Visiting colleges can be one of the most stressful parts about the college search process, but if you are willing to fork out thousands of dollars, Magellan Jets is an option to make this process smooth.
Magellan Jets is a private jet charter company and offers year-round college tours. The college tours usually involve 10-Hour Jet Cards starting at $43,500, but the price can increase if the customer wishes to add additional time.
Anthony Tivnan, president of Magellan Jets, said the college tours came about after receiving many requests from existing clients.
“Right around college tour season, which is usually from February through May or June was when the most traffic was happening,” Tivnan said. “We kept hearing the need, which is the same way we’ve developed a lot of our other products.”
All the customer needs to do is speak with a member of the flight support team about which colleges to tour, and Magellan Jets will map out the logistics in terms of the order and routing to make the simplest trip, according to Tivnan.
Tivnan said Magellan Jets will set up the ground transportation, rental cars and hotels if necessary and include different types of merchandise from each school that a customer is visiting.
“So on a leg that they’re going to see Auburn University, there will be some Auburn University hats or sweatshirts or notepads,” Tivnan said. “The flight support team is also happy to call the administration offices and set appointments and really just make it as seamless as possible.”
Understanding clients’ needs and how to best simplify their lives is what separates Magellan Jets from other companies, according to Tivnan.
“Most of the customers we work with are Fortune 500 CEOs and just people that are very busy, and a lot of the times their companies consume their time,” Tivnan said. “So, it’s a way for them to be able to accomplish a very important time in their child’s life and do it in a very efficient and productive way.”
Matt Hultstrand, sophomore in business, said using Magellan Jets College Tours is sensible if the customer has the money.
“I think that $44,000 is a little ridiculous," Hultstrand said. "But, I guess it could be practical if you have a lot of money, and you’re trying to look at colleges across the country. Like if you live on the East coast and you wanted to tour Stanford, I think in that sense it would be practical because it would be easier than taking a trip out there with your family, and you get that personalized tour.”
Cindy Singley, director of university recruitment, said college campus tours are vital in determining if a certain college is right for a student.
“I think visiting college campuses is one of the most important parts of the college search process," Singley said. "I think that’s really the only way for a student to know if a particular college campus can be their home. There are a lot of different things you can learn on the Internet as far as rankings and programs and different things that colleges offer, but as far as the lifestyle and the environment, the only way to know that is by the campus visits.”
Singley said she had never heard of Magellan Jets before.
“’I’ve never heard of doing a customized college tour by jet before, but certainly for the family that could afford that, it would be a way to visit several campuses in a wide variety of locations in a short amount of time,” Singley said.
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