Pleasant View School Virtual Visits

During these times of uncertainty, college visits have been very different from previous years. Pleasant View School has hosted this year’s college visits via zoom for our high school students and parents. These virtual visits have included Rhodes College, Emory University, Tennessee Technological University, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Memphis, Washington University in St. Louis, and Christian Brothers University. Evening college workshops have also been held with Emory, Dartmouth, Berkeley, Georgetown, and The University of Richmond. Students and parents have also been able to participate in a FAFSA workshop with the TSAC Director of College Access as well as PVS’s “Navigating the College Search” workshop series.

“Virtual college visits are definitely a useful way to become familiar with the college and help with decision making, but it will never fully replace the experience of the physical college visits,” states Iman Zekaria, a senior at PVS. These sessions have given our students the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the campus culture, the programs the school offers, and the admissions process. Students also hear presentations from their admission counselors and have the opportunity to ask any further questions. According to Mrs. Alejo, PVS’s College Counselor, the virtual visits have enabled our students to establish connections with a variety of schools. “This format, combined with colleges’ virtual visit programs, gives our students and parents a glimpse of schools that physical time and travel might have otherwise deterred them from seeing. Now that they can meet admissions counselors and at least see these schools virtually, students and parents might be more inclined to visit these schools once tours safely resume,“ says Alejo. For even our underclassmen, they now have even more access to getting an early start with their college search. “The college visits are crumbs to a pie of life. During these times, virtual visits have allowed us to get a head start and begin to highlight our presumed interest in prospective colleges,” says a sophomore at PVS.