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The College Tour Goes High-Tech
According to an admissions official at Drexel, his school's booth got 270 visits at the virtual fair in the fall, which automatically gave him each student's contact information. Normally, he said, a busy physical fair might yield about 200 contacts.
Curt Cotter, the director of admissions at Sierra Nevada College, said he and his staff were "just juiced up about" connecting with students that a small liberal-arts school like his would not normally get to reach. "It is the technology that students are using right now, so it's a way of reaching those students who would never think about Sierra Nevada College or Lake Tahoe. By doing it this way, we get an opportunity to meet students from New York to Guam. Plus, we've attended a lot of college fairs and find that students often don't get their questions answered—there are so many people, and it's so crowded, so noisy."
"Physical college fairs hit the biggest metropolitan markets," said Rosenbloom. "But when you start to go outside of those areas, they only hit roughly 10 to 15 percent of potential applicants." The company is considering expanding their offerings in the future to include events focused on specific educational topics, such as financial aid.
Despite the clear benefits, admissions officers warn against relying solely on online research to make your college selections. "[Technology] enables much broader access to information, which is always good thing. But there's also a lot of hype about it," said Barmak Nassirian of the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers. The real advantage of online research is that it allows prospective students to look past the marketing of school's brochure, Web site and even its admissions officers. If you dig deep enough, you can browse course offerings and scan the student newspaper for the latest campus trials and tribulations. The more information you can get your hands on says Nassirian, the more educated your decision will be.
© 2008
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Member Comments
Posted By: mountain_laurel1183 @ 03/31/2008 2:49:51 PM
Comment: But you still have to visit the school to get a feel for the campus atmosphere. While this should help you narorw it down somewhat, it shouldn't substitute for the real thing in the actual decision making process. I visited one school that I thought I would hate after doing a ton of online research (I only went b/c a friend was going), and the visit changed my mind completely--I ended up going there. For graduate school, though, I was poorer and had some other things going, so I relied solely on the internet and things I had heard about the school's reputation. I was completely miserable as I did not fit in with the other students at ALL. I ended up transfering to another school where I have never been happier.
And Frances, yes, I agree with you, but many schools ARE utilizing technology in some pretty neat ways. For just one example, my math class homework, tests, and quizzes are all online (thought it's not an online course--lectures are still in the classroom), and the computer program builds a personal study program for you based on your scores and weak areas so that you get extra practice and study time where you need it most before the test. There are problems that still need to be worked out, but overall, it's pretty neat.
Posted By: franceslady @ 03/29/2008 3:25:05 AM
Comment: Well, as the high-tech developed on this rapid speed, the quality of educational facility also need to be improved by this. I hope it will go further and wider all around the world. More and more students would benefit from the technological power.