There are a bunch of fine universities out there and I enjoyed all those campus visits.
Great way to see new areas and spend time with your kids, because those days are numbered...
My two were on different academic tracks, so I got fairly distinct sets of schools.
Wisconsin-Madison was a safety for one and a reach for the other.
When the student tour guide asked "Does anybody have any questions?" I was usually ready.
"What would you say the economic diversity is around here for the student body?"
"Are you happy with your decision to come here?"
At every Ivy... "What percentage of the students take any interest in the athletic teams?"
On the Northwestern tour the guide kept calling the lakefill the "landfill." That became a thing.
At UCLA - "It seems like the Greek kids have their own thing going socially - is that true?"
(Female tour guide pulls me aside and says the Hispanic kids tend to not be in the frats and sororities...)
At Cornell "I see those nets by the bridge - how bad are the winters around here?"
At Dartmouth, Dayton and Miami, Ohio - "What is the social scene like? What do you guys do for fun?" Answer at all 3 "Not much - a lot of people drink."
At Berkeley "what are all those kids doing over there?" "Oh, they're playing Quidditch!" "Really? Why?"
Probably my favorite was stopping two tall young women who were walking the opposite direction, explaining that we were touring Berkeley's campus and asking how they felt about being there... Response in an Australian accent "Oh its f**king GREAT!" followed by a discussion of the university and student body and the city, with a string of colorful observations about the faculty, punctuated with f-bombs...
You can learn a lot by going off script.