Were you hoping to visit the University of Pennsylvania this spring but the coronavirus pandemic spoiled your plans? If so, know that you can at least still visit the school remotely from the comfort of your living room. We know that doesn’t sound all that exciting but, at this point, we’re all a little used to the disappointment. In any case, UPenn has become the first Ivy League institution to debut live, virtual, student-led campus tours. The tours are presented by the UPenn admissions office in partnership with UPenn’s Kite and Key Society. As our readers may remember, a little over a year ago, the UPenn admissions office and Kite and Key changed how tours are conducted at UPenn — by making them more personal. And while the new virtual tours during the pandemic aren’t exactly personal being as they’re virtual and all, the admissions office and Kite and Key are ahead of the curve again in changing things up.

As Hadriana Lowenkron reports for The Daily Pennsylvanian in a piece entitled “Penn Admissions and Kite and Key unveil first live, virtual tour in the Ivy League,” “Students can register for the 30-minute live virtual tours on the Penn Admissions website, which are offered twice a week, on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. EDT and Thursdays at 3 p.m. EDT throughout May. The tours will begin running up to five days a week in June…The live virtual tour is the latest addition to a developing list of online resources for prospective and incoming students looking to learn about the University, without being able to travel to Penn amid the coronavirus pandemic…The virtual tour features voiceovers by Kite and Key tour guides, a 360-degree view of campus at each tour stop, and links to additional campus resources.”

Apparently the tour guides can’t see the attendees and the attendees can’t see the tour guides, which we find a bit strange since the tours are conducted via Zoom webinars. Perhaps it’s something the UPenn admissions office and Kite and Key can fix in the weeks to come? We’ll see if they do!