Counselors We Are Here to Help! 8 Ways to Engage Students With Their College Search
Since we launched The College Tour TV series in 2021, we have really enjoyed getting to know counselors across the country.
We know getting students to engage can often be challenging. We are here to help! Below are 8 ways to help engage them in continuing their path to higher education using The College Tour assets.
1) Share this list of all the colleges featured in The College Tour TV series with your students and their parents. In this spreadsheet, there is a tab to search by TV SEASON, or you can search by STATE. There are over 110 episodes on colleges across 36 states. We have episodes on big state Universities, small private colleges, Community Colleges, HBCUs, and Christian Colleges, and even Spanish-language episodes.
▪ The links in the spreadsheet will take your students directly to the College’s tour page. On this tour page they will find a 1 minute overview video on the college, 10 student video segments, a link to the half hour TV episode, and helpful inside scoop videos: Coffee with the President, Ask Admissions, Navigating Financial Aid.
2) Put a link to The College Tour website on your HS website as a free and robust resource.
▪ Sample copy: “Learn about the culture of college campuses across the USA through the voices of current students by watching The College Tour TV series (www.thecollegetour.com)”.
3) Posters. Print and hang posters for the TCT TV series and TCT class around your high school this summer. On the posters, there is a bar code where students can scan and watch episodes on their phones.
▪ Link here for posters.
4) Screen episodes of the TV series this fall during homeroom, during lunch, in the college readiness office. The episodes are around 28 minutes long. You can screen episodes directly from www.thecollegeour.com.
5) Family Engagement. Encourage the students to watch episodes with their families. It’s a great way to bring families together.
6) Encourage your students to take the TCT self-guided-video-based class:
▪ Here is a video from our Host, Alex, explaining the Class.
▪ Estimated time to complete – 45 minutes.
▪ Here is a link to the Class.
▪ Please note at the end of the Class, the students can add your email so you can get their answers.
The Class helps students think about the following four pillars:
▪ College Location
▪ Type of College
▪ Culture of the College
▪ Majors
7) Engage Parents. Let parents know about The College Tour TV Series.
▪ Sample email: “Parents, if you are looking to help your child with their college search, there is a TV series that can help. It’s called The College Tour. Every episode tells the story of a new college through the voices of current students. You can stream it for free on their website: www.thecollegetour.com“.
8) Add The College Tour website and Class into your Google Classroom if you use that tool.
We hope that the above assets and suggestions help you with student engagement. At the college tour we believe strongly in the power of higher education. We hope we can help do our part in helping your students continue their journey.
