WVU hosts Virtual Decision Day for 2024 class

If you build it, they will come — virtually that is.

And indeed they did, 1,827 students to be exact.

With safety concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, West Virginia University held it’s first-ever Virtual Decision Day April 4 for the incoming freshmen class and transfers. Typically, the annual Open House is held in person by the university’s admissions office and is a chance for incoming freshmen and transfer students to tour the campus and learn more about WVU.

The Virtual Decision Day was a record Open House for WVU, university officials said.

“Typically, we hold in-person Decide WVU day in the spring, but with the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, we quickly switched gears and moved this to an online-only event,” said Mike Esposito, WVU’s executive creative director.

Planning for the event began in mid-March, said Esposito and George Zimmerman, WVU’s executive director of Recruitment.

“We started quickly by reimagining what an online event would entail and how it would differ from an in-person event,” Esposito said. “Our two primary goals were for prospective students and families to get a glimpse into their academic college and to give prospective students and families the opportunity to ask questions directly.”

Students did not have to have a password to log in.

Because a website wasn’t going to be able to accommodate questions and feedback, three live keynote presentations with live chat functions on Zoom were set up. In addition, pages for each of the colleges and schools as well as faculty profiles were included in the web site, wvu.edu/events/decide#decide-live-sessions.

Also on the web site were sessions with George Yanchak, director of Mountaineer Hub, the student financial aid and employment center; and Chris MacDonald, executive director of Housing. Future sessions will include Corey Farris, dean of students; William “WP” Chedester, WVU Police chief; Nathan Harlan, executive director, Office of Student Wellness; Heidi Muller, Residence Hall coordinator, Dadisman and Stalnaker Halls.

“We wanted to make this as simple and accessible as possible,” Esposito said, “We requested RSVPs from attendees, but they were not mandatory. It helped us gauge attendance and gave us the ability to conduct follow up with those who responded.”

The site will remain live until early May.

“The content, however, will live on as resources for other WVU websites/pages,” Esposito said in an email.

Zimmerman said the students who participated in Virtual Decision Day already knew they had been accepted. Overall, nearly 14,000 students have been admitted to the class of 2024 and come from 48 states and 20 different countries, he added.

“We know students are still making decisions even after indicating that they would like to attend WVU, which is what makes this program so important,” Zimmerman said.

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