I remember when my son was a junior
in high school, the dinner table was the time we talked about what classes
Paul, my older son, liked and what colleges that could lead to. The only
problem was that he really liked fishing, (In fact, that still is his first
love. Check out his Thrill Fishing website.) When he looked up professions he was enamored with being a
forest ranger until he realized that it was a difficult way to earn a living.
We visited colleges, he spoke to
professors and met with his school advisor before making a final decision.
With college campuses closed because
of the pandemic, things are so different now. Like with many programs this has
become the time for visiting colleges virtually.
At this point we have no indication
when college campuses will be open for visits, so use this time to search for
virtual visits.
READ MORE: Beware of scammers targeting your college student
If
you are just getting started on the college admissions process visit the sites below:
The National Association for CollegeAdmission Counseling with its 14,000 member colleges.
Click away and view everything from college admission requirements to locating its sponsored
virtual college fairs.
If
you are ready to start touring:
There are several websites that
allow students to tour and compare schools. These sites offer interactive maps,
photos, videos and testimonials.
Coronavirus Schools Briefing: It’s back to school — or is
it?
CampusTours offers tours of more than 1,800
schools in the United States as well as tours of schools in the United Kingdom,
Canada, China and France. Its advanced search feature allows students to
fine-tune details they are searching for, such as how much tuition they want to
pay. About 100 schools offer insights from enrolled students during parts of
the tour on campus life, the company’s president, Christopher Carson, said.
CampusTours is also working on a feature to allow students to ask questions
while they are on the tour that are sent to college officials, he added.
YouVisit offers tours of more than 600 U.S.
schools. The tours offer prompts that pop up asking students for input that is
sent to college officials to respond, an attempt to replicate the questions and
answers that come up during in-person tours. YouVisit also offers students to
tour using “virtual reality” tools. “There is nothing that replaces that
in-person experience that makes a student fall in love with a campus, but the
goal of a virtual tour is to do as much as it can to replace those moments,”
said Emily Bauer, vice president for agency services for EAB, the education
research and technology company that owns YouVisit.
If
you want to attend a Historically Black College or University:
The Chicago HBCU Alumni Alliance is offering virtual fairs
in which nearly 50 H.B.C.U.s give students information on admissions, programs
and scholarships. Videotapes of the events will be available on the alliance’s
website in the coming weeks. The alliance’s president, Danielle James, said
more virtual fairs are planned for the summer.
StriveScan also featured presentations from
several H.B.C.U.s.
Other
virtual tour sites include:
YoUniversity: Students can click on tabs such as
“safest campuses,” “most diverse campuses” and “top academic colleges,” as well
as “best campus food” and “coolest dorms.”
CampusReel: Students enrolled at colleges can
upload their videos to this site for sharing, after being vetted. Students or
parents must register to join.
READ MORE: Weighing college costs
If
you want to take a gap year:
The Gap Year Association offers videos on what it means to take a gap year and is
building a new student membership platform — a nominal fee will be required to
join — that will give students access to weekly calls to learn about gap year
opportunities, said the association’s executive director, Ethan Knight. The
website also offers information on accredited gap year programs and counselors.
If
you want to play sports in college:
Virtual tours, like the ones at YouVisit,
can put students in the stands or on the playing field to get a simulated
experience of being an athlete there. CampusTours has a feature that lets students find sports offered at
various schools.
After
you’ve narrowed down your list:
This is the time to start making
personal outreach to schools, Mr. Carson of CampusTours said. “You can’t rely
on virtual tours to tell you everything about the institution, you need to
reach out to the schools themselves.”
Traditionally, students have been told
that some colleges rank in-person visits as a show of “demonstrated interest.”
This year that could take different forms, like emailing professors and
admissions officers or attending Zoom meetings.
“Demonstrated interest is very
valuable,” Mr. Carson said. “Make personalized phone calls and write emails.”
Other articles by HVP News Reporters