This is exactly what a school needs to do. Love it.
Dr. B
The two groups must be on the same page. The school that I work for has a great admissions team. As questions arise or new programs are offered, members of the team will seek clarification if questions come up about something that is not covered in the training.
I teach web design and multimedia classes, etc.. I encourage Admissions to bring prospective students by my classroom so they can observe a class. My students like to show off their work.
I, also, encourage current successful students to discuss their experiences with prospective students.
This is pretty normal. The key is for you to do all that you can to link academics and admissions. This way, you will avoid giving false information. And, by giving accurate information, students will tend to stay the course.
Dr. B
We have in the past done a poor job of managing the expectation of students. I am in academics, but the admissions reps have a very difficult job to do and with an evolving curriculum, they often lag behind changes and the students end up with false expectations. To combat this academics scripted the campus tour for admissions, and update it whenever there is a curriculum update. This allows a direct conduit between academics and admissions and opens the lines of dialog. It has been a tremendous success.
Excellent. Yes, retention is the responsibilty of all staff. I love what you are doing. Link admissions to academics. Nice.
Dr. B
Being new to Admissions I often get discouraged when I hear about a student who has dropped out. Sometimes it feels like you spend a lot of time enrolling the students while the Faculty just toss them out early in the program. Sitting down with the faculty and discussing the qualities of their successful/unsuccessful students is an idea that I look forward to implementing.
Yes, do all you can to "link" early in the process. Makes a big difference in what story the school is telling.
Dr. B
I agree here 100%. Admissions and faculty get so seperated and really they need to join forces. If the tow communicate well the student success is greater.
Tonya Dyer
I have heard several admission reps walk by my classroom while I am in there and try to explain the what I teach. It is sometimes how amazingly unfamiliar some reps are with academics. I have had to approach some staff members about the matter. I am in agreement with Isaac Frerichs. All interested parties should have the same basic knowledge of the program.
Exactly. The idea is to link to other departments.
Dr. B
Not only should admissions reps have a better understanding of a day to day feel for the classroom, faculty should also have a better understanding of the admissions process. Many questions that the potential students have could be answered by a well versed instructor, rather than an admission rep who has a "basic" idea of what reality is in the class/lab.
Pretty common. So, the idea of linking all departments from day 1 really helps to keep stories straight and right.
Dr. B
Too often in our culinary school reps would make up stories to sell a student the program, due in part to the fact that a rep never entered the kitchens to actually know what is being taught.
Yes, this is important. Reps need to have empathy. A good way, get them to take a course, right?
Dr.B
I agree with you 100%. It's hard to understand where someone is coming from if you've not experienced what they've experienced. I commend the admissions rep who decided to take a walk in the shoes of the students. This will provide her with insight that will make her a better admission representative, and she will have successful students.
Angie
Agreed. The key is to make sure they tell students the same thing about programs as academics. This will avoid a number of issues.
Dr. B
That is so true. The reps need to be very informed and honest so the students are happy with there choise to come to your school.
This is the way to gain empathy. I have done this in my past life and it works.
Dr. B
We used to have a program where the faculty and admissions swapped a day and shadowed each other. It was effective but scheduling became difficult and it was dropped
