OWU Admission Blog

Making a college visit plan can be an exciting and sometimes overwhelming process. How many colleges should you visit? Which colleges should you visit first? What makes similar colleges stand out from each other? What if you can’t visit the college campus?

More than ever, there are many virtual resources to explore a campus and its culture to see if it’s the right fit for you. In other words, you can now engage with your favorite colleges from the comfort of your couch! Whether you’re stuck at home and/or considering schools that are far away from your hometown, here are some pieces of advice from our admission counselors, staff and Bishop Ambassador current students.

Tips and Tricks from Admission Staff Members:

Our team offered some of their best advice for students who want to learn about a campus community virtually. They said:

• Look at the college’s homepage; don’t just go straight to the Admission page. What links, highlights, and stories do you see? The homepage will often tell you what the college community cares about and offer more insight into the current campus priorities. You can also check out the social media pages and the website for the college’s town and surrounding area. What are the local activities and fun traditions that students engage in?
  
• Search for resources that are important to you on the college’s website. Are you looking for financial aid, cultural or identity-based resources, counseling services, or the course catalog? You can often find the information you need on the website and can easily access them using the website’s search function. If you have more questions, see if you can schedule a meeting with the coordinators of these services via email.
  
• Check the list of majors and minors; does the school have what you’re looking for? If the university doesn’t appear to offer the program you are interested in, ask your admission counselor for more information. Majors can have different names at various universities, and sometimes combining two majors or a major and a minor can easily meet your academic needs, so it’s wise to double check before deciding a school is not for you.
• Personalize the information you receive from universities. Request information about programs offered, view a virtual campus tour, and talk with your admission counselor to make sure you’re receiving specific information that’s important to you. Most colleges and universities have a “get to know you” form that you can fill out. Provide as much information as you are comfortable sharing; the more colleges know, the more tailored future communication may be.

Tips and Tricks from Current Students:

We’ve highlighted advice from current students who served on our panel in the Bishop+ Episode -- Love is Blind: Choosing a School Without a Visit. They offered great tips on using virtual resources to make your final college decision. They advised prospective students to:

• Use available visual aids as much as possible! Great resources include YouTube videos of campus, such as a residential hall tour, recordings of sporting events, and videos of campus activities. You can also search university social media hashtags and location check-ins to see student photos of campus. If you have a friend or former high school classmate at the college, follow their feed to learn about their daily life on campus.
  
• Ask upperclassmen on the college campus about their experiences, whether you already know someone or can connect with a student through your admission counselor. “When it comes to experience, talking to someone who’s already there makes a big difference,” one of our international students said.
  
• Students who are interested in participating or majoring in the performing arts should watch videos of past performances, often available on the website or YouTube, to get a sense of the arts on a campus. Also, these students should check out the performance schedule and course catalog to see all of their options. (Keep in mind, 2020-21 might not be “business as usual” in the performing arts due to COVID-19.)

No matter what you might be feeling as you start your college search, we’re here to help. To learn more about improving your virtual visit to Ohio Wesleyan, explore our Virtually Connect page and speak with our Admission team and student ambassadors!