When my husband, daughter and I initially went for on Campus visits back in June, one of the things we noticed at each school, was HOW DIFFERENT it was in person than on the virtual tours. We flew from Florida to Pennsylvania and toured a school there which, while the Virtual tour was nice, my daughter wasn’t even really thinking of them as a contender. The minute we stepped on campus and started walking around, we could see it on her face. She was in love.
From there, we drove 11 hrs to visit a school in Kentucky. Very pretty, smaller size campus, butwe were all surprised that we liked it more than on the virtual tour. Another example of not doing justice to the campus.
From there, we drove to tour 2 colleges in Tennessee. One school had a wonderful program from her major, but once we were on campus, we all knew this was NOT her school. The buildings while gorgeous on the outside, were not updated on the inside, the tour guide did nothing to enhance the tour and she just really didn’t feel like she would ever feel at home. The school seemed so different on the Virtual Tour, but in person, it was definitely a case of “They want how much to go here?”
Our last college stop on this weeklong tour was also in Tenessee and while the Virtual tour was impressive, we were SHOCKED athow much larger and impressive the campus was in person. You could see a LOT of money was put into the campus facilities. Lansdcaping was impeccable, huge facilities, and the tour guides in person did NOT fail to remind you of how much money the school spent on shiny new buildings and how quickly the school Is growing their enrollment numbers. My daughter said it was “Too bougie” and her dad and I felt like it was a “show pony”. Pretty to look at, but they didn’t sell the school. It was so superficial. She was actually just accepted there, with shockingly low Merit Aid amounts compared to what they charge…and the amount my daughter was awarded was the highest Merit they offer.
Anyway, it goes to show that what you see online is/can be SO TOTALLY different than in person. We are SO glad we toured, otherwise my daughter would have potentially missed out on the school of her dreams!
I have an S23 and we are starting to compile a list. I just watched my first virtual tour of one of the LACs we think sounds like a fit. WHY are the student tour guides masked in a virtual tour and they don’t even go into any buildings? I understand that safety precaution for live tour groups, but for a virtual one-time recorded tour? They are really missing a wonderful opportunity to show more of their campus safely, to people who can’t or decided not to make a trip because of Covid. I really hope this is not the norm for virtual tours. Not even the tour guide who is a student there can go in the buildings? Jeez.
BTW, I really liked the school. It was beautiful and the info all sounded great. Just disappointing that despite having to do a lot virutally, they don’t seem to be taking advantage of what that could offer.
Of course, and I appreciate that, but it goes a bit far to be masked in a video. And since you can’t enter buildings on most campuses, they could be highlighting how great the virtual tour is instead because you could see more that way. I just think it is a real missed opportunity. My son hasn’t done any virtual tours yet, but I can guess he will like the campuses best where he can see all the amenities. We toured Carleton and St Olaf in person this summer. Carleton didn’t take us in many buildings at all and we saw no student gym or commons area. I totally understand and appreciate that for an in-person tour. St Olaf showed us EVERYTHING and was the second tour of the day. So, our group of was wowed by the St Olaf library, athletic center, etc and had seen nothing like that at Carleton. In fact my s got a mailer the next week and said “Look, Carleton has a picture of the climbing wall they didn’t show us.” It did make me a little leery of St Olaf’s safety protocols in comparison. I guess I just expected the virtual tour to be the best of both worlds - safety and full view of amenities.
Mom of a St. Olaf freshman, I think the protocols have been effective so far. There have been very few cases on campus so far and as you saw, everything is open and in person. For my son it’s been a wonderful experience so far. Let me know if you have questions.