Get Your Students Hired
Awesome. I love it when admissions is in tune with the process. You got the right idea.
Dr. B
I think our current admissions process is pretty scripted. They do a good job of getting information out of the prospective student; but the admissions checklist and the self checklist are great ideas. This would allow an avenue of discussion between the representative and the student allowing a better fit overall. I agree that getting the obstacles out in the open right away will reduce anxiety leading to a more successful student.
Admissions processes can always be improved. I think the biggest improvement is not to put quotas on admissions reps. I believe a lot of bad decisions are made and might not be in the best interest of the learner.
Base on student enrollment being rather high, at the current point I feel that Admissions Department for the school I am associated with does an outstanding job of initial contact, continuous follow up while student is attending school.
At our campus, Instructors have little chance of meeting or influencing admissions rep.s
Our admissions department talks to students several times before they arrive, and when they arrive, they get a tour of the campus. This tour takes them to every classroom, they get explanations of what is taught in each class. During student orientation, they have the oppurtunity to meet various Instructors and personel.
Orlando's main problem with retention is the difficulty students are having finding jobs while attending school.our unemployment rate is currently running at 12.5%. This is creating great hardship to our students. If they can not find employment, they have to leave school.
I believe it would be beneficial to provide a questionairre for the incoming student. This would aid in finding commonalities between successful and unsuccessful students. Questions should include "What obstacles could prevent you from completing your educational goals?" and "What type of support system to you have in place to help you along your educational journey?" If our admissions department could find the problems in the potential students' lives prior to enrolling, it could prevent the learner from dropping out.
I also believe that having resources on hand in the form of a handout for them to have in case they need any type of service that our community would provide. (e.g., daycare, car pooling, food banks, reduced rental housing, etc.)
It would also prove beneficial for the admissions department to stay in touch with the student, either by dropping a card in the mail, sending an email, or calling them to seek out how the student is progressing in their studies and if there is anything they need in order to help them be more successful academically. Starting at admissions and continuing throughout their program is key, just as getting the student BEFORE they drop is key as well.
A successful student that will proceed to graduation really requires a team of players at the campus that all work together to assure the learner they are important and that we all want to see them succeed. They must feel a sense of belonging and that our campus has a family aura.
Perfect. Might as well let them know what the expectations are from the get go. Be careful to let them know that they can. They can grad if they want to. This is key, "do they want to and do they believe they can do it."
Dr. B
Perfect. They must have confidence in you. Nice... this will help your retention.
Dr. B
At our school we have began a stringent interview process to have potential students know what there getting into before the sign the paper work.
Our Admissions Reps always bring prospective students by my classroom to meet me and at that time, I tell the prospective students about the program, what we learn in class, hands-on oppotunities, excursions and possible career paths. I believe that this introduction helps quite a bit with retention.
We currently use a system that touches the student nationally. They use a call center and then they are contacted by a rep. We then send the students and there information to campus location to be enrolled. We have started activily working on getting the students enrolled much quicker and working more agressivly on getting their paper work address when they start the enrollment process.
Sure does. The key is to smile and help them to relax and to become fascinated with what you are teaching.
Dr. B
It always increases the comfort when they are brought around and introduced to the faculty and staff.
Unfortunately, I am not associated with the Admissions Department, so I am totally clear on the process. I know that they do give the new students tours of the building and the school. I do know that they give new students an entrance exam, so that they may pick necessary educational background, if they need to. I also know that we are an "open enrollment" campus (the entire school is).
I like the idea of the self-check to help the student get into a program in which he, or she, will have the best chance to be success and happy. However, in an "open-enrollment" school, it would be better to use the assessment to help counsel the student, as opposed to telling the student what he, or she, can do.
It also might be a good idea for the prospective student to meet with the Department Chair(s) to get information concerning careers and expectations.
I know that our admission department is a good one, and watching what they do, and understanding the importance of getting the student where he, or she belongs, the hard sell doesn't work. The admissions rep is as much a councelor as a sales person.
I believe we should have a mechanical apptitude test to see if our students have the natural ability to perform mechanical task. This way the student would be more apt to succeed.
Admissions representatives should be responsible for keeping up student contact long past the date that the student begins school. This will allow the student to see that his/her admissions representative is a caring individual who wants to see the student succeed and will do anything necessary to ensure this happens.
Good idea, it would be much better to talk "with" a possible student than to talk "at" them. It would make that individual more comfortable and more able to understand the admissions process and what the expectations are of the school.
Hello Dr.Banks, from what I observe here it seems that most of the issues with retention are either personal issues or job related. Our policy here is any time missed over 10 hours for the course and the student attendance fails. With that in mind, admissions might spend additional time helping students prepare for prolbems that might arise out of the two issues and possibly try to come up with some way to prepare the student for what they might encounter while they are here at school.