He welcomes students to visit his site because they often make suggestions about other schools he should add. The enterprising young man does it at no cost as a hobby. He found a server that offers free Web pages, and he accesses the Internet through the public library. His top choices for colleges include Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Michigan. One of Samir's favorite pages is the University of Michigan's because it loads quickly.
Some universities use technology to market their schools.
When a student decides to visit the University of Southern California via computer, live images of the campus can be loaded every minute. Students can view the bronze statue of mascot Tommy Trojan, along with a description of how it was built. At the Michigan State Web site, visitors can listen to the fight song and the alma mater while rolling through information about the school, including sports schedules, maps, admissions requirements and information about student life. Computer tours may be more interesting to students than the printed page. Jason Bloom, the Andover High senior The Detroit News is following as he applies to college, was able to find information at the Dartmouth and Northwestern Web sites that college guidebooks didn't offer.