NMSU Admissions Office provides virtual experiences for future Aggies

New Mexico State University is committed to its students’ success, and the first step to achieving that goal begins before students arrive at the Las Cruces campus each August.

“I chose NMSU because I feel the professors and the environment overall are more willing to help you, which I didn’t sense when I visited other colleges,” said RyLee Kelly, a senior at Eldorado High School in Albuquerque. “NMSU is providing a good support system from day one.”

Part of that support system comes from NMSU’s Admissions Office, which provides many opportunities for incoming students to have their questions answered.

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 108 future Aggies students and their parents were able to attend in-person “NMSU Bound: Next Step” events to receive information regarding financial aid, housing, the overnight orientation and their first-year experience.

“The event really had the one-on-one attention that we needed to ask certain questions about financial aid, housing and orientation,” Kelly said. “For me, it is easier to ask these questions in person rather than calling the admissions office.”

But with new stay-at-home safety measures in place to stem the spread of the pandemic, the university’s Undergraduate Admissions and Orientation office has shifted from in-person meetings to using a Virtual Experiences website for communicating with the future students.

“Our team was able to prioritize, create and implement our virtual experience offerings very quickly,” said Seth Miner, director of Admissions. “This platform and their efforts ensure that NMSU will still be able to meet with and guide prospective students through their college search and plans of enrolling in NMSU in the fall.”

The Virtual Experience website, https://admissions.nmsu.edu/virtual/, includes a virtual tour, webinars, one-on-one video chats, and an online “Viewbook,” which includes information about NMSU academic programs, campus life and programs to help the student to be successful.

The Admissions Office is working to transition the “NMSU Bound: Next Step” field event presentation on housing, financial aid and orientation to a virtual offering.

“We have taken exactly what we presented at the field events and created webinar events,” Miner said. “The webinars cover specific topics so the students won’t have to sit through something they have already completed and have no questions about.”

Three webinars are scheduled for April 20, 21 and 22.

A presentation on housing will be held at 5 p.m. Monday, April 20. Financial aid presentation will be given at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 21, and 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 22

For a more personal help, a 30-minute one-on-one video chat may be scheduled online with an admissions advisor.

The webinars and one-on-one appoints are scheduled through the Customer Relations Management tool that is used for communicating with prospective students and families.

Since March 19, prospective students have explored the campus with virtual tours.

“Having a self-guided tour enables the visitor to seek out and explore specific areas of interest,” Miner said. “The virtual tour covers the same locations we visit during the in-person and orientation tours.”

The tour includes academic buildings, Corbett Center Student Union, resident halls, and common spaces across campus.

The actual duration of the tour depends on the student. They are able to have a 360-degree panoramic view of each slide with various paths to travel from one location to the next.