With the global pandemic at hand, high school students have not been able to travel to visit the colleges of their dreams. College tours are one of the most important things high school students do during their four years, and without them students are left applying to random schools without any true desire. Although college tours in-person are more helpful when trying to see the livelihood and setting of the campus, virtual tours are your safest bet. Virtual tours can allow you to check out everything you want to do in person but while staying at home and safe from COVID-19. Ingeniousprep.com states, “Through a virtual visit, you can not only see the different parts of campus and its academic and recreational facilities, you can also learn from a virtual tour guide — usually a current student — about what makes each of the resources unique.” 

In an interview by insidehighered.com, Emily Bauer says, “done well…virtual tours help build affinity with those students and give them direct and indirect information they might not be able to get any other way. These tours help schools tell their unique stories in a virtual environment, but they also signify to a student that this school is going that extra mile to help them make a difficult decision during a really difficult time.” 

Another upside to virtual tours is that you don’t have to worry about travel expenses. I would rather open up my computer and check into my virtual tour than to fly or drive for hours at hand and spend an insane amount of money round trip. With in-person tours you have to move with your tour group and be able to not fall behind. When forced to rush, you don’t actually experience the campus for what it really is. My first in-person college tour was at the University of Washington. I loved the campus at first sight but was busy trying to grasp everything in at once. At one moment, I would stop to take pictures of the campus, then realize my group had already moved on. After the tour, I decided I wanted to try virtual tours instead. This would suit me much better as I would be able to take down plenty of notes and learn at my own pace. My first virtual tour will be for Berry College, located in Georgia coming up next month. These tours are the future and the best way for high school students to find their future niche. Junior Christian Jiotsop says, “I like the idea of virtual college tours since you can see what the campus feels like. I plan to visit the University of Alabama, Vanderbilt, Kansas State, and Texas virtually.”