Colleges Attract Students With Unique Campus Tours

In addition to taking a walking tour of a college campus, why not boat, bike or drive around campus? As colleges try to attract more prospective students and families to their campuses, they are enhancing their tours to make them memorable experiences that stand out from other college campuses.

Jeff Kallay, vice president of consulting for TargetX, a college consulting firm, says colleges need to be sure they are showing prospective students what it is really like to be on their campus. "What kids really want on a college tour is an authentic and real college experience," he says.

U.S. News spoke with eight colleges and universities from across the country that have created different campus tours in addition to their walking tours that highlight the aspects of their campuses that make them unique.

[Slide show: Unique College Campus Tours]

Bikes, Boats and Buses

Alfred University, a liberal arts college in Alfred, N.Y., has added an unusual bike to complement its self-described "quirky" student community. Last fall, with the guidance of Kallay with TargetX, the school purchased a conference bike built for seven people to add as a supplement to its traditional walking tour. With the tour guide manning the steering and braking, all seven aboard sit in a circle facing each other and are tasked with pedaling around the relatively hilly Western New York campus. "You just can't help but smile when you see the bike go by because everyone on the bike is smiling," says Jodi Bailey, Alfred's director of marketing. "It's fun and memorable. The bike is one way we can stick out in visitors' minds." Check out a video of the bike.

The entire Alfred community has been receptive to the bike, with the college president being one of the first to ride. "The bike is a really good representation of Alfred," says Logan Goulett, a tour guide and senior at Alfred. "The students here are very innovative and creative and the bike is a conglomeration of everything we are at Alfred." Students and professors are also invited to hop on the bike if there's an open seat and chat with prospective students and families about their Alfred experience, Goulett says. Those who take the 20 minute biking tour across the main quad of campus get a "Tour Hard" T-shirt. "Almost everyone who is serious about Alfred is serious about the bike," Goulett says.

Eckerd College, a liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Fla., also offers a biking tour to help cover its 188-acre campus more quickly. A student tour guide leads prospective students using bikes from the school's "Yellow Bike" program—the campus's bike sharing system—for an hour-long tour across campus, with stops at buildings along the way. In addition, prospective students can take a boating tour next to the 1 1/4 mile of campus that lies along the Boca Ciego Bay, says John Sullivan, Eckerd's dean of admission and financial aid. In this 30-minute tour, a student guide talks about the school's history and its marine science and environmental science programs.

While visitors can boat and bike around Eckerd, at West Virginia University prospective students can take a three-hour bus and walking tour of its three campuses. Visitors board a bus at the visitor center and travel to downtown Morgantown to tour the town and the school's main liberal arts campus. Then they board again to drive past the health and science campus to the Evansdale campus that is home to the major-specific classes, wherein students visit a residence hall and get a beverage at a dining hall, says Danica Wilburn, the school's visitors resource center director. Before or after tours, visitors can also ride the school's PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) monorail, which connects the campuses.