Susan Backofen

Kevin-- This helps to promote a smooth hand-off between Admissions and the faculty. Students appreciate not having to tell their story over and over. It also makes it feel more personal...like the institution truly knows them as an individual. Susan

Kevin-- Many prior students in this course have contributed some awesome ideas...certainly a great start to revamping your orientation. Susan

Most people do this at orientation...the sooner the better from a retention standpoint. Susan

Mynelle-- Wow! This is awesome...especially the involvement of alumni, Board members and active participation of the deans. Excellent! Susan

Welcome Mynelle! This is an excellent structure, allowing new students to get acquainted with the faculty, staff and campus prior to everyone being on campus. It certainly makes them 'stick out' less the first day and no doubt takes away a great deal of anxiety. Susan

That's great. The more individuals they meet, the higher the opportunity for them to relate to someone who can help keep them in school. Is the format interactive at all? Susan

Hello Dr. Stover! Welcome to our forum These sound like excellent opportunities to overcome the fear of failure so many students have when returning to school. Even if they did well before, taking that time off seems to do them in at times. I especially like the mentoring idea. Do you have a particular way these students are identified and/or trained? Do you have a recognition program in place for them? Susan

John-- Great! Does you have them meet with other offices such as financial aid/tutoring, etc.?

Dagger-- This is sounds excellent! I especially like the orientation packets with pictures and bios of the faculty and staff. Great idea! Susan

Orientation should be motivating, for sure. Success stories are always an uplifting event because that is why students enroll to begin with. Attending classes are a necessary evil on their way to where they really want to be. No surprise, students who keep their focus on the end result persist at a higher rate. Susan