Thomas - Week 5 - MSU Admissions

After the past few days, all I can really say is wow. As I posted earlier this week, the MSU Office of Admissions is back to regular schedule! This means that each day consists of campus tours, visits with prospective students and families with a little bit of goofing off in the office mixed in between. For example, today’s schedule consisted of about ten families visiting with the office.

Over the past two days, I have assisted the admissions counselors with the tour and admissions visit of three different families. Because the entire visit usually takes 2-3 hours, I usually meet with one family in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each of my families has been completely different from one another and I love seeing the variation. For example, yesterday I visited with a female student and her family from Texas. Today, I visited with a family from Tennessee who was completely unfamiliar with the university and another family where the parents were alumni of University of Alabama.

I won’t bore you with the details of my day-to-day routine, but I do want to talk about one family in particular. During my first visit this morning with the Alabama family, I found it extremely frustrating from the minute we greeted them at the Welcome Center. The mother said hello to us with a stack of papers about one inch thick, including everything from housing prices, previous billing statements from her daughter who attends MSU, and a two page list of questions. Needless to say, I was little overwhelmed by her preparations and over-eagerness.

To make the story short and simple, this was my first encounter with a helicopter parent. The mother dominated the entire tour and visit with the admissions counselor and it was beyond frustrating to see the student’s wants and needs take a backseat to his mother’s.  I was a bit relieved when the student finally put his foot down and stood up to his mother.

On the other hand, I enjoy when the students show enthusiasm about their visit, actually asking us questions throughout the visit. It shows their interest in learning about the university and it speaks volumes about these students who are typically juniors in high school.

After my supervision with Molly this afternoon, we have mapped out the rest of my summer in the office. I am sad that I only have a few weeks left but first thing’s first – tomorrow, I will be leading tours by myself. Wish me luck!

Megan