Thomas - Week 6 - MSU Admissions

As I began my practicum journey this summer, Molly informed me that I would have a much different experience working in the Office of Admissions during the summer rather than normal operation hours of the fall or spring. When I started out simply shadowing orientation leaders and admissions counselors, I felt pretty useless and I was very disappointed because it seemed like I would not be gaining much hands-on experience in the planning and preparation of events since most of that is already done way before summer starts. However, July has proven itself otherwise.

I am now an active member of the office giving 3-4 campus tours per day. This is helping to alleviate a lot of excess workload off the admissions counselors because they typically do not give campus tours -- that job is assigned to the Roadrunners during the fall and spring semesters. This summer, the AC's are busy meeting with the families to discuss the admissions process and requirements while also preparing their schedules for the fall semester which is loaded with college fairs, high school visits, and preview days. The summer can be viewed as their "off season."

Last week, Dan asked me to design a new inquiry card for the admissions counselors to use during college fairs. Students are asked to fill out these inquiry cards in order to gain additional information about the university. I'm not sure if any of you have seen the old cards, but they are incredibly long and require the student to spend a great amount of time filling out the blanks. My task was to design an inquiry card that would provide us with the vital information needed to identify the student -- demographics, school, GPA, hometown, email, projected major, etc. Dan actually had card examples from universities across the country so I was able to analyze each card and combine them to make the perfect card for MSU. He loved my design and they are being printed as we speak. I will get to see my final product next Friday when they arrive in the office! I'm very excited, and don't worry, I will be sure to provide you guys with a copy.

Megan