Chistropher Wild
Admissions Counselor, Goucher College (MD)
Where did you attend college?
Mount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, Maryland
How long have you been in your current position at Goucher?
How did you get started in college admissions?
I got my start in admissions after working as a tour guide in
the admissions office at the Mount. After really enjoying giving tours and
meeting prospective students and their families, I decided I wanted to take on
more of a leadership role and applied to be a Mount Ambassador Coordinator. In
this role, along with 3 other students, I led the tour guide program and took
on a semi-professional role in the office. We were given the responsibility of
running the Sunday Visit program. It was a completely student-led program; we
coordinated the logistics of the day, the registration process, gave a full
one-hour presentation and then coordinated student-led campus tours. During
the day of the program, this event repeats itself so we actually did double of
everything, one session at 1pm and the next at 2:30pm. As graduation
approached, I was hooked! I knew I wanted to go into college admissions. I even
pursued an honor’s thesis on the evolving marketing techniques of college
admissions, with a special emphasis on social media and the widely “popular”
quick response codes. (Whatever happened to those?) After graduation, I sought
positions at schools similar to my experience at the Mount and ultimately found
Goucher College, where I have been ever since.
What's your next step in admissions? Where do you see yourself
going?
The future can be a scary thing, but there will be one constant
for me going into it, and that is admissions. I ultimately see myself moving up
the ladder so to speak to become an assistant director and maybe one day a
director. I could also see myself moving out of the role of admissions
counselor and moving more to an admissions communications/marketing role. I
would one day love to return to my alma mater and work in admissions at the
Mount.
What's your favorite admissions memory?
That’s a really tough question; there have been many memorable
moments. I can narrow it down to two. My first is presenting at the Fall 2011
Maryland College Student Personnel Association (MCPA) conference with my
mentor, Eddie Wright. It was my first time presenting at a conference and the
topic, “Creating the Next Generation of Admissions Professionals”, was a cool
way to reflect on the program that brought me to the admissions profession. My
second would be creating and producing my first video chat. I came up with the
idea in shower, developed it on my commute to work, pitched it to my VP, got it
approved and then went about finalizing the details all in the same day. Billed
as #GoucherAMA, a Reddit style video chat, it was my first attempt at bringing
video into the fold as a marketing component for our office, something I had
been trying to do since my arrival to Goucher.
If not working in admissions, what else could you see yourself
pursuing?
That’s another tough question. I really don’t know that I could
see myself doing anything else. Working in admissions really doesn’t feel like
work, it is just another part of who I am. I guess if I really had to have
another job, it would be working in some capacity for the Baltimore Orioles. I
have been a diehard fan since birth and plan on becoming an usher at the
stadium once I retire.
What's one thing that most people don't know about you?
What's a current trend or future issue you're passionate about
right now? And why?
An issue that I am really passionate about right now is gapping
in financial aid packages. As college prices have continued to climb, more and
more merit aid is being dished out to attract students with higher academic
qualifications. I worry that students who may be great fits for certain
colleges are having their choices limited by financial constraint. In an ideal
world, I would love to see the discontinuation of “merit” scholarships for a
system that awards aid based solely on need.
*** To Celebrate Potomac Chesapeake's 50th Conference Anniversary, we're highlighting some of our current members. Each week until the conference at The Homestead in Spring 2015, a new member will be posted. Interested in participating? Email Aundra Weissert at aweissert2@washcoll.edu to get started.***
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