by Mari Pizzini– Morningside College has begun conducting virtual visits with prospective students.
The virtual tours can combine any number of activities, from meeting with faculty to campus tours. Student ambassadors have even recently begun to give campus tours through facetime and WebEx.
“We added the virtual visit form the first part of April,” Stephanie Peters, Morningside’s Director of Admissions, said. “We had one virtual visit prior to putting out the form, and coaches are conducting visits as well as other faculty members like Ryan Pearson.”
“We base the visits off what the student asks for,” Peters continued. “We start with the counselor, have them coordinate with students and find out about what all they want to know.”
Peters said that faculty meetings have been one of their most popular choices.
“At this stage it’s not unusual to ask professors to call or email students, but this [virtual meetings] is taking it to a different level with a face-to-face meeting.”
According to Peters, physical campus visits are an important part of the recruiting process.
“Historically, we yield about 30% of our campus visits. Part of the beauty of Morningside is the physical attraction of Morningside.” She said that, currently, virtual face-to-face interactions with faculty were their best substitute.
Peters added that deciding to conduct virtual visits was based on two main ideas. “We saw the need to get to students outside of emails and literature in the mail. We also saw a need to bring the campus experience to them.”
Doing the best with what they have seems to be working. Prospective student Rosario Vazquez mentioned that talking with her counselor, potential faculty, and current students has given her the opportunity to see campus without actually visiting.
As for the future, Peters said that virtual visits could be here to stay.
“I think there is a very strong possibility to continue, especially with students who are remote. The long-term plan is to put together a virtual campus tour that we can share at any point in the recruitment process.”
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