College Closures & College Visit Alternatives

We are getting emails from many families about canceling their spring break college visit trips due to the state of affairs with COVID-19. There is a growing list of colleges that have canceled campus visits and/or in-person classes. Some colleges are asking students to pack up their belongings and move out of the residence halls for the rest of the school year. To be safe, many families are choosing to stay homebound rather than doing college visits in March and April during spring break.
Updated List of College Closures
The best source is going to the college’s admissions website directly to get the most updated information.
Here is a daily updated “Coronavirus Impact on Campus Visit” list of popular colleges and the staus of their college visits and closures…
College Visit Alternatives
If you had plans to visit colleges over spring break and have canceled your trip, here are some alternatives in order to continue exploring colleges to the best of your ability while you have some downtime…
• Virtual College Tours: There are some websites that provide comprehensive online college tours to students that want to get familiar with schools and save money prior to in-person visits. This is a great way to learn more about different school options. Many colleges offer virtual campus tours on their admissions websites. Also, these websites below offer comprehensive virtual campus tours…
• Online College Fairs: Online college fairs are a convenient way to learn more about schools. They are offered at different times throughout the school year. Check out a variety of online college fairs…
• Local Colleges: The best way to begin to get exposure to what you like and want in a college environment is to pick a few colleges in your state or area to visit. It would be good to try a variety of schools such as a private school, a state school, a liberal arts school, a national research school, etc. Make sure to do formal admissions tours and information sessions. Some of the schools in your area still may have campus visit openings. To schedule, see this example, you go onto the college’s admissions website.
• Local College Fairs: College fairs tend to be the entry-level way for colleges to recruit students. This is a great way to learn more about schools and interact with college admissions representatives. Often there are spring college fairs in most metro areas around the USA and frequently around the world. Some college fairs have been canceled this spring, but many are still open. You can find out from your school counseling office if there are any spring college fairs in your region or you can do a Google search “spring college fair + name of city or region”.
Questions to Consider Asking During College Fairs
  • Can you define the personality of the school/school culture?
  • What are the main aspects of your school that your students like the most?
  • What are you looking for in applicants?
  • Do you offer merit-based scholarships and, if so, what do the typical scholarship recipients look like?
• College List Research: For many juniors, we have worked with you to build your college list. This is a good time to dig deeper into your college lists to read more and learn more about different schools. You can dedicate your time to creating a “yes”, “maybe” and “no” list from your research. Then, if you would like, we can meet in April or May or during the summer to help you narrow down your list and determine your final list of schools. If you are a sophomore or junior and want to start exploring schools in more detail, we can help you come up with a preliminary list of colleges and show you how to start digging into college list research. Feel free to book a meeting with us by clicking here.

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