There's no question that alumni admissions programs can be win-win collaborations. They can be a boon for both the admissions office and the alumni association. But depending on the scope of the venture and the size of the institution, they can take a lot of care and feeding, demanding comparatively more time and resources than other alumni…

Woodbridge Senior High School, known as "the Bridge," serves a diverse community. Located in Prince William County, in Virginia, the high school lies about 20 miles south of Washington. Teenagers here are less likely than those in Virginia's affluent northern suburbs to aspire to top-25 colleges. Nonetheless, a higher education is a…

What can a college admissions officer safely predict about the future of a 17-year-old? Are the best and the brightest students the ones who can check off the most correct boxes on a multiple-choice exam? Or are there better ways of measuring ability and promise? In this penetrating and revealing look at high-stakes standardized admissions tests,…

Many college alumni wear their love for their alma maters on their sleeves, if not their sweatshirts. They are practically a walking advertisement for the college, so it often makes sense to rely on them when recruiting, a new survey of admissions officers suggests. The survey, however, also showed that admissions offices with budgets of less than…

This article reports that with a weak economy and a record number of applications at many campuses, admissions deans have deliberately undershot their targets and lengthened their waiting lists. For months a four-digit number has hovered over Douglas L. Christiansen. It's there when he falls asleep and there when he wakes up. The number is 1,550,…

Recruitment pieces are often part of a university's larger marketing effort or branding. With the assistance of consultants, admission officers conduct research and often know more about prospective students than students may know about themselves (Gose 1999). Why do admission offices often have a difficult time reaching target audiences?…

This article profiles Loren Pope, a college consultant and a former education editor at "The New York Times" who touted "no name" colleges and called the nation's most famous university, Harvard University, a rip-off. In his influential book "Colleges That Change Lives" (Penguin, 1996), Mr. Pope profiled 40 institutions--most of them small…

This chapter covers the impact of homeland security mandates on institutions and international students and scholars. The author traces the history of interest by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in developing a management system for international students and scholars that eventually resulted in the birth of Student and Exchange…

Most people in admissions have a road story. There are tales of wrong turns, lost suitcases, and days when they were just well-dressed ghosts, walking in and out of high schools where no students came to see them. These are the trials of admissions representatives who leave their campuses for several weeks each fall. They trek near and far to meet…

If coming back to work after winter break seems daunting, consider the plight of college-admissions officials. While most high-school students are breathing a sigh of relief after finally submitting their applications, those on the receiving end are rolling up their sleeves. January is crunch time for many admissions offices. Admissions officers…

Electronic transcripts are no longer a concept awaiting definition. They are here to stay. Although paper transcripts remain the standard--at least in terms of volume--an ever-increasing number and eventual majority of students and alumni will expect if not require electronic transcripts. College registrars and admissions officers' obligation to…

Since the early 1990s, Canadian registrars, admissions officers and student affairs professionals have traveled to U.S.-based conferences in search of the holy grail of enrollment management, finding it at the AACRAO Annual Meeting, AACRAO Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Conference, and other meetings sponsored by Noel-Levitz, SEM Works, the…

Jeff Rickey is a numbers guy. But three years ago, a colleague asked him about something he'd never counted: applicants who came out of nowhere. The question intrigued Mr. Rickey, dean of admissions and financial aid at Earlham College in Indiana. He found that 17 percent of the college's applicants that year had not called, taken a tour, or…

Over the past two decades, college admissions has become a prime-time preoccupation. Most people know at least something about the process, especially if they have a teenager in high school and a college guide on their coffee table. Nonetheless, widespread public misconceptions persist about admissions requirements, the selection process, and the…

In Spring 2008, senior members of the international admission and credential evaluation community met to deliberate over the admission and placement of Bologna Compliant degree holders into U.S. graduate programs. This group comprised several individuals holding top leadership positions in NAFSA, AACRAO, and closely allied groups involved in…