Spring break is usually a popular time for college campus visits. Here are options at 7 regional universities amid the pandemic.
Show of hands from those of you who have been to college: How many of you decided what school you were going to, accepted an admissions offer and ponied up your tuition money without ever having seen the campus in person? Hmm, not many hands. But that’s what many high schoolers are facing at the moment.
Spring break is near, and it’s traditionally a popular time for juniors to travel to universities they’re interested in and for seniors to visit before they formally accept an offer. But at many universities, that visit has become an online proposition.
Regardless of whether a school has been conducting classes remotely or in person during the COVID-19 pandemic, the campus tour has gone digital.
“We know it’s tough asking students to commit to us without ever having come here,” says Andy Borst, the director of undergraduate admissions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school has asked prospective students, even those with acceptances, not to come in person this spring. (The deadline for committing to an offer from most schools, including U. of I., is May 1.) The policy aims to keep current students safe and healthy, he said, “and hopefully we are demonstrating that we prioritize our students.”
At the same time, a number of area universities do have some kind of provision for in-person campus tours, especially for seniors with acceptance letters. Beginning with U. of I., here’s a look around the campus-visit landscape in time for spring break:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Tours are online only. High schoolers can also schedule phone or Zoom meetings with admissions staff or a current U. of I. student, along with other virtual options at admissions.illinois.edu/Visit/virtual-visits.
Of course, there’s no moat or fence around a place like Urbana-Champaign — or Iowa City. Belle Martin, a junior at Oak Park River Forest High School, is planning to travel for spring break with her family, including visits to the University of Iowa and Drake University in Des Moines, just to see the campuses and surrounding towns.
“Just walking around campus shows a lot,” she said. “What all the buildings look like, what the outdoor spaces look like that you’d hang out in. You can get a feel of what it would be like with more people there. But it definitely is frustrating. You have to rely a lot on online websites, on what schools want to tell you.”
Columbia College Chicago
Limited in-person tours for students already admitted begin March 15. These tours are available five times a day, five days a week, with 25 available slots for spring break week.
“They likely will go very quickly,” said Derek Brinkley, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions at Columbia, and the tour slots are being promoted mostly for students who are coming from out of the Chicago area.
“Those students and their families, they want to come and see the city, they want to know that they’ll feel safe, they want to see the campus,” he said. All tour participants will be provided a COVID-19 rapid test, along with other conditions at apply.colum.edu/portal/visit; sign-ups available on the calendar soon.
So far, applicants have been understanding about otherwise being limited to virtual meetings, Brinkley said; those options are outlined at www.colum.edu/vase.
“We’ve not gotten any pushback,” he said. “Also, one thing I’ll share is there’s a subset of students out there that did not have the opportunity in the past to visit campus, students of a lower income, international students.”
The virtual programming necessitated by the pandemic has turned out to be a real positive in that regard, he said, and will be continued after in-person tours resume in the future.
Northwestern University in Evanston
Tours are online only; a menu of digital offerings can be found at admissions.northwestern.edu and on Northwestern’s YouTube channel.
With all of the video options available, “students can actually see more of campus than ever before,” said Liz Kinsley, director of undergraduate admission. “Of course, it’s great to be able to have them on campus; it’s a beautiful campus.”
But she sees the new rollout of digital offerings as a silver lining, something Northwestern will continue to offer in the future. Along with 360-degree panoramas, there are Zoom meetings with current students and chats with admissions staff. An applicant from India took part in a recent livestreamed campus tour, she said, and remarked in the comments section that it felt like she was there walking the campus.
Bradley University in Peoria
In-person tours and greeting sessions are available; virtual visits also are available; more information is at bradley.edu/admissions/freshman/visit.
The university offers a curbside tour, said undergraduate student and tour guide Taylor Johnson, a creative option that sounds a bit like the pickups perfected by stores this past year. Visiting, preregistered students and their families park in a numbered spot and let the admissions office know they’ve arrived. There is a limit of one family per tour guide. A member of the staff comes out and greets them (with a free T-shirt) and shows them around campus.
“We don’t show the dormitories or the libraries but they get to see a lot of the campus,” Johnson said. Alternatively, on Fridays there are in-person group admissions sessions capped at 50 people each in the Alumni Center and Westlake Hall.
Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana
In-person tours are available; virtual visits also are available; information and registration is at admissions.purdue.edu/visit. The campus tours are hourlong walking tours of the grounds (not inside buildings). Up to three families or groups will be accommodated per tour. Students can bring two parents or guests. For the month of April, those tours will be for admitted students only.
Loyola University
In-person admission presentations at the Lake Shore Campus are available only for admitted students from Illinois. Virtual visits also are available; more information and registration is at luc.edu/undergrad/comevisit. There are three sessions per day, Monday through Friday, and capacity is limited. At the end of the presentation there’s a Q&A session, said admissions staffer Becky Sullivan, and then visitors are given directions for a self-guided tour.
DePaul University
In-person tours of the Lincoln Park Campus are available for admitted students from Illinois. Virtual visits also are available, including livestreamed Zoom tours; more information and registration is at depaul.edu/admission-and-aid/visit-depaul.
