This article from the "Journal of College Admission's" Special Diversity Issue (which in its entirety won the 1997 Muir Award), presents a compilation of three speeches, given at the 51st National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts. The preface, by Mary Lee Hoganson, serves to bind the three speeches together under the cohesive question, "Are…

Alumni can serve many functions in college admission work. The alumni's greatest asset in admission work is their experience of the alma mater. Having alumni meet with potential students may be the best use of alumni by admission officers. Alumni can meet with prospective students in a variety of contexts. When meeting with students at a function…

Advocates for an expanded role for admissions officers which is dependent on a thorough knowledge of the academic, social, and cultural offerings of the institution, a background in student development, and an expertise in counseling. Suggests institutions support and encourage this expanded role. (BL)

Surveyed 401 college admissions directors to determine current policies and methods of distributing no-need scholarships to students. Results showed the majority of institutions did have no-need/merit scholarship funds, which slightly favored freshmen. Most scholarship offers were part of student recruiting efforts. (JAC)

The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the problems encountered by admissions officers in seeking professional competency and to discuss several positive developments relative to competence which are now underway. (Author)

Suggests ways to improve college admissions interviews. Discusses the purpose, format, technique, and content, of the interview as well as selling the college, concluding the interview, and writing the final interview report. Emphasizes the benefits of good interviewing skills to admissions officers. (WAS)

Used a questionnaire to investigate job satisfaction and patterns of career development that characterize admissions officers (N=286). Results indicated respondents often entered admissions directly from college. A majority were satisfied with their jobs. At all levels respondents planned to leave admissions within five years. (RC)

Offers suggestions for college admissions and financial aid officers on coping with job stress and managing burnout. These include: remember that it's usually not personal, a little paranoia is a good thing, don't hire difficult people, and accept not being able to do your best work on every task. (EV)

As a college degree is becoming a necessity for later earning a steady living, tuition rates are rising rapidly. Fortunately, the availability of merit-based scholarships is increasing, yet little research has been done on scholarship-awarding practices. Determining whether high school counselors accurately perceive awarding practices is an…

The National Association of College Admission Counselors (NACAC) believes there is a basic body of knowledge and fundamental skills one must possess to be effective in counseling students as they progress through school and make decisions regarding their postsecondary educational alternatives. Competencies common to school counselors and admission…

Examines the patterns of career entry, career development, and future career plans of college admissions officers. Particular attention is given to the career patterns of women and minorities in admissions, since these groups are substantially underrepresented at the level of director, and the importance directors assign to their financial…

Those in the profession of college admissions counseling worry about student "numbers," filling dormitories, academic quality, diversity, athletes, alumni legacies, etc. A perplexing development of the 1980s is the bidding war over financial aid and merit scholarships. The life of an admissions officer is described. (MLW)

The author discusses the problem of selecting and training college admissions officers. (RP)

Recent changes in higher education have resulted in great changes in the college admissions officer's role. Admissions officers are becoming teacher/communicators, members of the institutional enrollment management team who can educate other administrators and provide leadership to meld pragmatic and philosophical concerns. (MSE)

A study on the use and effectiveness of marketing in postsecondary admissions is discussed. The study shows that only 8 of 16 marketing techniques were used by more than half of the respondents. The broader scheme of marketing is seen as not having been put to use fully by admissions officers. (MLW)