Bringing the University to You
YOUniversity TV Takes the College Tour viral

By: Jeffrey Valfer
TeenNewsNet Editor

What college is good for me?   With thousands to choose from this question can be very difficult for an upcoming high school graduate to answer.  Will it fit into my budget?  Is it recognized for the major I want?  What is life on campus and the surrounding community like?  These are tough questions to answer, and even more difficult is when you narrow down your choices and hope you pick the right one. 

Yes, selecting a college can be very time consuming, emotionally draining, and if you want to go on a tour of an out-of-state school, costly as well. 

With a background in network television production and having children recently entering college; Angelo Kotzmanus along with partner Ron Reese created YOUniversity TV.  Today, having hundreds of thousands of visitors per month, YOUniversity TV has made the process of searching and learning about higher education virtual.

Founded in January 2008, Kotzamanus and staff took a year and a half to create video tours of over 400 colleges and universities throughout the United States.  The site launched on April 14, 2009 and with no advertising, except being on Fox News and articles written in newspapers, it had reached over 100,000 unique visitors in its second month.  Kotzmanus is not only pleased with those results, but is confident from his research that YOUniversity TV will be a popular portal for college bound students.  "We [Ron & myself] always thought college content would be great short programming content for the web," explains Kotzmanus of what motivated him to start this venture.  "In doing our research we realized nobody has gone to the colleges to do the taping.  We put  two and two together and said how fascinating it would be if our kids or family members had this application."

Based on initial feedback Kotzmanus' intuition was correct.  He tells me that he has viewed many first time visitors that are now in college. Typically, he sees them post a blog asking where this site was six months ago?  "Most of the posts state that if the site was available it would have saved them significant time in the college selection process."

Is Kotzmanus attempting to take away the in-person tour?  "We don't want to take away that official visit'" he emphasizes. "There is nothing like being there in-person.  We just want to help narrow down the search."  He goes on to inform me of many students spending hundreds of dollars visiting a campus to find out they do not fully have what they desire.  Therefore, when logging on to YOUniversity TV students can watch a short video on the institution(s) of interest and then view statistical information on the school. 

The video tours are more than just narrated footage.  Each tour I reviewed was vibrant, and are hosted by one of five YOUniversity TV hosts that are of college student age.  Not only do the tours highlight the college, but additionally the popular "to-do's" of the surrounding area. 

Chloe Dolandis, whose prior experience includes hosting Nickelodeon's "Splat" and "Friday Night Slime," was one of YOUniversity TV's first hosts.   Besides her age, Dolandis feels viewers will identify with her energy as she refers to herself as a "social butterfly."  "It's an amazing experience that took me across the country," she exclaims.  In her role, Dolandis does follow a script produced by writers, but  she also has the freedom to add her own flair.  "Between script and our perception we can gadge what needs to be shown and what needs to be public."  The thing that is most important to Dolandis and the production crew is "getting the essence of the school."   When viewing each video you see this emphasis as you come away understanding how each college is unique and feel you are a participant rather than just a viewer.

Besides video, YOUniversity TV offers social networking, where a student can not only create a profile, but also have fun designing their own virtual dorm room.  Still not sure what your career  path will be?  If so, check out the site's career section with shows on professionals discussing their occupations. 

For Kotzmanus this is just the beginning.  "The capabilities of the internet is growing so quickly.  We got  You Tube, Facebook -- we are always trying to make sure we at least stay equal with the latest technology and what teens want and what they are looking for when it comes to the college selection process.

You can visit YOUniversity TV by clicking here.

Press play below to get a sneak peek inside YOUniversity TV