The Internet makes things less blurry. Studies show that 94 percent of high-school seniors have Internet access, and they’re not using it just to download Napster tunes. The Net is one of the most pervasive–if not the most pervasive–tools for college information. Nearly all schools have Web sites; they offer course descriptions, information about the student population, application deadlines and costs. But many colleges are doing more, offering “virtual tours” as a preview to the inevitable college visit. The tours typically combine still pictures and panoramic live shots from Webcams around campus. Their availability has grown at an explosive clip: according to clearinghouse campustours.com, 975 institutions now offer these “trips”–up from 300 in 1997. Giving it the old college try is just a mouseclick away.
Students see the Web as a trusted tour guide. According to a recent studentPOLL, seniors initially consult the Web more than guidebooks, catalogs and–sorry, Mom and Dad–their parents for college information. Research by LipmanHearne shows that 80 percent of the college-bound population starts trolling around sites as sophomores, and that 53 percent of students used the Net six times or more in the last month for college research. At traditional fairs, “we have parents coming up to us saying, ‘I’m here–but my child is at home on the Internet’,” says Kate Spencer, marketing director for American University in Washington, D.C.
For Net-savvy teenagers, Internet tours just compute better. Like most high-school seniors, Jordana Schlisser, 17, is truly excited about college–but completely frustrated by the process of getting in. The New Yorker describes the search as “horrible, crazy and stressful.” But Schlisser finds solace on the Web. “It calms us down,” she says. Ryan Maize, 17, a senior from New York, says, “You can only see a very limited amount of campus” on a walking tour. After a visit, “I almost always go back to the Web site and see more [of the campus] on the virtual tours.” Increasingly, schools are adding multimedia functions, like video, to the tours; they’re also adding “profiles” to their pages that give prospective students information pertinent to their majors, extracurricular interests and financial-aid situation.
Designing virtual tours presents some very real problems. Admissions officers have to look at new interactive technologies–3-D building-interior tours, a personal appeal from a school’s president–and ask: do students and parents benefit from them? “It’s a tricky balance between what’s useful and what’s more than useful,” says Blythe Butler, senior assistant dean of admissions at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore. Adds Michael Thorp, director of admissions at Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wis.: “Students want good content that’s easy to navigate–not bells and whistles.”
That leaves schools, which spend between $5,000 and $10,000 to build a site, asking: how do we maintain a unique Web presence without useless amenities? New York’s Ithaca College has an answer. Its site has five guides–including majors in music and business–who lead viewers on a tour of campus buildings. If you’re a business major, you can follow Ithaca senior Tori Furhman to Smiddy Hall. “While you’re here in Smiddy,” the text reads, “check out the display cases of failed new products–a marketing nightmare!”
Still, like many Web sites, the tours can try to do too much. The huge amount of material they cram in can make the college-application process overwhelming. Says guidance counselor Ira Weiss, “I don’t think [the Web] diminishes the frustration. It might even exacerbate it.”
So how does a student navigate the virtual landscape and make a thoughtful, rational choice? Think of virtual tours like movie previews: enough to pique your interest–but not enough to get you to purchase the soundtrack. You should buy into what a college is marketing, says Mark Cannon, deputy executive director of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, only after you’ve done some serious thinking on your own. “The college-search process shouldn’t begin with a guidebook, Internet site or college fair,” he says. “The best place to begin is with some soul searching.”
And, while it might be hard to feel very spiritual at this time, you can be truly enlightened only by a real campus visit. If you choose a school on Lake Michigan, and you haven’t asked students what it’s like in the winter, you’ll be very sorry–and very cold. “It’s four years of your life,” says Cliff Kramon, vice president of a group of college advisers that produce videos of walking tours. You can’t make this decision “watching a 17-inch screen.” If you do, remember to pack some gloves next fall.
