How to Choose Colleges with Virtual Tours?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought life to a standstill. It has made everything difficult, including touring colleges in person. But fortunately, there are plenty of other ways to look for colleges that are appropriate for your higher education. And the most significant way is taking college campus virtual tours.

With these virtual tours, vising college campuses from the comfort of your own home has become a thing. They have made it easy to view the entire campus facility and interact with current students and admission representatives to make an informed decision. But how do you always ensure a worthwhile experience?

In this post, we will talk about some ways you can make the most out of your college campus virtual tours and extract maximum information to help you choose the right college. Let’s begin.

• Pay attention to all the supplementary information offered: Most college campus virtual tours give you an option to click on the prominent buildings and either read about them or listen to a pre-recorded tour guide message. As seen, most people are in a hurry to finish the tour that they fail to carefully listen to everything that is being shared. However, this is not good. You must take it slow and try to gather as much information about the campus and its buildings as possible. Many times, the building may appear different from the outside than what they are from the inside. So, make sure to carefully check out everything.
• Be mindful of spacing: How far are the classrooms or the dormitories from prime student activity areas like the cafeteria, or the dining hall? And how far is one academic building from another? Often, finding out the exact distance between spaces from a screen can be tricky, but it is definitely worth your while. Such information will help you determine many things, for instance, how soon you need to wake up to reach the class on time? Or how big is your campus and how often can you go out between your everyday classes?
• Take notes of accessibility: This is an important thing to check in order to make a wise college decision. Make sure all the toilets and elevators, etc. on the campus are ADA-complaint. Also, check whether there is adequate space for students with disabilities.
• Do exhaustive research beforehand and refrain from asking general questions: General questions, such as those about the college location and size must be avoided during college campus virtual tours. The answer to such questions can easily be obtained online. Instead, try to use the information session to ask important admission-related queries, for instance, what does the college look for in an applicant, whether financial need can affect the application status, etc.
• Make sure to take notes of everything: It is advisable to have a notebook handy or an empty Google doc pulled up in a different window. Note down any important information or any specific dates that may be required later on.

The aforementioned tips can help to make your college campus virtual tours worthwhile and make the best and most informed decision.