Orange Key interest steady

This year, 46 students out of the 98 applicants for the guide service were accepted, although more than 230 people had indicated interest through the information sessions that initiated the application process. The admissions rate of 47 percent remains comparable to last year and the year before, although the number of applications in total has increased.

Orange Key accepted about 50 of the nearly 100 undergraduates that auditioned as a tour guide in 2011 and 40 of the 80 students that vied for a position in 2010. This past September, Dean of Admission Janet Rapelye confirmed that guides would be paid. Orange Key guides were previously only compensated for giving tours over breaks and during the summer.

Since 1935, Orange Key has provided student-led campus tours for visitors. In 2006, it began operating under the auspices of the Admission Office after years of working through University Services. Throughout the year, guides give one-hour tours of campus, with 26 tours offered per week.

The new payment was not a factor for Emily McDonald ’15 when she decided to apply, she said.

“I wanted to be a tour guide to tell people about Princeton, to get people to come here and experience what I have,” she explained.

The extensive application process requires prospective guides to observe two regular campus tours, participate in a training tour and finally lead a campus tour that is evaluated by Orange Key officers. They must also become familiar with the information listed in Guide for Guides, which was developed by students and details the history, traditions and campus life of the University.

“It was a time commitment to shadow all the tours and learn all the facts about Princeton through Guide for Guides, but I didn’t find it to be overwhelming,” McDonald said. “It was a positive process, ensuring that the people who went through it were the most passionate about Orange Key.”

As an official guide, she has enjoyed giving tours to groups ranging from prospective high school juniors to a group of 6th graders from Trenton and “telling them all the fun things about Princeton,” she said.

The new policy of paying Orange Key guides was proposed to the Admission Office by last year’s Orange Key Chair Sarah Van Cleve ’12, with help from Assistant Dean of Admission Donielle Wright ’01.

“It seemed like a natural next step to recognize the students for their very good work for doing the tours by paying them, because this is critically important work for the University,” Rapelye said.

Rapelye explained that with more than 47,000 visitors coming to campus every year, the Admission Office wanted to make the tours a more formal process.

But the change to a paid system prompted concern that payment would run counter to the spirit of Orange Key, which has long billed itself as a volunteer student organization.

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“Last year, when we came up with the process, that was the one thing in the back of our minds — what’s going to be different with the new system,” current Orange Key chair Matt Frakes ’13 said. “But we’ve always worked very closely with the Admission Office. Since starting the new pay policy, things have really been the same.”

When Orange Key first transferred operations to the Admission Office in 2006, critics feared that the office would attempt to moderate the student-led tours. However, Frakes said that has not been the case.

“The Admission Office doesn’t put any restrictions on what we say,” Frakes said. “We tend to mesh well with the Admission Office in general because they want to portray a positive image of Princeton, and so do we.”

Rapelye added that the group is still very much governed by students, noting that the guides still lead the recruitment and selection process. She said that the Office of Admission’s main influence is the emphasis it places on a diverse tour guide corps. Rapelye noted that she is pleased with the diversity of this year’s chosen Orange Key members. Guides receive payment for coming to their tour slot and receive additional payment by the hour for leading a tour. Every guide has a regular slot, with five to 10 guides available for each slot; depending on visitor interest at the time of year, they may or may not lead a tour. Frakes said he did not know the hourly rate but estimated that it follows the standard pay scale and was not different during the school year and over breaks.

Although payment has not seemed to affect applicant interest, it is uncertain whether it has affected student interest in leading tours once they have become guides.

“It’s been more of an added perk rather than a real incentive,” Frakes said. “All the guides — seniors, juniors, sophomores — all do Orange Key because they want to do it. My sense from the new guides is that it’s the same thing — they’re enthusiastic about Princeton and really want to give tours for the sake of giving tours, for sharing their experiences.”

On the other hand, Rapelye said she found that payment has “certainly improved attendance” but thinks “the guides have always done a good job.”