Prospective students on admissions tours hear the same anecdotes and Brunonian lore that tour guides have been using for years - that John Hay's nose is lucky before exams, that the Rockefeller Library was once referred to as "the John" instead of "the Rock" and that Brown computer science students once played a giant game of Tetris on the side of the Sciences Library.
But now, because of a change in the tour route, they hear these memorable tidbits in reverse order.
Tour coordinators Jillian Nickerson '09 and Bryan Smith '10 worked with the Office of Admission during the summer to revamp the tour route.
Though the direction has changed, the content of the tour has remained almost exactly the same.
"It is virtually the same tour route, except backwards," Smith said.
Reversing the route "allows us to go through Sayles and MacMillan" and puts more emphasis on the Main Green, she added.
While the tours still begin at the admission office or outside of Manning Chapel, they begin with a walk through the Green and also end there.
"We want prospective students to leave with a strong image of the Main Green. Now they see it twice, not just as an afterthought at the end of the tour," Nickerson said.
The new tour route allows students to see more interior spaces, with a look inside the Sharpe Refectory if the tour is small enough and "at least a peek in MacMillan 115," Nickerson said.
However, the tours still do not include a look inside a freshman dorm room.
"Whenever I give tours, people are always asking me especially, 'Can I see a dorm room?'" Nickerson said.
Adding a room to the tour is still "a huge project that's pretty far off," she added.
