Happy Halloween

Hi All - We are wrapping up one of our last big visit days of the season. For the past two days, much of the state of Wisconsin had off from school, so we had roughly 500 visitors each of these days. Luckily, it was 65 degrees yesterday and equally nice today. It was a great day for students to be visiting us.

Because it's close to election time, our campus mall is filled with political signs of every variety...national candidates, local candidates, etc. Whatever stereotypes society pushes about an apathetic student generation do not hold true here! During the 2004 presidential election, the line to vote was so long that extra voting machines had to be brought in. I anticipate the same will be true this time.

If YOU are politically minded, check out the websites for our student organizations....
http://www.uwec.edu/studentorgs/active/show/85
http://www.uwec.edu/studentorgs/active/show/99
http://www.uwec.edu/studentorgs/active/show/246
http://www.uwec.edu/studentorgs/active/show/255

Those organizations are just a few, and the whole list is here:
http://www.uwec.edu/studentorgs/active

Certainly, in looking for a college, you'll want to check out the political environment. Will there be students who share your values? Will there be students who challenge them? Is the culture on campus conducive to civil discourse? Are differing opinions encouraged and honored? It's hard to get a sense of the culture through a brief visit or through surfing one website, so don't make snap judgments. Ultimately, college is what you make of it. But doing your homework ahead of time and asking lots of questions will help you make a good choice.

Enjoy the weekend.

Kris

What if you're waitlisted?

Happy Friday! It's been a good week in our office. Today, we saw a preview of the new software we'll be using for recruitment next year. It looks great, and it should help us communicate with students more effectively. We also had some school counselors over to campus for lunch on Tuesday. They were here doing a financial aid workshop, so we were able to tag-team with that event and talk to them about our STEM majors (science, technology, engineering and math). And a couple of our counselors are taking off for Milwaukee this weekend for the National College Fair. Check us out if you're in the neighborhood. Finally, here's a shout out to Keith from Ohio!:) Awesome to talk to you this week.

We are getting through our applications pretty quickly, but there's always a group of students whose decisions we need to "postpone." And they always call wondering what it means to them. So, this post is for you. I hope after you read it you'll understand how we evaluate our postponed students.

Our postponed list isn't technically a waitlist, but you can kind of think of it that way. See, the deal is that UWEC receives over 8,000 applications for our freshman class of 2025. We just don't have room to admit everyone, and we often need to turn away some really good students. So, this is what we tell some students who are close to meeting our guidelines: Let's see a new ACT/SAT if that's the issue (it often is) and let's see your grades from the first half of your senior year. Then when we know how much room we have left in the freshman class, and you've had one more semester under your belt to build a case, we'll get back together with an admissions decision.

Then in late February, we look through all the applications again, see who sent grades, and then make decisions depending on how much room we have. Now, let me be real about numbers....last year, we had over 900 students in that boat, and we admitted only 50. It was really tight! The year before that, we had 700, and we admitted 100. So, it really varies. I have no idea what it will look like for 2009. Too early to tell.

So, what should YOU do if you're on the waitlist??

a. If you only took the ACT once, try it again. Often you'll see your scores go up.

b. Make sure your senior year classes are solid. Rigor of senior year is one of the most important factors we look for. Electives are fine, but we prefer to see English, social studies, science, math, and foreign language classes.

c. Make sure you're doing WELL in your senior classes. Senior slide is rampant. Showing us poor grades will send a powerful message to us that you're not ready for college. On the other hand, if you're really rocking in your classes, that increases your chances of coming off the list.

d. Make sure you aren't dropping any of your classes. This goes for admitted students, too!!:)

e. Keep in touch with us. Don't sit back and wait for something to happen. Send us an email telling us about how you're doing this year. Give us a call (you, not your parent) to talk through the process and your options. Make sure to send us your grades and follow up with us. We like to hear from you.

f. Think "options," not admitted/denied. Even if we find we don't have room for freshman year, we can work with you to transfer in. There are always options if you're willing to work with us. Getting waitlisted is a bummer, I know. We really wish we could admit everyone. But we just don't have space for all 8,000 applicants. So, if you are in this position, talk to us. We are happy to walk you through your options.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Kris

Wow

Hey everyone - Sorry to be offline but we've been swamped with visitors this week. We have had 5 visit days in one week, seeing almost 2000 people!! It's been awesome. Campus looked great, and the weather was warm. It was a perfect time to show off our beautiful campus.

We had lots of questions from visitors, so let me share the most common one. It revolved around when to apply if you're retaking the ACT this Saturday. Often the question is: "Should I wait to apply and see what my new score is or should I apply now and just update you with the new score?" Bottom line answer: It doesn't matter.

Here's why: We will always take whichever test score is highest. So, if you were unhappy with your score and are retaking it, and if your new score goes up, that's the one we'll use for an admissions decision...the higher one. So, say you applied now and were denied or got a waitlist (postponed) letter. If your new score is higher and might make us change our decision, we'll pull your application right away and reevaluate it in light of the new score. The ultimate decision may change or it may not, but it will always be reevaluated.

Similarly, if you wait for your new scores, you'll typically get them a couple weeks after taking the test. That is still plenty of time to apply before our December 1st priority date. So, really, the choice is yours. Make sense?

Good luck for all you test takers! My ACT tips? If you don't know an answer to a question, move on and come back to it. Don't agonize over one question for 10 minutes. Relax, get a good night's sleep the night before, eat breakfast, and just do your best.

Cheers,
Kris

Visitors galore

Hi Everyone - Well, Minnesota National was a blast. We talked to thousands of students from MN and WI. Our booth was on a corner in the UW System aisle, so we had a lot of traffic which was great. I have to remember to order carpet next time because standing on concrete for 4 hours at a stretch was tough! We also had a college fair on our own campus this week in Zorn Arena. Even with the presidential debate and cruddy weather, the turnout was good.

But now, we're on to hosting visitors. October is really busy. A lot of students have days when they're off from school for teacher conferences, so they hit the college visit trail! By the end of the month, we will have talked to probably 3,000 students and parents about UWEC.

That makes me think that it might be helpful to tell you some tips to getting the most out of your college visit. Here goes:

1. Plan ahead. Since lots of students are out of school at the same time, our visit days fill up quickly. Give a school at least two weeks' notice....that way we can also email you your parking permit, map, etc. No one wants to be late for their tour, fumbling with a map in the car, losing the parking permit, etc.

2. Pick a day when classes are in session. This time of year is great for visiting because campus is hopping. The weather is still good, campus is pretty, students aren't too stressed yet:).

3. Wander around on your own after your official tour. There's nothing like just sitting in the student center and getting a vibe on the campus. Eat the food. Check out the res halls. Read the student newspaper. Visit your academic department. Ask yourself, "Can I see myself here? Do I fit here? Can I thrive here?" Ask your parent/s - nicely, of course - if you could have 30 min to do that on your own. Then you can really get a feel for the place and soak it in.

4. What to wear? You don't have to dress up. Jeans and a sweatshirt are just fine. Of course, don't wear the competition's sweatshirt to a different school, though! That's just goofy:). Wear comfy shoes. Oh, and take off your baseball caps, please!!

5. Ask lots of questions. We really like it when students ask the questions. It's your education, and we love it when you take ownership over it. Sometimes I see students sitting in the presentation room, and their mothers are picking up all the brochures. Come on! I know it can be intimidating to visit a college but we really are nice people and want you to be engaged in this process. After all, you'll be the one in class, right?

6. Write down some notes afterwards. If you're doing a lot of colleges in a short timeframe, they'll begin to blur. Keep a log with your impressions, questions to follow up on. Better yet, take a few pics with your cell phone to jog your memory. (But note to self: only use it for that. I once saw a student texting during the whole campus tour. That is SO high school. lol).

Well, time to go sign a bunch of admission letters. Yup, I sign them myself. Great part of my job...to see who you all are and where you're from. Here are a couple pics from Homecoming last weekend. We pounded Oshkosh:).

Kris