Throughout the two and a half weeks, thousands of students have been getting the hang of their class schedules, extracurricular activities and social lives. Campus has been bustling with fraternity and sorority rush, Club Expo and more. With the first few weeks of classes being hectic enough as is, App State needs to prioritize their current students over prospective ones and hit the brakes on tours.

Campus tours sprung into action the first week of classes, causing an already chaotic campus to reach a new level. With the amount of activity taking place during the first month of classes, the last thing needed is large groups stopping in the middle of the sidewalk or walking slowly through the most populated areas of campus.

Over 6,000 first year and transfer students began their time at App State this fall semester, a time that is as thrilling as it is nerve-racking. Navigating a campus of 30 academic buildings spread out over 1200 acres is not for the faint of heart, and certainly much more difficult when it is made into an obstacle course by tour groups.

There are a multitude of more appropriate opportunities to lead tours around campus, especially as it gets closer to the Common App due date. With the application to App State not even opening until Aug. 1, chances are students are more focused on the actual application instead of the tour. 

While some students want to get touring out of the way before applications, there are multiple opportunities to do so before the Common App closes. The application also does not close until Nov. 1, allowing prospective students to come visit during almost all of the fall semester, which would make things easier for everyone involved. 

App State students would have the hang of their classes by then and could more easily avoid tour groups while prospective students would be visiting Boone at its prettiest and the overall atmosphere would be calmer. 

Additionally, the campus tours are led by students, who are in no place to handle tours on top of their new class schedules. Students should not be expected to give multiple tours a week during the first few weeks of the semester, as their top priority should be getting used to their classes.

It seems App State is putting too much focus on prospective students and not enough on current ones. Unfortunately, this does not come as a surprise, as it is not difficult to see that this has occurred before. 

App State has expressed immense pride in its enrollment growth, though it does come with its fair share of problems. Boone is already overcrowded because of the sheer number of students, some of which have to live in Sleep Inn, a less-than-ideal hotel App State bought after overfilling dorms. 

With there already not being enough housing for students, it is disappointing that the university is putting more focus on prospective students than giving current students the experience they are paying for. This disappointment is only exacerbated as students have to maneuver through tours multiple times a day.

Students chose App State for a reason, whether it be a specific program, its beautiful location or a mix of multiple factors. Oftentimes, these factors are drowned out by the issues arising on and around campus. App State has an immense amount of potential — the kicker is if they live up to it or not.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated a university plan to reach 25,000 enrollment by 2025. The actual plan by former Chancellor Sheri Everts was to reach 20,000 students by 2020. This has been corrected in the article for more clarification.