To visit or not to visit? With the rise of virtual college touring, is it still worth it to go to colleges in person?
The short answer would be yes. If you are able, college visits are a great way to get a feel for campuses and envision how you might fit into the student life and campus environment. On in-person tours, you also have the opportunity to ask your tour guide and the admissions staff questions, and they are much more immersive than virtual tours.
However, that’s not the full story. It’s not like virtual tours aren’t worth it. While most school tours themselves are free, travel fares can be pricey, especially for the plethora of schools on the East Coast. The timing of visits can also be tough — when high school students are on break and able to go visit over the summer, college students are also out of school. It’s not the same experience as when students are on campus, so in this case, I believe that virtual tours are a much better option. Campus tours offer a much more holistic perspective when we can see the campus atmosphere and student interactions.
The year of high school you’re in also significantly impacts your perspective — it’s more relevant to visit when you are closer to applying. What you’re looking for might also shift or become clearer later on. Menlo college counselor David Melena strongly recommended not to visit before winter break of junior year.
As someone who was dragged on a number of college tours in Boston during the winter break of my sophomore year, I can safely say that it was way too early for me to be seriously touring colleges. Of course, everyone is different, but college was a faraway entity for me. After only two colleges, I was bored out of my mind from the repetitive information sessions and very unexcited about the upcoming tours.
College counselor David Melena said that one good thing that came out of the COVID pandemic is the more innovative ways that colleges have been showing off their campuses. “A lot of offices did a very, very refreshing and innovative take on how they show their campus,” he said.
I believe that colleges overall should have better virtual tours in terms of virtual immersion. Colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Georgetown have virtual tours where students can get a 360-degree view of each part of campus, with explanatory videos sprinkled throughout. This is a great way to see and learn about the campus.
Schools like American University don’t have a virtual tour, but rather short YouTube videos about each location. These videos consist of a student speaking for a few minutes outside of each building. With the mobility of creating a YouTube video, I feel that it is a missed opportunity if the “tours” do not go inside buildings and give the viewer a better sense of what the campus is like. Each video was also largely unconnected to other videos, making it difficult to see the campus layout.
Ultimately, in-person tours are more worthwhile than virtual tours. It’s important to get an idea of the place where you might spend the next four years.
