When it became clear that Admitted Student Days would be cancelled because of the COVID-19 outbreak, Marianne Virnelson ’17 sprang into action.
“We absolutely love being as accessible as possible and knew that we needed to find a way for our prospective students to be able to access the face-to-face quality of service without the risk,” said Virnelson, a Randolph senior admissions counselor and fine arts recruitment coordinator.
So she proposed leading daily weekday virtual tours through the video conferencing app Google Meet, which students can access over the phone or on their laptop. It includes the ability to ask live questions, either via video or a text chat feature.
“It’s as if they were physically taking the tour with me,” said Virnelson, who peppers the tours with humor, small talk, and personal anecdotes.
During a tour on Monday, she joked that theater was her sport during her time at Randolph, pointed out a chair in Main Hall where she finished a term paper, and explained the Evens and Odds rivalry to prospective students.
“Even though I graduated three years ago, I have never gone up the Even stairs,” she said. “I’m a proud Odd.”
To join the 3 p.m. tours, students can contact their admissions counselor or Virnelson at
mvirnelson@randolphcollege.edu.
They’ll then receive an email with a link to the Google Meet, which Virnelson also texts out 15 minutes prior to each tour.
She did two tours last week, expecting them to take a half hour or 45 minutes. But the first tour ended up lasting an hour and 15 minutes, she said. “They had so many incredible questions.”
More information about the tours can be found at
https://www.randolphcollege.edu/admission/visit.