Never Underestimate the Power of a High School Visit

Tracey Dysart-Ford
Director of Guidance and College Counseling
Immaculate Conception High School

I have spent 6 months on the ?other side of the desk.? After 22 years in college admissions, I now have a great opportunity to be a high school college counselor. This journey of changing careers in my mid-forties has been challenging. Seeing things from the eyes of students and parents versus seeing things as an admission professional has been interesting and informative. The experience has enabled me to take a step back and re-evaluate some of my former assumptions.

We are coming to the end of the fall travel season. While working in college admissions, I always tried keeping up to date with technology in order to use the latest communication mechanisms to attract tech savvy students. I still think it is important to do this, but I now have a new respect for the traditional high school visit. Technology is definitely useful, but never underestimate the power of the high school visit.

As an admissions professional, I often wondered about the effectiveness of the high school visit. If we could chat online, text and use Twitter and Facebook to appeal to students across the globe, why spend money on travel? This year as a college counselor, I see the value more than ever.

Admission counselors who are trained to articulate the strengths of the college or university and able to explain what differentiates your institution can make a big difference. We had one representative from a college half-way across the country come to visit this year. This particular college was not on the short list for any of my seniors. This representative, however, made such a compelling presentation, that three of my students are now applying for admission this fall and one is flying to visit the school next month. The applications and the scheduled campus visit are a direct result of the counselor visiting my high school.

I have seen the positive influence of several representatives who made students excited about their institution and either encouraged or reaffirmed interest as a result of a 30-minute presentation. What differentiates effective high school visits is training. You can definitely see the benefits of good training and preparation.

There is certainly a downside in continuing to visit high schools. Travel is expensive. It may be hard to dedicate scarce budget resources to travel at a time when many admission offices are being asked to scale back expenses. Travel means more time out of the office. Admission counselors who are on the road are not available to meet visitors to campus and cannot assist with daily office operations. Admission professionals must be more careful than ever in determining which high schools to visit. Often, counselors find that they are not able to meet with students one-on-one or not able to make presentations to groups of students when visiting high schools. Given the expense, time constraints and the reality that not all high schools are accommodating to visitors, admission leaders must be prudent in scheduling high school visits. This does not mean, however, that such visits should cease altogether.

There are still many high school administrators who appreciate colleges and universities willing to make the time and invest the funds necessary to visit our campuses. Students often benefit from the one-on-one experience. The high school visit can provide valuable information on schools that students may not have found online. Sometimes, traditional recruitment tactics can work and one should never underestimate the power of a high school visit.