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Survive and Thrive During Fall Start Season

It comes around each year for admissions professionals, as reliable as the sunrise and sunset or death and taxes, depending on your perspective.  New students arriving at our campuses to begin their studies each fall.  This period of time represents the culmination of months of work that was preceded by planning and hopefully a training program to keep us finely tuned throughout the duration.  No matter how many annual start terms your school has, the concept of the “big fall start” is alive and well in educational institutions across the nation.

Whether we have a pro-active or reactive admissions process, whether we are for-profit, non-profit, career related or liberal arts centered we all want the same thing: to achieve our start goals and ensure the continued financial viability of our institutions. 

Check-in day can go awry for the best of us.  As Vice President of Enrollment at a traditional college in New England I was once rescued by the athletic director after having spent 2 hours personally crisis-managing 200 students and families that overwhelmed the financial aid clearance station.  As a person who suffers from bouts of low-blood sugar and stupidly having not eaten that morning the stress, heat and empty stomach began to get the best of me.  However like any good enrollment person, I was too caught up with problem solving our start day to notice I was having problems.  Re-enforcements were brought in and I was fine and the backup, resolved.

In consulting I leverage my own experience in guiding clients through the maze of enrollment issues they face.  At this time of year I take a moment to reflect back on what I’ve learned and pass along some tips to help other enrollment leaders survive and thrive over the next few weeks.

In no particular order:

1. Stay hydrated

2. Eat regularly (protein, fruits and veggies)

3. Pick a goofy word to say when you are stressed out and about to “blow” your lid.  Something that will make you and others laugh.

4. Be proactive across all departments that impact the start.  This means taking steps in advance to avoid problems at check-in and during that critical pre-add/drop deadline.

5. Subtract 10% from the number you think will start and report that as your forecast, it is the best way to manage expectations.

6. Meet as many new students and families as possible.  This is important for you and them.

7. Make it fun for everyone involved.  How about a “show rate” contest with your staff?  Divide the group up in two and decide whichever group has the best show rate at start will be served breakfast by the loosing team.  This helps to boost morale and should be fun spirited!

8. Print out start lists, check-in lists and just about any list you may need.  Computers and networks have a strange way of going down at this time of year.

9. Make an extra effort to show your appreciation to co-workers and staff around your school.

10.  Once it’s all over, take a few days off before you come back to lead a full debriefing session.

In the end, remember we are facilitators of the education process.

Have fun out there!

Labels: admissions admissions consulting Admissions criteria admissions training college admissions director of admissions higher education vice president for enrollment management