With a pandemic ongoing, college visits take on a new look

Selinsgrove High School senior Zach Mangels was accepted to Millersville University soon after he took a limited tour of the Lancaster County college campus in late September. Getting the admission acceptance letter this past week was a relief to the 17-year-old whoplans to study anthropology and archeology at Millersville, a college option that was clinched when he stepped foot on the campus.

Millersville “was my top choice,” Mangels said. Despite not being allowed to eat in the school cafeteria, visit classrooms, check out residence halls or enter most of the school’s other buildings on a tour of the campus grounds with two other prospective students and their parents due to COVID-19 restrictions, he said, the visit had an impact.

College officials have been working throughout the health crisis to come up with safe and creative ways to give prospective students a way to tour their campuses and facilities. Bucknell, Bloomsburg and Susquehanna universities are offering limited in-person campus tours in addition to online tours and information sessions.

“It’s a lot better to experience in person,” said Mangels, who earlier in the summer did a “drive-by” of Edinboro University’s campus and some virtual campus visits. “Getting a feel for the place without a camera between you, feeling the atmosphere, what people are like and what there is to do is important.”

It’s been an “interesting challenge,” said Maramonne Houseknecht, assistant director of operations at Bloomsburg University, of trying to attract prospective students amid the pandemic. While many are still opting for online tours, she said, about 500 people have visited the campus in person since July even though masks and social distancing are required and nearly all buildings are off-limits. In-person tours with a maximumof two students and four guests are held eight times a week.

“It’s kind of like buying a car. People want to know if they see themselves here, how do I fit in this environment.

They want to feel that comfort factor,” Houseknecht said. “It’s a different connection [being on campus]. There is an intimacy that happens.” Visitor survey responses have been positive, she said. Alexa Geist, a high school senior from Hegins, said she was glad to be able to walk around the Bloomsburg campus on Thursday “to get the full experience.”

Susquehanna University has been allowing in-person daily visits to up to three students and their two guests at a time since July 13, said DJ Menifee, vice president for enrollment. At Bucknell University, a tour guide hosts up to 20 people at a time twice a day on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays and sometimes Saturdays, Dean of Admissions Kevin Mathes said. As in Bloomsburg, nearly all of the tours at the two schools are outdoors with everyone wearing masks following health screenings. The in-person tours at Bucknell are always filled and include a visit in the lower floor of the student center and walkthroughs of the library and one academic building that has large hallways and plenty of windows, Mathes said.

The campus visit is the biggest indicator for some in choosing a college, Menifee said. “We’re seeing about seven to 10 students every day. The families that are getting a chance to come here don’t think that they’re missing anything other than [not being allowed to tour] residence halls,” he said. “They’re getting a chance to engage with students.”

For online visitors, the options have been plentiful with Susquehanna offering 19 virtual panels showcasing academic programs, including the Sigmund Weis School of Business opening its online alumni speaker series to interested students. On Sunday, the Snyder County school planned to stream on YouTube a live virtual open house with a brief virtual campus tour, panels of faculty, staff and students and an opportunity for viewers to chat with panelists through a moderator.

Bucknell has also been offering a slew of information sessions via Zoom, including online chats with students about campus life, and has taped an in-person campus tour that is available for online viewing. In lieu of its traditional fall open house, Bucknell will be offering both in-person and online campus tours, informational sessions and overviews of academic programs starting Tuesday. The “Build Your Bucknell” program will be available through Nov. 19.

Tori Ross, a junior at Selinsgrove High School, has engaged online with about 20 universities and visited several campus communities in person, including NewEngland schools Brown, Harvard, Mount Holyoke and Smith, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. She and her mother, Pam, may not have been able to walk around the campuses at that time, but they did check out the surrounding communities.

“Wewanted to see what towns appealed to her. For instance, we saw which place had a lake nearby,” Pam Ross said.

“I had more free time,” Tori said of being able to travel during the statewide shutdown that began six days before she was scheduled to play the lead in the school musical performance of “Mama Mia.”

While the virtual visits have provided valuable information and easy access to college professionals that might not otherwise be available, Ross said, she’s become fatigued sitting at the computer and would rather walk through a campus community and engage face-to-face with people who live and work there. “A lot of colleges look promising on paper, but it doesn’t show you how[the campus and community environment] feels,” she said.

Mangels’ mother, Shari, said she hopes her two younger children will have more access to college campuses when they begin their search. She said she knew instantly while visiting Susquehanna University’s campus as a prospective business student several years ago that it was where she would spend the next four years. “It does make a world of difference to be able to walk the campus,” she said. Ross has another year to search and her mother hopes that will include less-restrictive on-campus tours.

“This is such an enormous financial and time investment,” Pam Ross said. “I wouldn’t buy a house or a car without looking at it first.”