Ask and You Shall Find

I was thinking today about how often the recruiting job is like detective work. I find this applies especially to any dealings we have with prospective students these days. How many conversations have we had with students where we've had to ask the right questions to draw out a response and get them to think seriously whether they are interested in our schools.

There's a ton of reasons for this I know but I find a lot of students are reluctant to commit until the last possible moment these days. How many applications do we all see come in June, July and even August? Students have been fed so much information from their guidance counselors and their peers in their grade 12 year that it almost seems like some freeze up when they are asked to make a decision as to where they want to continue their education.

We need to realize that when we don't get a clear commitment from prospective students we sometimes need to put on our detective hat and start asking them questions to steer them in the right direction and get them to come to a decision. Here's a few ideas that I throw out to students who are caught in the decision loop.

1. What are they good at? What classes did they enjoy in high school?

2. What are they passionate about? This especially applies for students who are interested in studying something outside of normal academics they'd cover in High School.

3. What are their goals? Where would they like to see themselves in 5 years? 10 years?

4. Set a date to make a decision. Get the student to set a date where they have to make a decision. Sometimes committing to that can make the difference.

5. Get them to write things down. Sometimes when they are on paper they can become real.

6. Make sure they're talking. If they haven't talked about things enough with their parents, pastor, teacher, etc. Make sure they do. Getting the opinions of trusted ones can be encouraging and helps a student realize they're not alone.

New Template Coming Soon

So, I just started using Firefox as a browser, and realized that my template does not have cross-browser compatibility. For those of you currently using Firefox... check it out in IE for a look at all the coolness before the airplanes disappear before your very eyes. Does anybody out there know of a good, free, cross compatible blog template site?

New University in BC?

Anyone heard of the World Trade University? Apparently they're raising quite a stir due to the fact that they are calling themselves a University...

"B.C’s reputation for high-quality post-secondary education is at stake if the WTU is allowed to call itself a university without going through an approval process and meeting minimum standards required of all other private institutions, says Robert Clift, executive director of the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of B.C."

This raises some of the conversations that we have had as private institutions in different provinces, with different factors contributing to the reasons we are (or are not) called University, University College, College, etc.

Do you think it puts the reputation of a high quality education at stake? Do you think that being prevented from having "University" in your name limits the opportunity to get a good reputation?

DC

• 70: number of visits to this blog since it started a week ago
• 33: days until we start Western Fairs
• 28: number of institutions on all Western and Ontario Fairs
• 26: number of institutions on Ontario Fairs
• 24 : number of events on this year's CCUFairs
• 1: number of non-North American institutions represented on this year's fairs (Belfast Bible College)