Checking Out Colleges Without the Trip

A virtual campus tour can help cut the costs of actually visiting colleges and help winnow the preliminary list of potential choices.

At CampusTours.com, you'll find tours aggregated from hundreds of schools' Web sites. At eCampusTours.com, you can view panoramic snapshots of key campus locations at 1,200 colleges.

For short takes with slick production values, including some narration and interviews, check out the YOUniversityTV Web site (http://youniversitytv.com). Want the skinny on late-night eateries, prospects for the football team or the best dorms? Choose from submissions, uploaded mostly by students, at the Unigo site (http://www.unigo.com) or CollegeClickTV.com.

The best substitute for an actual visit is a $15 DVD from Collegiate Choice (http://www.collegiatechoice.com). College advisers take the college tour, wobbly video camera in hand. Still, you see and hear everything from presentations by the admissions staff to campus tours led by perky students.