WE DO HAVE THE CHECKLIST FOR OUR ADMISSIONS TO UNDERSTAND THE NEEDS OF THE PROSPECT AND ALSO ALL THE OBSTACLES THAT CAN STOP THE PROSPECT FROM COMING TO SCHOOL. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR THE PROSPECTIVE STUDENT TO VISIT THE CLASSROOM, TO MEET THE INSTRUCTORS, TO AVE THE FEELING OF THE SCHOOL.
IT IS ALSO IMPORTANT FOR THE ADMISSIONS TO COMMUNICATE WITH STUDENT SERVICES DEPARTMENT IF THE PROSPECTIVE STUDENT MIGHT HAVE PROBLEMS WITH HOUSING, CHILDCARE, TRANSPORTATION ETC. STUDENTS SERVICES HAVE A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT AGENCIES TO ACCOMODATE THE NEEDS OF THE STUDENTS.
WE ALSO HAVE TRAINING SESSION FOR THE ADMISSIONS ON THE PROGRAMS THAT WE OFFER. GREAT KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROGRAM IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
We have implemented a process where the admissions teams reveiw the incoming students with our academic advisors. We highlight any special needs like, student needs a job immediately, housing, and of course any dissabilty needs.
WE also identify if the student is a first time college student in their family, level of support from family and their previous academic record.
The advsiors are ready for thier meetings with the students and have a view on potential early interventions to help the students.
Hi Jack, We know that first quarter students are the highest risk for dropping and your correct in that partnering with the Admission Department is a very important part of a successful retention program. Unfortunately, in many cases, this does not happen because the ownership on the front end sometimes disappers after the term starts and admissions moves on to the next start. I believe that a shared responsibility between Academics and Admissions for the first quarter would result in better retention because it would make the transition more personal to the student.
Our admissions team works well with our Student Services department by communicating special needs to our team. The Directors work closely to ensure that the students are fully informed on the front end of what the education expectations are as well as the employment skills necessary to be succssful when they graduate.
Overall, I feel our admissions team evaluates each student thoroughly. A perspective student is sent a catalog, and questionnaire. After a short time for review, the admissions rep calls the perspective student to cover responses to questionnaire, and address questions the future student may have. The next step in many cases is the admissions rep talks to the perspective students “influencersâ€. What we mean by that is the people in their lives that effect, and are effected by their decision to attend school. In many cases, students that are supported, and influencers that feel included promote better student success. At this point if the student feels this is still the career of choice, and we can provide training that meets their expectations, they are enrolled and matriculate to a future student services coordinator.
I feel, after reviewing some of the posts in this forum, an opportunity for our school lies in the handoff from admissions / future student services to the education team. This is addressed to some extent during orientation; however there seems to be an element of personal contact missing.
The admissions process at our school is a multi-step process that has the prospective student meeting a variety of staff that work together as a support mechanism that can be accessed by the student whenever needed; be it day 1 or day 365.
Our admissions department does not reel them in and then leave the students to sink or swim. Each day they are in the hallways and checking by in the rooms to make sure all is well. I am very proud of our admissions representatives because they know each student by name. Everyone loves to know that they are respected as an individual. When someone has been absent, I agree with the person who stated that follow up to prevent possible drops are essential. This is overseen by our registrar as well as instructors. However, it is the admissions personnell who made the initial contact with the student that will also make the call and usually gets a response. This has helped to decrease the drops in our school
One thing our admissions department does is have prospective students contact someone employed in the field. They are given names and numbers of local agencies and are encouraged to research for themselves the actual need for workers in the profession, as well as realistic salaries. Because we offer training in a field that produces high salaries, it is important for the enrolees to hear this information from someone other than us.
What a wonderful idea having those in the field bring to life the students' dreams. When you offer many different career pathways, I think that it would be great to offer that before enrolling and packaging a student. Many times we have students who pass the entrance exam, but doesn't understand what it takes in each career path to succeed. We sometimes transfer them to another path, but not until a failure has occurred. This suggestion might help alleviate delaying a person's success and possible drop from a program. I can't wait to suggest this to our admission department.
Our admissions staff includes briefings to prospective students throughout the country as one portion of the timeline for this extended process. I anticipate the concept of admissions staff qualification checklists and applicant self checks, described within the course, to be a valid ingredient in order to focus on prospects that are likely to succeed. The information gained from both of these lists could also be used in developing marketing materials that would excite successful students.
I have shared with our admissions staff the suggestions that were brought forth through this course. The checklists are a great idea and the faculty is excited in participating in the development that will suit our school. We have had two meetings with all of the departments in order that we can work together to have a plan for success from before admissions through graduation and beyond. It has been received well.
Our current admissions process is working very well for us. We have more enrollments this year than we had planned. Our Admission Department has been excellent in showcasing our new schedule for our current program. One challenge that may help in student retention would be that the admission representative would go over action plans for any challenges they may have in their peronal life during the program. If they already had back up plans incase one of these challenges were to come up, they would know how to deal with them instead of having to withdraw.
We feel that an intervention with students who maybe dealing with some challenges would be a great idea also. We feel getting more staff involved and showing the student we all care about them and want to be in the process of helping them overcome any obstacles would be beneficial and meaningful.
Our admissions team dies a great job with giving the prospective student all the information they may need about the Career Services department as well as internship and job opportinities. Each prospect while getting a tour of the campus is brought into each of the Career Services department and introduced to the staff and is given information about the role they play during the student education. We in Career Services, asks questions about where they live, what their goals for the future are and where they see themselves after their completion. The admissions team also shows them our "Hired During Internship" board, which allows the prospect to see themselves as the intern in the future and hired during their own internship.
Our current admission process is doing a gret job of getting in more students that we have seats available. Our current wait time for an available seat is approximately 10 months. Our admission team does follow up with all retention risks students, which are referred by student services. They have their checklists and all the necessary tools to try to pick the applicants that are most likely to succeed. What they do not have is crystal ball that will let them know of all the possible life events that can create challenges for our students once they are here. We must as a team try to recognize these students when they are still in the challenged stage before it gets to the life emergency that seems to force their hand. I will suggest to our admissions team to consider contacting the students every 9-12 weeks to search out how the student is doing in school, the community and with their peers.
I believe our current admission process is well refined. However, I believe it could benefit from a regular review to benefit from the ever changing professional requirements and technical requirements of our trade. An example could be, a few years ago it was considered unprofessional to have tattoos that were visible in the workplace, customers could be lost from a perception of unprofessionalism. However we still allowed students in even though they may have not been hired upon graduation. Now it is less unacceptable, they have greater employment opportunities. Large ear plugs are now a regular occurrence and we need to decide if this is acceptable for a student even though they may not be hired even when graduating with high grades and attendance. By better educating these possible students about their opportunities we may turn some away, which is a loss of revenue; however we may increase the retention and job placement of the remaining.
Steve--It is in your best interest and the student's best interest to be honest about the obstacles that might be in their way. Our goal in career colleges is to get students placed.
I currently work in a more conservative area and we do not allow students to show tattoos during their externship. A lot of what we do is helping the student get not only the knowledge, but also the behaviors that will help them succeed in the workplace. They, at least, need to know that they are hurting themselves.
Thanks, for your comments!
Our admissions department does a fine job of
recruitment. But after two weeks, if the student does not contact them they have very little contact with the students. We will need to work together to keep them involved with the student as they continue with their education.
look at how clearly the prospect to learn nor
I feel the admissions department does a good job with interviewing students and taking students and families on tours of the school. I do believe that as with any process we can improve on the experience. I think that making some questionairs to have students fill out can help us get a better gage on the students who are entering and follow that to success.
