Free Virtual College Tours

 No time or not enough money to visit all of your student’s college tour wish lists? Virtual college tours help whittle down the list.

My daughter is a junior in high school this year.  The thought of visiting college campuses sounds fun and exciting…and yes, a bit overwhelming. 

But in reality, with my daughter’s high school volleyball and travel club volleyball schedule, I have no idea how we are going to fit in campus tours.

So far, she has shown interest in visiting 8 campuses.  Most are located in California, thank goodness, but they range from San Diego up to San Francisco. 

In the last couple of years, we have visited two of these campuses, but our “tours” consisted of just walking around on campus, not getting a tour by a student.  It’s not the same experience.

There is no way we can visit all 8 campuses.  But recently, I discovered there is another way to whittle down the actual number of campus visits we make.  

College Tours in Today’s Tech-Savvy World

Thanks to technology, there’s a new great way to visit and explore colleges without stepping foot on campus.

Many campuses offer virtual college tours through 360-degree and virtual reality (VR) video tours to show off their campus, guided by a student, giving a student’s perspective. 

Virtual college tours often include videos, pictures, student narration, and the opportunity to “look around” with VR or 360-degree photos that allow you to look forward, up, down, right, left, and behind you.

With a VR campus tour, you need to get a set of VR goggles, this gives the best experience.  Don’t have VR goggles?  No worries, the 360-degree tour simulates a VR tour.  Just use your mouse to explore a 360-degree picture.  Look up, left, all around you.

In my searching online, I found YouVisit, a free VR/360 degree college tour site.  They house over 600 college visits, giving you the option of a 360-degree tour or a VR tour.

Virtual Colleege Tours

Ohio State University

I took a virtual college tour of Ohio State University, both of my parents’ alma mater.  Growing up, I had planned on attending Ohio State, but when we moved to California, my plans changed.

I have to say, after taking the virtual tour, Ohio State University is an amazing school.  I wouldn’t mind attending it today, it’s a beautiful campus and they offer so many resources for its students. 

It houses over 1,600 acres and offers numerous modern conveniences for a school started in 1870!

UCLA

Next, I visited UCLA, where the student tour guide told me UCLA is the number one applied to school in the nation.  Wow.  And I didn’t realize it was built in 1919. 

I love all of the brick buildings, they remind me of many of the large universities in the midwest and back east.   UCLA houses 419 acres of property.

UC San Diego

The 360-degree tour of the University of San Diego is nice as well.  It features the Geisel Library as you begin the tour, an impressive architectural feat. 

The Geisel Library houses the largest number of Theodor Seuss Geisel drawings in the nation.

Who is Geisel?  Dr. Seuss!  He was a San Deigo local for many years.  The campus is up on a hill and has an impressive view of Southern California’s beaches.

Virtual college tours offer so much more than just pictures.

University of San Francisco

After San Diego, I cruised up the University of San Francisco.  The 360-degree campus tour shows the highlights of living in a vibrant, multicultural city yet having access to the beach nearby. 

Having never been on campus, I was surprised by the ivy-league look and feel of some of the buildings and their decor.  Makes sense, it was founded in 1864. 

The University of San Francisco is a much smaller campus with 57 acres.

With Silicon Valley nearby and the fact that the city is a magnet for amazing cuisine,  internships and research opportunities are abound in San Francisco.

University of Colorado, Denver

Scheduling A Campus Visit is Easy!

Be sure to look for virtual college tours on college websites too.  Many colleges will feature the videos on YouVisit.com, but some colleges offer additional virtual tours on their websites as well.  

You’ll find visits for ivy-league schools like Harvard and Yale on YouVisit.com, but MIT and Stanford are not on this website.  I did not see a real virtual tour on MIT’s website. 

Stanford offering a walking map tour and they also have their own Stanford app to give you a view of the school.

Also, you’ll find many personal college campus visits and college insights on YouTube.

Virtual campus tours are not the end-all.  There is no better way to gauge a campus’ life and passion unless you visit in person.  But due to time and money constraints, virtual tours are a great way to narrow down the list to those you want to prioritize.

As in-person college tours book up fast, I recommend you schedule them now if you would like to book some college tours this year for your high school junior.

See more Best Free College Prep Resources For Families to help get your high school student ready for college.