• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Superheader

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER COMMUNITY

SUBSCRIBE

Click here to sign up for Jeremy’s Weekly Newsletter

Admissions at Tudor Collegiate Strategies

  • Who We Are
  • Services
    • Admissions Training Workshops
    • Enrollment Communications
    • Communication Audits
    • Campus Visit Audits
  • Blog
  • Contact Us

Admissions, Conversion and Yield, Creative Approaches, Effective Questioning · January 30, 2024

Tired Of Hearing These Two Phrases?

By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services

 2 minute read

 

Part of being a great territory manager involves doing proactive outreach each week to different groups of students. If you’ve been doing that, you may have encountered a couple of phrases that you’re tired of hearing.

“I’ll think about it” and “I’m not sure” are popular answers when you ask students about signing up for an admitted student event, starting their application, or submitting their deposit.

Seems reasonable, right? The college search is confusing and overwhelming, plus students are scared to make the wrong decision.

But in this case, it’s not really that reasonable. Let me explain why.

In our ongoing focus group surveys with high school seniors and college freshmen, many of them continue to say they actually end up spending little to no time thinking about those things despite telling you the opposite. It’s just easier and more comfortable to use language like that and essentially “stall” rather than bring up a concern they have about your school.

Along with that, some are worried you’re going to be mad at them if they’re honest about how they feel or why they haven’t done something.

The next time students tell you they want to think about something or they’re not sure, I encourage you to call them on it.

There are a variety of ways you can do this with the most effective being asking a direct follow-up question. You can say, “Help me understand what you need to think about.” Or, “What’s making you unsure?”

The result of using this simple strategy will be one of two things. Either the student will a) fumble around and not really be able to define anything for you – which tells you they’re likely stalling, or b) they will bring up their objection/concern, and possibly provide additional information on the conversations that have been taking place with their family or friends.

Once that happens be prepared to lead the conversation based on the information the student communicates.

Getting students to define what they’re thinking and/or how they’re feeling (and why) is an important skill that all admission counselors need to hone.

If you’d like to talk about something I said in this article, I’m happy to connect. Just reply back, or email me here.

And if you found this article helpful, forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.

Filed Under: Admissions, Conversion and Yield, Creative Approaches, Effective Questioning

Previous Post: « Don’t Forget To Do This Every Day
Next Post: Task Batching Will Save Time and Brain Power »

Primary Sidebar

Blog Archives

Blog Categories

Admissions Blog

When Admitted Students Say They Need More Time

How To Handle Admitted Students Who Pick Another School

Strategies For Stopping Melt

Footer

Tudor Collegiate Strategies

11312 U.S. 15-501 North
Suite 107-105
Chapel Hill, NC  27517

866.944.6732

  • Who We Are
  • Admissions Training Workshops
  • Communication Plans
  • Communication Audits
  • Blog
  • TCS College Coaches Site

Keep in Touch

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 Tudor Collegiate Strategies. · Website by Overlock Design Co.