While some people don’t seem to want to acknowledge it, the pandemic isn’t over. This means virtual campus visits are here to stay for another year. While some colleges have reopened on-campus visits and tours, some are still keeping it virtual or offering both. If you are going the virtual route, we have some tips to make sure you are getting the best info you can, virtually.
Do we like virtual?
The only upside to touring a school virtually is that you don’t have to travel. We usually don’t advise students to travel super far to see schools especially, to begin with, and what could be less travel than virtual? Other than not having to deal with the time and expense of travel though… that’s kind of where our love ends.
Why don't we love virtual?
Honestly, there are a lot of types of virtual tours and most of them are pretty boring. The best ones include an interactive part usually in the form of a question-answer session with someone who works in the admissions office. Some of them are just pretaped google slide-type lectures, which are not fun to sit through. They also are a very sanitized look at the college. They aren’t going to tell you anything that several members of the admissions office haven’t already triple approved.
What should I do then?
Take these with a million grains of salt:
If you hate the tour you went on, you probably don’t actually hate the school. We say this with in-person visits too… but it’s a lot easier to hate some of these virtual tours. A lot of them don’t give you that instant “omg I love this school moment” that you might have one campus. It’s ok because we aren’t a huge fan of big emotional responses IRL either. But these tours can leave you feeling “meh” about a school. A lot of that is the nature of being virtual.
If you’re feeling meh, just remember these are really sanitized on purpose. Usually, we push students to talk to regular students when doing campus visits, but that isn’t possible online.
Do your research:
A 45-minute PowerPoint isn’t going to give you that much info on a school. Trust us, we have sat through them before. Tours that have a Q&A section fare a little better, but neither is going to give you all the specialized information that you need to decide on a school. Instead, you are going to have to do some research on your own.
Look into specific programs you may want to pursue. Go to department websites. Schools put a lot about their curriculum, academics, even clubs on the internet. They might not go over it on the tour, but you can find it virtually for yourself.
The more research you can do before you take the virtual tour the better and have questions ready. Hopefully, they have a Q&A section. Having specific and personalized questions will help you get a better sense of the school. For example, “For the Undergrad research funding program, do you need departmental approval?” is a far better question than “What’s it like to go here?” The more tailored your questions are to your needs, the better information you will get. Some virtual tours don’t have a Q&A session or a live tour guide. For those schools, see if they offer a supplementary session or talk backs. Most will, but remember you can always contact the admissions office if you have a pressing question.
Take to social media:
For in-person tours, we usually tell students to talk to students on campus other than those being paid by the admissions office. That isn’t as easy to do when you aren’t physically on campus. The best approximation in geo-tags. While researching on department websites might answer your questions on academics, getting a feel for campus life is much easier on Instagram. Yes, we know social media isn’t real…. We have all seen the lip filler filters. But looking at what people are posting might help you imagine what campus life will be like. Is everything under the geotag photos of football games or are there lots of different activities happening? What do parts of campus look like that they might not have shown? What do people’s living situations look like? You can tell a lot from a simple Instagram picture, so don’t be afraid to scroll through some hashtags and geo-locations. It might give you some insight.
Online tours aren’t always the most interesting or the most helpful. But if you can’t be on campus whether it’s due to travel or whatever new variant we have to worry about, they can help you make a decision. Doing your research, having questions prepared, and keeping an open mind are your best strategies. However, trust us, we are praying we don’t need them next year.
Need help shaping your school list? Hit us up here.