Purpose. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of community college students who engaged in face-to-face and virtual academic counseling sessions in terms of which mode maximizes their potential for achieving their desired educational outcome. Methodology. This study used a phenomenological design to explore the central research questions. This study was grounded with the understanding that college students receive and retain information differently and are not equipped to learn at the same pace because of their unique collection of characteristics that dictate how environmental factors shape their learning. Understanding that students can be exposed to different college experiences, this investigation explored those various experiences (e.g., academic counseling modalities). Finally, the study determined whether students change or grow differently under these contrasting conditions. Findings and Conclusion. During the data analysis and the simultaneous coding stages, three overarching themes related to the central research question and nine subthemes associated with the four research subquestions were established. The overarching themes included student satisfaction, a sense of community, and constructive counseling sessions. Participants experienced favorable academic counseling sessions and a positive transition into the virtual modality. In addition, this study reported a positive perception of face-to-face and virtual counseling sessions. Across the board, participants deemed their counseling sessions an important student service that maximizes their potential for reaching their educational outcomes. Recommendations. Future research should replicate this study with a larger, more significant targeted population using purposeful sampling to reach specific participant demographics. In addition, this study should be replicated using a causal-comparative design to find a relationship among student trends and discover data that can predict what counseling modality students may potentially choose. Future research can expand by exploring the experiences of academic counselors as they transitioned from a face-to-face working environment to a virtual one exclusively. Finally, future studies should examine the experiences of part-time students as they engage in face-to-face and virtual academic counseling sessions and see if they value and depend on developing a sense of community with their counselors as much as full-time students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]