More than 36,000 students interact with the University of Colorado Boulder admissions office every spring though campus tours and meetings, admitted student events and off-campus college fairs.
But stay-at-home orders, limits on travel and restrictions on public gatherings brought on by the spread of the new coronavirus has made most of those events impossible.
Instead, CU Boulder leaders are trying to deliver the campus experience directly into the hands of prospective students and families through a virtual visit.
The new platform, launched Tuesday at colorado.edu/virtualvisit, enables students and families to take video tours, explore individual colleges and schools, connect with current and prospective students and attend information sessions.
“Really what we’re trying to do is replicate a student and their family’s experiencing coming to campus,” said assistant vice chancellor Jennifer Schufer. “Whether they’re considering a graduate program, they want to transfer or they’ve been admitted, this helps them try on CU Boulder and see if it’s the right fit for them.”
The goal is to give students and families a sense of what the CU Boulder community feels like and give them a chance to ask the same questions they would ask during an on-campus tour or visit to an admissions office, Schufer said.
“We don’t want to put the burden on the family and the student to have to mine our entire website trying to find things. We wanted to create one central space and hub where they could get everything they needed,” she said. “It’s already hard for students right now. High school students are at home doing online learning. It’s a possibility there’s no graduation, prom or spring sports. We don’t need to add another layer of hard to what’s happening right now.”
The admissions office has already created an Instagram page for next year’s freshman to start building community, Schufer said.
Universities across the country are trying to adjust to unprecedented circumstances in recruiting students, but Schufer said CU Boulder’s approach is unique in looping in every college and school on campus.
Each college and school has a unique page with links to make appointments with admission recruiters, attend virtual information sessions, take video tours and learn about academic programs.
“Our main focus throughout the creation of the digital experience was to help students through the decision process, whether they’re just starting it or are really deep into it and just need a little additional information before making a decision,” said Shelby Javernick, student recruitment and outreach manager for the College of Media, Communication and Information.
Many of the questions Javernick hears from students are about what their academic life will be like at CU Boulder — what kinds of classes will they be taking, what skills will they be learning?
“Through this they can meet with me or with student ambassadors and really get down to the nuts and bolts of what do you love about your major? What’s been your favorite class?” Javenick said. “Our main goal is to provide them with the answers to the questions they have, to make one things in their life right now a little less chaotic.”
Javernick said she’s looking forward to how these tools will be used in the future.
“All the processes we’ve been forced to come up with — how are we going to leverage that next year when we hopefully don’t have to deal with all of this?” she said.