With the pandemic altering many aspects of admissions, SAU has found a new way to showcase their residence halls. 

When students are looking at prospective schools for college, the first step is usually a campus tour to get a sense of the campus culture and community. Tours showcase campus buildings, food options, and of course, residence halls, where during a pandemic, students are spending extra time.

To follow COVID-19 safety guidelines, SAU admissions have been unable to show the residence halls to prospective students and transfer students during campus tours. 

“We are very fortunate that we are able to offer in-person visits because a lot of schools are not able to,” Gracyn Schriner, SAU admissions counselor, said. “However, I know students love seeing the residence halls when they do come to tour. We all know that our residence halls are some of the best, but for them to not be able to see that for themselves has been a little bit challenging.”

Seeing the residence halls is typically an important factor that students consider when making their college decisions because having a comfortable and aesthetic place to call your “home away from home” can make the shock of college less stressful. 

In a creative solution, the admissions office with help from the communications and marketing office created a youtube playlist featuring student-submitted dorm tours. These videos, recorded and edited by students, feature the different housing options for Ambrose students of all years.

“I am very excited about the new student-made residence hall videos,” Gracyn Schriner said. “I think it will be very helpful that the current students are able to show what a typical residence hall looks like, but with all of their added personal touches to it. I think it will also be very beneficial that they are able to talk through what they specifically like about those residence halls so that then the prospective students are able to kind of see themselves living in that residence hall they decide to be a bee.” 

These dorm tours take the viewer through the buildings showing the laundry areas, bathrooms, living spaces, bedrooms. They specify what furniture is provided by the university and what they recommend bringing. They even go on to detail tips and tricks they have found to be strategic ways to decorate or organize. 

Not only will these dorm tour videos prove useful for prospective freshmen and transfer students, giving them a little more ease when preparing for college, they will also be useful for current students looking to decide their future living plans.

The Hive Tour videos are actively being shared on social media and are now being implemented into the admissions process. You can watch them here.