Get Your Students Hired
Why are you looking to go to school now?
Who is your support system?
What would prevent you from going to school?
If the student responds with a ten than i hold them to it when I close and ask them for the application.
The student usually tells me about a hardship or the just werent ready to enroll in college.
The tell me me what the want to do when the graduate.
I usually will tell them that they are in the right place if they want to achieve there goals.
It looks like your first two questions may help you get a sense of where your student is currently in their decision making process, would that be a fair statement? It's so important that admissions professionals work to understand where students are coming from. I'm curious, how do your students typically respond to these?
Your third example is a great question to get information about the future that the students envision for themselves. What question might you ask after this one?
On a scale from 1-10 how serious are you about attending college?
After all this time why is right now the reight time for you to go to college?
Where do you see yourself 5 yeard own the road?
Asking about the student's support system is one way to begin understanding more about your student's environment. I'm curious about your question regarding stressful events occurring in their lives, how does this information help you help your student?
I ASK IF THEY HAVE CHILDREN. HOW OLD ARE THE CHILDREN. IF THERE IS ANYTHING STRESSFULL GOING ON IN THERE LIFE RIGHT NOW. DO THEY HAVE A SPOUCE AND ARE THEY SUPPORTIVE.
It sounds like you make a real effort to explore and understand your student's concept of "fit", which is fantastic, Katie!
Asking questions that help you further understand your students and where they might be coming from goes a long way in establishing a meaningful and lasting relationship. Keep up the good work!
Well each student goes by a case by case. There are many times that a student says they are interested in a program which we do not offer. I simply say "wow that sounds like a great major", how long have you been thinking about that area of study?"
If a student states they have an interest in another program I just say "Here at this school we offer these types of programs are any of these an interest to you?" There have been several times that I mention the programs and they say I didn't know you had that and are eager to come visit and learn more. I am then able to have the students interested and arrange a visit.
Using open ended questions, such as those beginning with "what" and "how" are a great way to stimulate the conversation between you and your student, Katie. A critical element in working with students is to gain an understanding of where they are coming from, so that you may be able to assist them in their decision making process.
It's great that you are asking questions that help to determine fit. I'm curious how you handle situations in which the student might not be a "fit" with your school?
Some questions I ask students on an outbound call would be:
How did you hear about our school?
This question will allow me to understand where the student got the information from and to use that as a follow up question
What are you planning on studying?
What kind of school are you looking for?
to figure out if this student would be a good fit for our school setting
Good point, Joe! Thanks for sharing your ideas and experience for us all to learn from!
It works really well, I will still ask to speak with parents and let them know I am speaking to their kid about continuing their eduction, and I let them know I felt it was important that they (kid and parents)speak first, parents really appreciate this, since they have military recuiters and other schools just bypassing the parents to get to the student.
Got it! That makes sense. How does your approach work in terms of advising them to speak to their parents first and then following up?
Well I deal with allot of High School students, and if they haven't even discussed their goals with the parents, which is normally the case with kids in this area. If the answer is NO, setting an appointment with that student would more than likely end up as a no show. I would advise the student at that point to speak to the parents and I would do a follow-up call.
I like where you're going however this is a Yes/No question that perhaps could end the conversation quickly. What is your goal with asking this question, Joe?
Tell me a little about your education background.
Why is now, a good time to attend school?
Why is education important to you?
The power of well-formed questions is amazing, isn't it? As you deliver a question, keep in mind the goal. Is the goal to have them answer it honestly; is the goal for them to answer the way YOU want them to; or is the goal to help THEM figure things out?
Some questions from older admissions training methodologies used questions in a very manipulative way to get students to answer in a pre-determined way. Our challenge in today's environment is to reformulate questions to serve students in a very effective and ethical manner.
The first question you have here is very good and begins with the word "How" which means they can't answer with a simple yes or no. This is a thought provoking question for them to determine how long they've been thinking of coming back to school. Perhaps it was just today or maybe they've been thinking about it for years. Either way, understanding their timeline is critical for both you and the prospective student.
The second question can be defined as a "leading" question. With a little reformulating this question can be "tweaked" to help the student vs. telling them it is time to go back to school. How might you reword this question to increase effectiveness, Jose?
These are great questions, Martin. Using questions that begin with "what" and "how" usually provide more information than a simple yes or no response. The "why" question can be a bit tricky in my experience. Sometimes (depending on your level of rapport with someone), it can be taken as being judgmental or accusatory. For example, "Why did you decide to go to school now" can make someone defensive. The usual response to a "why" question begins with "because..." - or a need to prove something. This can break rapport so I typically suggest using a "why" question only with a softner such as, "I'm curious....why..." or "Perhaps you can tell me why....".
Does that make sense, Martin?
How did you become interested in this career? Why?
Please describe to me about your educational experience?
What are you looking for in a school?