Admissions meets with profs

Last week the Admissions Department had a few hours set aside to talk to professors from various departments around campus to hear stories of students and graduates of Coker College. The Admissions recruiters were looking for stories they could use when trying to interest prospective students and their families in attending Coker. A bit of news from the college this week was that we have our largest student body ever with a first-year class up 25 from the previous high.

Back to stories. While on sabbatical this past semester I was able to read a number of books on public speaking and one common suggestion was 'story telling.' As a race, we humans have learned from stories for thousands of years. In fact, on my door is a quote who origin is said to be an Indian proverb: "Tell me a fact and I'll learn. Tell me a truth and I will believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever." That is a quote I happen to share with my public speaking students about every semester in class. In fact, we start the speech making process with something called an Icebreaker, which is stories about things that have altered a student's life. Tomorrow we start those in the day classes and we had the Icebreakers in the night class last Wednesday.

Back to admissions. The recruiters were interested in the stories and spent a lot of time listening as instructors discussed things about their students. I got to overhear Dr. Joe Flaherty of Biology talk about how his recent research grant has allowed him to purchase IPads for his student researchers and how those IPads are making a difference in their research approach. Looking around the room as instructors talked, you could see the faces light up as they told stories of how students have grown through Coker and beyond. It will be fun to hear from the admissions folks if they find the stories making a difference out on the road.

What Questions might prospective students have for a professor?

Students are the lifeblood of an educational community. A more direct meaning to that statement might be, Students are the lifeblood of Coker College. The admissions process is what gets students into Coker and talking with prospective students is interesting and even a bit exciting.

Yesterday, for example, there was a family that made an appointment to stop by Coker on their way back home (to Staten Island, NY) from their Myrtle Beach vacation. One of the girls will be graduating in May and she is looking around at colleges in places she thinks would be fun to live - like South Carolina. The other daughter, will be a junior, and she was unhappily along for the ride.

One of the exciting parts of getting to talk with prospective students is seeing the effect of a campus visit. The daughter who was really anxious to get on the road and head home appeared to be really enjoying seeing the Coker campus as she ended her tour. She had sort of changed her mind about the visit.

Most of the admissions counselors and most of the coaches like to add some type of faculty connection into a visit, in case there are "academic" questions. Truth is that most prospective students, when they are thinking about college, are not thinking classroom -- they are usually focused on dorm room. Parents will often have some questions but, in truth, while they may be paying, they are not the ones who will be on campus.

So, without pressure of a faculty member across the table, what are some of the questions that you might be wanting answers to in the area of academics on a college campus? ________________________________________________________ Would love to see some answers to that question.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

There are couple of areas on which I focus. For Coker, one of the major differences is the relationship that students can develop with faculty just because of the nature of the college. Classes are small. If a student misses a class it is noticed. When a student is particularly brilliant in a class it is remembered! A major part of the "community" of Coker is the ability to build real attachments that will become more important as the years go by. Coach Dave, for example, reminds his seniors that 'someday we are all 27...' A second area on which I focus is personal interest. I remind the student that college is going to be THEIR education and that they should develop the experience by being open to the new possibilities that the privilege of a college education brings to them. The reason for the question at the top of this blog post is that I am looking for information that will help me know this particular audience even better.

Coker College still a few openings for this fall's class

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Earlier today I stopped by the Wiggins House, which is the location of the College Admissions Department, to meet the new Director of Admissions, Adam Connolly. This is his second week on the job. While in Admissions,I found out Coker still has a few openings for this Fall's class. The college is growing and we expanded the proposed size of the first-year class.

Coker does keep its admissions process open until the new school year begins and this has often proved helpful for students who made late decisions to attend college or who changed plans. Other schools do the same thing, so it really is not too late to apply to college. There is still time to apply to Coker but you should move pretty quickly because it does take some time to get all the questions answered. The online application can give prospective students a bit of head-start. Any students or parents who are looking for more information on the late admissions can talk to someone by calling 843-383-8050.