid at [email protected].
