Considering Some Virtual College Tours? Here Are Some Options
Last Updated on March 5, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel
Virtual college tours really took off a couple of years ago when it became difficult for potential students to visit colleges. And now, I think it’s safe to say that it has almost become a standard part of the college search for many families. Doing a campus virtual tour can be a great way to begin, in lieu of visiting in person.
While visiting a campus and touring in-person is the best way to for students to learn more about a college, more and more students are touring virtually before stepping foot on campus. With the help of innovative technology, including virtual reality, students can feel as though they’re standing on a college campus quad. It’s also certainly cheaper than visiting a faraway campus and it will give students some idea about the campus environment before they decide whether they want to visit in person. Does it seem more urban than they wanted? Is there too much green space or not enough? These are the kinds of things you can see on a virtual campus tour.
Unfortunately, virtual college tours are still impersonal and won’t give a student the full experience of what the campus culture feels like. Sometimes, there are technical issues that make them less than perfect. Some virtual tours require virtual reality headsets, which you may not own. And as I surveyed various virtual campus tour websites, I discovered that the college’s information, such as enrollment numbers, majors, and acceptance rates on most of them was incorrect or out-of-date. So, do not rely on these websites and tours for those kinds of facts about a college.
I checked out some of the most popular sites for virtual tours, touring the same colleges (which I have previously visited in person) on each of them. I was really impressed with what I found. Below, listed alphabetically, are the websites I checked out, as well as my general impressions of them:
CampusTours
I found this to be the most comprehensive of all the sites and the college information they provided was generally the most accurate. They offer various options for “touring” the campus, and include handy links to colleges’ Instagram photos and websites. They state that they have over 1700 campus tours available. In some cases, they just linked to the virtual tours that colleges have on their websites, which actually may be through one of the other websites below. I found their own tours to be the most extensive of all the sites, but also found navigating some of their tours to be slightly less intuitive than some other formats. Their website was very easy to navigate. https://campustours.com/
eCampusTours
This site says they have 1300 virtual tours available. I personally didn’t like their website design as much as some, but it was easy to figure out. Their tours were not quite as extensive as some on the site above, but they were easy to navigate and more “standardized” on the platform. None of the tours I personally viewed linked to other outside sources. https://www.ecampustours.com/
Youniversity TV
This is a little different format than the other tour sites, and has fun videos of college campuses, led by enthusiastic student guides. I couldn’t tell how many campuses it has available for touring, but it’s definitely fewer than the sites above, as I couldn’t find at least one of the colleges I attempted to view. Links to all of a college’s social media are included on each college’s information page. I actually found the tours, when available, to be really engaging. However, one of them I viewed was six years old and I know that there have been changes on campus since that time. I think this potentially would be a great additional way to get the “vibe” of a college, but probably shouldn’t be your main virtual campus tour. https://www.youniversitytv.com/
YouVisit
I enjoyed this website’s tours, although they have fewer available than the first two above – 600 schools. But, students have the option of touring with a virtual reality headset so they can really feel that they’re standing on campus. For the larger institutions, students have the option to choose “A Day in the Life” for a tour, and a student will appear on the screen and narrate the tour for them, while they explore campus. I really liked that. (The smaller campus tours on the site didn’t offer that option.) Overall, I felt that the layout of the site and the format of the tours on this site were probably my favorite. However, the information that popped up about a college’s tuition when I hovered over a college, was incorrect. https://www.youvisit.com/
Finally…
Don’t forget that every college’s website likely also includes a virtual campus tour! I also recommend checking out and following the social media of any college your student is interested in. Beyond the college’s main page, there are often pages dedicated to campus activities or clubs. You’ll not only see pictures from around campus, it may help to give you a feel for the campus culture, when an in-person visit is not possible.
