Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges have decided to do virtual presentations online this year for seniors. To maintain social distancing guidelines, many universities, including Princeton and Dartmouth University, have hosted virtual presentations through Naviance, a website where students are free to access links to such college presentations.
These virtual presentations were sent out to students in September and October on Naviance by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School B.R.A.C.E. Advisor Ana Farrand, who explained to the students when these virtual presentations were taking place.
“I do wish the college tours weren’t online because I hoped to get a feeling of what it would be like on campus since I would be spending the next four years there,” senior Trishana Mungal said.
Naviance is available to any students ranging from grade K-12 and conveniently located on students’ Clever dashboard.
When led to Naviance, students planning on attending the college presentations are to click the college tab in the right corner by the home button where they will be led to another page featuring information about college visits. By then, students should be able to access the dates and links to each college presentation where they will also receive updates from administration explaining the expectations.
“I really want for our students to understand the value of Naviance and see what they can do with it,” Farrand said.
The main goal of these meetings is to explain the functions of the college and what their campus has to offer to incoming freshmen. Throughout each 30-minute session, students are shown what life would be like as a freshman at that specific school. These presentations are done through Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and other platforms.
“The virtual tour that I attended was pretty clear and went pretty in-depth and gave me a better idea of what campus life would be like if I attended that college,” senior Arthy Suresh said.
With the ongoing pandemic, there have been many adjustments in how college visitations are being conducted. Virtual presentations can be scheduled through email between Farrand and a representative from the university to set a date for when the presentations are to take place. The representative from each college provides Farrand with the link to the meeting where the presentation is held.
Before this new system came to be, representatives from other schools flew down to Florida to schedule these meetings, strictly meant for MSD students. Virtual presentations are open to anyone who signs up for a meeting through Naviance.
“[The presentations] definitely played a role in making a decision about the colleges that I was interested in,” Suresh said.
Colleges are still currently holding these presentations for incoming freshmen. Seniors are encouraged to attend these presentations.