During Covid, students face many challenges, especially seniors who want to visit colleges. Due to the virus outbreak, many places have been shut down and that includes tours of colleges and universities. Schools have been trying to help students out as best as they can but it also challenges them because they have rules that they have to follow as well and a common rule in most colleges is if the student doesn’t go to the school, they cannot be on the campus. In order to figure out which colleges you want to take a tour of, you should first look at the schools that you would be interested in seriously applying to. When COVID 19 first started, in March of 2020, all schools were shut down for the rest of the academic year and students were required to learn virtually. As this applied, if you had a college tour to attend to, it had been cancelled. Universities understood that it was unfair to students who had already paid to have one so they made changes to make the tours online. Colleges have tried to make the virtual tour as realistic as possible as an in-person one but honestly it isn’t the same. Although it may be challenging, going to the school’s website and reading information about how they are conducting tours is a great start. Also, going onto social media and interacting with students/ school officials who actually go there. 

I interviewed a guidance counselor in the Hauppauge High School, Mr.Foster, about how students get to visit colleges and the challenges they face along the way from his perspective. I asked him how many schools he would recommend students to go visit and he responded by saying that his advice would be to visit only the schools you are serious about going to and schools you want to apply to and try to get into. I was also curious to know what schools look for in students and he said one of the most important things colleges look for is involvement in sports, clubs, and activities. He said that you don’t need to apply yourself to everything but at least get involved in at least one thing because that looks very good. I continued to ask him if he has ever taken a virtual tour of a college and if so, how it differs from an in-person tour. Mr.Foster has never been on a virtual tour of college before, but he imagines it to be very different from an in-person tour because it isn’t the same and you won’t be able to get the same experience and the same feel for the school seeing it virtually. Lastly, I asked him what challenges students have been facing trying to visit colleges and he said that due to COVID and campuses being shut down, it has been very difficult for students to be able to see colleges in person and take tours of them.