Are virtual tours & info sessions worth it?

[Anonymous]

We were planning spring break visits to a number of schools. A few have offered online info sessions. Tempted to sign up as it will show interest. But, I’m not sure how valuable they will be. Have you seen any good ones? Are these helpful or would it be better just to hope we can visit in August? Definitely wishing we had started looking earlier.

[Anonymous]

Plenty of students are able to evaluate colleges without visiting.

[Anonymous]

Yes. My son has been attended virtual admitted students events and he has found them very helpful in making his decision. It's not a replacement for the real thing, but getting to hear first-hand from student panels in particular has given him a real sense of the vibe of the schools.

Plus, what else does your kid have to do???

[Anonymous]

We've done four so far. Some are definitely better than others. Each one has had a real time session with an admissions counselor and you could ask questions, just as if you were in the presentation on campus. One had a tour that must have been filmed shortly after the campus closed because there were no other people around the campus at all. The tour guide walked around the campus, showed a dorm room, the cafeteria, library, the usualy stops. The guide did all the corny jokes. The one disadvantage was since it was filmed, we couldn't ask the tour guide any questions. Another one did a live q&a with two current student tour guides. They talked about their life on campus and were able to answer questions, but we didn't get to see what the campus looked like. We are going to do some more this week - we don't have anything else going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've done four so far. Some are definitely better than others. Each one has had a real time session with an admissions counselor and you could ask questions, just as if you were in the presentation on campus. One had a tour that must have been filmed shortly after the campus closed because there were no other people around the campus at all. The tour guide walked around the campus, showed a dorm room, the cafeteria, library, the usualy stops. The guide did all the corny jokes. The one disadvantage was since it was filmed, we couldn't ask the tour guide any questions. Another one did a live q&a with two current student tour guides. They talked about their life on campus and were able to answer questions, but we didn't get to see what the campus looked like. We are going to do some more this week - we don't have anything else going on.

What schools did you do if you don’t mind me asking? Spent quite a while today trying to get a Pitt session to work with no luck

[Anonymous]

PP I went to Pitts today and it was awful and boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I went to Pitts today and it was awful and boring.

My kid was supposed do that today but had a class scheduled at the same time. Sounds like she didn’t miss anything.

[Anonymous]

This site has a decent list of virtual tour links. It says engineering, but all the links are general tour links.

https://engineeringcollegeconsultants.com/

[Anonymous]

Just watched one for Pitt Engineering, it was excellent

[Anonymous]

It is one of many data points. Ask admissions to let you talk to current student, poll your kid's HS listserv for students who have attended. Not perfect but can give you a lot of information

[Anonymous]

We are doing two a day. In person info sessions aren’t always that interesting either - especially over spring break when they are crowded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were planning spring break visits to a number of schools. A few have offered online info sessions. Tempted to sign up as it will show interest. But, I’m not sure how valuable they will be. Have you seen any good ones? Are these helpful or would it be better just to hope we can visit in August? Definitely wishing we had started looking earlier.

What else would you have to do with your time?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think so. My dc has a choice between two schools, financial impact being roughly equal (a nice quandry to have for sure). He's going on virtual tours/chats and asking questions. He wasn't going to be able to visit one regardless, so this is a good option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP I went to Pitts today and it was awful and boring.

says the person who wants their kid to go to pitt so they bash it in hopes others won't apply

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were planning spring break visits to a number of schools. A few have offered online info sessions. Tempted to sign up as it will show interest. But, I’m not sure how valuable they will be. Have you seen any good ones? Are these helpful or would it be better just to hope we can visit in August? Definitely wishing we had started looking earlier.

What else would you have to do with your time?

+1. The greater attention paid to virtual options by college admission offices is a silver lining of not being able to visit in person. Free, anywhere you want to look. No flights, no hotels.