<p>I have been looking at youtube videos to see virtual tours of the colleges I am interested in. </p>
<p>How much stock would you put in to these videos? There were some done by students. Of the ones done by students, a couple of my top choice schools plummeted to the bottom. And a couple schools that I had just a fleeting interest in, I ended up loving-based on these videos. </p>
<p>My parents cannot afford to take me to visit every college that might be on my list. I am trying to narrow down to some favorites to consider visiting over the summer. If I am to take these videos seriously, Harvey Mudd, Pomona, and Rice will be off my list.</p>
<p>If a YouTube is done by the school, I think its similiar to a college brochure that it would try to accentuate the best selling points of the school. A student video may be more accurate but I wouldnt put too much weight on just one video.</p>
<p>You have to be careful when evaluating stuff posted by students. Sometimes it is the “complainers” that are the only ones posting (because they have an ax to grind) and you don’t get a balanced view.
If the school has a forum here in the colleges section [Alphabetic</a> List of Colleges - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/alphabetic-list-colleges/]Alphabetic”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/alphabetic-list-colleges/) you can sometimes get good advice from students, alums, or parents of students. Smaller schools often have very little traffic though.
So why did you remove those three excellent schools from consideration? What did you see that bothered you?</p>