By: Katie Farkas
Although things are looking up in terms of the pandemic, the majority of major events are still happening virtually. This includes experiences like campus tours and admitted student days. Events like this are extremely important for potential students and families, as well as the Adelphi community, where they learn valuable information about academics, clubs, housing and the university. It also gives the faculty the opportunity to meet and interact with potential students.
The Covid-19 pandemic has challenged college admissions globally and forced them to rethink the way they welcome prospective students and families to campus, according to Nicole Levy, associate director of events in University Admissions.
“Here at Adelphi, we've developed a comprehensive visitor plan that has been in place since August 2020,” she said. “While we previously offered tours to multiple students and families twice daily, we shifted to offering one-on-one personalized tours throughout the day. In addition, we introduced a self-guided tour of campus, allowing students and families to follow our traditional tour route at their own pace. Alongside a downloadable mobile app, visitors can read about and explore all the sights and sounds our beautiful campus has to offer. Both types of tours are extremely popular and fill within hours of being available on our website. We're proud of how we adapted and our ability to keep the campus, our amazing student ambassadors and our guests safe.”
So far in the 2020-’21 academic year, 719 prospective students have attended a weekday virtual tour. As for events, Adelphi Admissions hosts quite a range of virtual opportunities, but the largest events for prospective undergraduate students were the Virtual Fall Open Houses. These two events alone welcomed 723 prospective students.
Other experiences for admitted students come from the Honors College, where Dean Susan Dinan said applicants are given the opportunity to be interviewed by faculty. “Interested applicants are interviewed and learn quite a bit about the Honors College through this process,” she said.
Once admitted, Dinan said students are sent a letter of acceptance and invited to attend a large Admitted Student Day event. While this was traditionally done in-person and on-campus, in 2020 and 2021 it was a Zoom meeting.
“During this event, we assembled groups of Honors College faculty, alumni and students to address certain questions, such as how does the Honors College help prepare a student for medical school, dental school, law school or a career in education, technology or healthcare,” Dinan explained. “Other sessions addressed the overall benefits of the Honors College, managing honors and joint-degree programs, honors housing and study abroad. The feedback I received was very positive. Prospective students learned a great deal from the alums, students and faculty.”
Levy and the Admissions Office have also taken advantage of the new virtual platform for admitted student events as well. “All activities that you can find at an in-person event are still available virtually. We think it has actually enhanced the visitor experience,” Levy said.
“In addition to our events, our virtual offerings include live virtual tours with our student ambassadors, live class visits, enrollment counselor appointments and faculty appointments,” she continued. “This allows us to reach students who may not have been able to come to campus, accommodate national and international time zones, and even provide flexibility to our local students. Although we look forward to the day we can resume traditional in-person visits, our virtual offerings will be an amazing compliment that is here to stay. This would not be possible without the collaboration and adaptation of the entire Adelphi community who participates. We’d like to give a big shoutout to our Web Team who helped create a visually fun and easy to navigate event website.”