By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services
1 minute read
One of the big things I continue to emphasize to admissions counselors is the importance of consistently asking different groups of prospective students direct questions – with the goal of giving their students permission to provide them with context about their mindset and/or feelings.
When it comes to your admitted (but undecided) population, the worst thing you can do is sit back and assume this group has all the information they need, and you can no longer really influence their decision.
Tudor Collegiate Strategies’ ongoing survey research continues to reveal that many of those students have concerns, hidden objections, as well as fears like making the wrong decision.
Your job throughout this process is to get students to provide you with context about their mindset and feelings.
Here are five questions that will help you do exactly that:
- What do you have left to do before you make your college decision?
- What advice are your parents giving you at this point?
- If you had to choose today, what might be a reason or two you wouldn’t pick our school?
- Walk me through why coming to be a student here feels like it might be the right decision for you.
- What are you worried about most when you think about making your college decision?
Please make it a priority, especially in the later stages of the process, to probe students and get them to communicate with you more than they are with your competition. You’ll be happy you did.
If you have questions or a comment about this article, email them to me.
And if you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.