Contributed by Michelle Illar
Admissions Counselor, Stevenson University (MD)
My third week as a college admissions counselor called for a
2.5 hour car ride with a new colleague, spending two nights in a dorm room at a
college I had never been to and being surrounded by tons of people I had never
met before. I had no idea what I was in for.
My adventure began on Sunday night when we arrived at the
University of Mary Washington and were greeted by the smiling faces of their
admissions staff. It was a nice touch that allowed us, as new visitors, to feel
welcome as soon as we arrived on campus. After checking into our rooms, my
colleague Brett and I decided to venture out for some dinner. We took a
self-guided tour through campus where we thought we were lost at least a dozen
times before finding a great Mexican restaurant across the street. We told our
waitress that we were on campus for a conference with other admissions and
school counselors and she could not stop gushing about how amazing that was-
what a great opportunity! I thought it was pretty exciting as well but still
did not know what those two days were going to hold for us.
Sleeping in a quiet dorm room and having breakfast in the
dining hall took me right back to my college days before the first session of
Summer Institute 2014 was underway. The first general session was all about
building relationships with counselors on the other side of the desk. The panel
really set the tone for the next 48 hours; that admissions is all about
relationship building- relationships with fellow college counselors, high
school counselors, parents, students, coaches, data, and anyone else involved
in the admissions process and decision.
The panel really honed in on the fact that meaningful relationships are
the most beneficial for all parties involved.
After the panel, I went to a session focusing on how to
leverage parents in the process of college admissions. Parents nowadays want to
be more involved in the college process then their own parents were with them,
so making sure that the parents trust and confide in you as an admissions
counselor is important. As a new admissions counselor, I definitely took note
of this trend and plan to communicate with parents as well as the applicants
throughout the fall. Another session on territory management focused on
building relationships with other colleagues. They talked about creating
relationships with alumni and current parents to be able to leverage them
during the travel season. Having a loving relationship with data (and being
able to read it) is also an important piece of the profession so that you can
see what tactics or areas are successful and which ones are not. Again,
fostering relationships with the counselor across the desk came into play. You
need to get to know the counselor, high school, and the community to really
understand and recruit the students.
As we sat on 495 in DC rush hour traffic on our way back to
Maryland, I was able to reflect back on the whirlwind that was Summer Institute
2014. I realized I’m not sure how I slept on a dorm bed for two years and that
the waitress at the Mexican restaurant was right- our profession and this
conference is pretty cool. It was a great opportunity for us, as competing
institutions, to get together and share best practices and ideas about
admissions. It’s pretty cool that we can all come together either in a classroom,
over dinner, or on a trolley ride around a beautiful historic city, to not only
talk about our profession and our institutions but also to really talk to and
get to know each other. All in all, Summer Institute 2014 was very informative,
but the thing I enjoyed most was getting to know you all and be able to start
building relationships. Because after all, isn’t that what this job is all about?
*** Are you interested in contributing to The Anchor? Email Rosemary Martin at rmartin2@purdue.edu to get started! ***
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