This is an opportunity for readers of this newsletter to anonymously ask me a question about any aspect of student recruitment, leadership, and professional or personal development. Each week I’ll post my answer for everyone to read.
Q. An Admissions Counselor asks:
“I’m planning out my fall travel right now and wanted to know if you have any tips on how to stand out?”
A. Thank you for your question! Here are 3 easy, and effective, strategies to consider:
- Sit alongside prospective students, not across the table from them. When you’re visiting a high school or a community college, trying sitting next to the student (or next to one of the students) instead of across from them or at the other end of the table. Creating an atmosphere of trust starts with your body position.
- Do something different with your information session. More and more students are saying these all look and sound the same. Instead of reciting your usual script, start your session off with a conversation about something that you know just about every single student wonders about. For example, what does it mean to live with a roommate or how does your school help make the transition easier (academically and socially) for new students.
- Make the conversation all about them and nothing about your school. Instead of throwing out every single fact and figure about your campus and its programs, try this. Spend those first couple of conversations when you meet a student talking about things like fear, and how they plan to actually navigate the college search process. When you take this approach not only are you personalizing the process more for them, but you’re also creating an environment that promotes trust and allows them to become comfortable enough to have future conversations with you. And what will inevitably happen as a natural bi-product of doing this is the student will ask questions about your college…but you’ve allowed them to take the lead and talk about things that matter to them, versus you giving them a massive amount of information that they either don’t care about or aren’t ready for just yet.
Good luck!