What makes your campus unique? Take a moment and consider: What values and cultures shape and define your school? What history and traditions are important? What changes are you undergoing, and what are your goals for the future? These are the questions facing admissions professionals trying to build a class that meets institutional targets in terms of numbers, fit, diversity, and academic preparation.
3 aspects of admissions philosophy: Data, Transfer & Operations
One key to effectively meeting admissions goals is to know how to interpret and use the vast amounts of data available regarding potential students and student success. Harnessing data is essential to our work [as enrollment professionals],┬" says David Johnson, Vice Provost, Office of Enrollment Management, Indiana University.
There are so many tools and databases available now, and being able to understand and use them, as well as to analyze the data from your own institution, is critical,┬" Johnson says. A sophisticated, intentional and strategic communications plan is also an essential tool in an effective admissions approach, he adds.
In addition, it's in an institution's best interest to enroll community college students, says Stephen Handel, Associate Vice President, Undergraduate Admissions for the University of California System. This population can help enhance diversity and draw talented students from underserved groups and underserved areas. Recruiting from community colleges can also help serve the middle-class families who chose to send students to community college as a stepping-stone to a four-year education.
Institutions can build a plan to integrate community college students,┬" Handel says. In many states, the community college system is strong and built for transferring. For example, in the California system, transfer is an integral part of admissions and enrollment management: the highly selective public institutions have always reached out to community colleges.┬"
Finally, the operations side of admissions must be integrated, says Melanie Gottlieb, Director of Admissions, Operations & International Campus Liaison. Webster University, a large institution with a global reach. Technology affects staffing models,┬" she says. Implementing new technologies requires changes in the way our staff handles situations, and requires new skills”meaning long-term staff may need training and encouragement to adopt new paradigms..┬"
The Admissions Forum: Develop your admissions model
Johnson, Handel and Gottlieb are facilitating the Admissions Forum at the 2013 AACRAO Strategic Enrollment Management Conference in Chicago. The forum will examine these and other aspects of how to shape your class and find the students best suited for the educational opportunities on your campus.
The Admissions Forum @ SEM provides admissions directors and others the opportunity to think about these issues”both in terms of maintaining and evolving the institution's mission and values as well as in terms of how to develop concrete tools for achieving desired ends”such as the kind of class they want to bring in, the best technology tools, the choices of applications, and available media for their purposes.
The Forum is sparked by presentations from these distinguished faculty, but it's fueled by the engagement and interaction of attendees. At the forum, you'll have wide-ranging discussion and tackle practical issues that affect your campus, establish useful benchmarking, examine cases and models of best practice, and come away with specific, unique approaches that you can implement at your institution.