Ultimately, I’m not sure I can explain the huge increase in our pool.  After all, we are not on the Common App which would make it that much easier to submit an application.   I do know that many people have commented to me this year (and last) that Elon is a school many people are talking about all over the country.   That’s very exciting and I’m convinced that most of that has to do with our students.   Simply put, they are amazing.    And they love it here!

You may recall that we admitted approximately 50% of the EA pool last year.    That is the case again this year.   Of course, there were more applications so that meant we had to be more selective.    The average core recalcuated GPA for the admitted pool is 4.22 and the SAT average is 1965.   The ACT average is 29.

Of course, the academic profile drives all admissions decisions.   If you have ever been part of one of my campus information sessions, you have heard me say that many outstanding students with these profiles apply.   So how do we identify candidates for admission among more qualified applicants than we can admit?   We look to the Student Index.   This is a composite of an applicant’s activities, leadership and service as well as the strength of the application essay.    My colleagues in the department and I agree that essays this year seemed stronger than last.    This may be a function of a new essay prompt or it could be a result of the new Elon Engagement Scholarship which is based on the essay itself! 

W e anticipate enrolling 150 students in the class next fall who are recipients of Elon Engagement awards.   These scholarships are US$3500/year plus a one-time $2000 Elon Experiences grant to use toward Elon’s signature programs including study abroad, service, internships, research or leadership development.  

At the risk of repeating myself from year to year, let me say a word about our Records staff.    Their work is always impressive.   They are accurate and thorough and this year, they raised the bar for all of us.   The 13 hour day operation paid dividends in allowing us to process, read and make decisions on the largest EA applicant pool in history!   Once again, just 3% of the pool was moved to Final Deadline because we didn’t receive the required information in a timely manner.   That’s beyond impressive and I cannot thank our Records team enough.

In Early Action, applications are admitted, declined or deferred. 

So what does Deferred really mean and what can a student applicant do to be more competitive in Final Deadline?   To begin with, we need the requested academic information.   If a student with a 4.2 is deferred and we ask for mid senior year grades, I know this sounds crazy.   But since the issue may be a standardized test, asking an applicant to register for another SAT/ACT when the deadline is three days from today (SAT) and January 7 (ACT) this doesn’t work terribly well either.  If your standardized test score resulted in a decision to defer, a strong academic record in your senior year along with demonstrated interest (contacting your admissions counselor via e-mail) may be helpful as the Committee re-evaluates a file in February.    Naturally, we cannot guarantee admission for everyone who provides what we request but every year we admit hundreds of deferred EA candidates in Final Deadline.     Still others are offered a place on our Wait List while some are offered Spring Admission.

The University will be closed from Wednesday, December 21 through Tuesday, December 27.    We will reopen for two days before closing again for the New Year holiday.   I hope this blog post provides some context for the decision making process again this year.

Moreover, I hope everyone has a healthy and safe holiday season filled with family, friends and rest.    Thank you for discovering Elon and for understanding the complexities of selective admissions.

Happy 2012!

Overall, applications are running 15% ahead of last year but given the extreme October winter weather in the mid Atlantic and New England states, we have extended the deadline for Early Decision and the Gap Semester to Monday, November 7.   We hope this will prove helpful to the many prospective Elon families who are dealing with so much so early.

If you have questions, contact the admissions office at admissions@elon.edu or 336-278-3566.  

Almost immediately following August 26th – and in some cases before – our staff hit the road to find next year’s class.   I spent last week in my second home of St. Louis visiting 14 high schools and of course, taking in a Cardinals game.     As MLB looks to the post season, the weather has finally cooled and today’s high of 70 degrees was a reminder that  later this week, fall will officially be here.   That means Phoenix football games in Rhodes Stadium, a couple birthdays in my house and the growing intensity of our Records staff uploading and scanning applications for the admissions committee to read when we are all back in the office in early November.

This was my eighth year visiting STL high schools.  By now I no longer need a map (although I am reminded that you can’t turn left onto Lindbergh off Conway between 7 – 9 a.m.).   The genuine highlight of the trip is meeting and talking with students who visited campus over the summer and seeing my college/guidance counselor friends and colleagues.   It’s all very rewarding.   

As I visited many of the same schools I do annually, it was quite evident that the performing arts are alive in well in the Mid west.    At SLUH I met students who worked at the MUNY with Elon acting and music theatre majors this summer.   At Ladue Horton Watkins, I entered the building closest to the new theater the school added a couple of years ago.  At Nerinx, Clayton and Crossroads I met aspiring actors interested in Elon’s nationally recognized BFA programs.  I visited Whitfield where one of their 2011 graduates sang and danced her way to a coveted seat in this year’s first year music theatre class.   And last but certainly not least, Chaminade’s new performing arts building blew me away.

Chaminade is an all boys school.   We’ve been fortunate to enroll many of their graduates at Elon over the years and I hope that will continue next year.    I know that many of the STL area schools are known for academic rigor and thriving sports programs.   It’s clear to me that many, many students are also incredibly talented in the arts as well.  We live in an age when many things are being cut from school budgets at  both public and private schools.    It’s exciting to see a place building facilities to meet the demands of students and needs of an outstanding cultural arts community.

As if I needed another reason to love St. Louis….

As I type, I am flying back from Los Angeles where I had the genuine pleasure of experiencing a taste of Elon’s Climbing the LAdder program. This nine week program is a value-added experience for students across the university who are interested in the entertainment industry. If it was a fantastic experience for me in just three days, you can imagine what it’s like for students.

This summer, 40 students participated in Elon’s fourth summer program in LA. The tagline – Live, Learn, Intern – says it all. Elon students attend class on Monday and intern Tuesday – Friday all across Hollywood, Santa Monica, etc. Each internship has a mentor who is an Elon alumnus. That’s how strong the network is out there!

I spent time visiting two internship sites – Digimax and Panavision – and learned just how little I know about how much is involved in the entertainment industry. From 180 and 360 degree HD camera data storage to literally hundreds of different camera lenses and equipment, all I could think of was how much the average movie viewer takes for granted.    Myself included.

The students live in a very nice residential community in Hollywood literally a stone’s throw from Warner Bros studios. They are responsible for their own transportation and four faculty members – only one of whom is from Elon’s NC main campus – teach classes ranging from Acting to the Business of Hollywood.   From my interaction with our amazing students, it’s clear that this program is life changing.

On Wednesday evening, Climbing the LAdder students premiered the films they’ve been working on all summer. They were fantastic – and the premier just happened to be at the American Film Institute (AFI)!  Over refreshments prior to the screening, I had a conversation with a favorite young alumae who graduated last December.    She participated in the LA program just last summer. “It was either study abroad or domestically and I chose this.” Earlier this year, she moved to LA and got a great job with a highly regarded entertainment company.   She even mentored two interns this summer!

Climbing the LAdder isn’t Elon’s only domestic summer program. A very different but equally enriching experience is available in New York City. It too, is available to students regardless of major.

The cost of Climbing the LAdder is $7000 which covers tuition and housing as well as a variety of industry related joint experiences. The result of such an experience is remarkable learning and transformation. Students develop expertise and independence as they Live, Learn and Intern. It’s another example of Elon’s commitment to Engaged Learning. Perhaps it’s the best…

For more information on Climbing the LAdder, visit http://www.elon.edu/e-web/academics/communications/eloninla/

It’s summer.    Back in the day (only a few years ago) summer – and particularly the months of June and July - felt like “down time”.   That’s not the case any more.   Don’t get me wrong, when people I see outside of the Elon community ask “do you work in the summer?” I respond immediately that I very much do.  In fact, we are constantly working on enrolling future classes.   

So what exactly does a university admissions office do during the summer months?   Well, the Elon staff is as busy as ever.  We had our annual undergraduate retreat June 8-10 at 7 Lakes just outside Southern Pines, NC.   This three day event was full of discussion and planning related to our departmental goals and objectives for the coming year.  Among them, implementing our new Elon Engagement scholarships.   We also discussed in great detail Elon’s new Gap Semester Program – a fantastic new opportunity for students planning to attend Elon but who wish to begin in a less traditional way.   We received a report from the Senior Staff retreat which preceded our retreat by about a week.  In addition, we talked about shifts in what we call our Hospitality programs which are generally held in January.   In between a lot of work we also had time to play games, eat (a lot) and even see a movie.   I’m incredibly blessed to work with extremely bright, conscientious and  motivated people so there was no shortage of conversation, ideas and fun.  We even played “Family Feud” as a way to make sure we knew one another’s specific responsibilities in the office.

Since our return to campus we’ve been busy retooling our communications matrix, advancing retreat conversations, hiring new staff and hosting dozens of families daily.  Many of these students will become members of the Elon Family come the fall of 2012.

Just this week we released the wait list.   We also offered Spring Admission to many of the students for whom we could not offer a seat in the fall 2011 class. 

So you see, we do work in the summer – quite a bit.   But we all find time for well deserved vacations.    There are truly four seasons in the Elon admissions office.  Summer is a time for strategic planning – all of which will make for a successful recruitment cycle during the coming academic year.

Happy summer to all!

Happy 2011 everyone!

Elon is actually closed today due to inclement weather.   The new year is off to an interesting start here in NC.  As of this morning, we are experiencing our fifth “snow event” of the season. As a NJ native but long time resident of NC, I’m going to call it. This is unbelievable!

The storm started in the South so many schools were closed yesterday. The forecast for the mid Atlantic and Northeast isn’t too good in the short term. With such unpredictability, we’re offering a 48 hour grace period for students to submit a Final Deadline application.   As usual, we received a lot overnight – but in case you were out of school yesterday and were planning on finishing up your Elon application, you have until midnight tomorrow, Wednesday, January 12th to have your application included in the Final Deadline program.    As is customary, applications received after the close of Final Deadline will be considered on a space available basis.

I’ll admit that I hesitate to share the news of our weather.  I know that a large number of students apply to Elon because of our location.   Let me be clear.    North Carolina has four beautiful seasons.    Our summers are long and hot.   Winter is generally short and temperate.   Fall is beautiful and long (students often wear shorts and flip flops into December) and spring is absolutely breathtaking.   It’s what we live for in NC.    How much snow have we had this winter?   Well, by NC standards, our total of five inches seems like a lot.   For those of you from Boston or up-state New York, you’ll find it amusing that we even refer to this as “bad weather”.

So take an extra day and feel free to submit your admissions application.    If we can be helpful, be sure to call or e-mail the office.     We’re looking forward to hearing from you and continuing to read applications in advance of our March 15th release.

Our Early Action pool this year included just over 5400 outstanding applicants.  In fact, the average core weighted GPA is 4.3 and SAT is 1960. The ACT equivalent is 29. This is essentially identical to last year and as a result, the Committee was faced with some very difficult decisions.    While the academic profile drives our decision making, the Student Index, a composite of extracurricular activities, leadership, recognition, service and the essay also factor into our decision making.  I had high hopes for this year’s essays given our new questions but, quite honestly, I’ve been disappointed.

Our Early Action applications were slow in coming.  We attribute that to our new essay questions. Several years ago when we began requiring an essay, the same thing occurred.   Fast forward a decade and we found that by eliminating “Topic of Your Choice”, students took the time needed to put some greater thought into responding to one of our questions.    You’ll recall we extended our deadline by two days earlier this fall.  We did this because so many applications were coming in at the last minute.   We didn’t want to create issues for applicants or our processing schedule.    By the way, hats off again to our Records and Communications teams.   Fewer than 3% of EA application were incomplete and moved to Final Deadline.

My personal favorite essay question is If you had $5000 to start a business or non-profit organization, what would it be and why?   Who would benefit?  Of the applications I read before Committee, only approximately 20% of students chose to respond to this question.   I really liked what I read but it occurred too infrequently.

The most often used prompt thus far this year has been Describe an experience that required your creativity, passion or commitment.   How will that experience influence your Elon career?  While there have been some interesting responses, I’m not terribly certain we have this question worded correctly.    It’s yielded more of what we have received in the past and while that’s fine, it’s not what was intended.

Anecdotally, the new Think Fast section of the application has given some students pause as well.   I promise you that was never the intent.   We simply thought it would be a great way for us to get to know some things about our applicants that we would never know from the traditional required information.    I’ll tell you it’s been a lot of fun reading these.   We learned that one applicant “can do a stunning Kiwi accent” and is “no slouch as a Scotsman”.  One student told us they narrate traffic patterns rather than listen to music while driving to school.   Another told us they’d like to talk to Napoleon “to find out how he went about being such a confident leader.  He had a swagger that is unmatched”.  

Keep in mind that the student applicant is the one who should be contacting us with questions.    Parents, I get it.   I’m one too.   Like you, I love my children more than anything in the world.    Like you, I want what I believe is best for them and, if I agree with them, I want what they want.   But with nearly 20 years of college admissions experience, I see what many do not.   There are a lot of really interesting and talented students out there.   As much as we’d like to accept more, we cannot.   If we over (or under) enroll the class, the university size changes – and I’m betting that’s one of the main reasons your son or daughter applied in the first place.

So what does Deferred really mean and what can a student applicant do to be more competitive in Final Deadline?   To begin with, we need the requested academic information.   If a student with a 4.2 is deferred and we ask for mid senior year grades, I know this sounds crazy.   But since the issue may be a standardized test, asking an applicant to register for another SAT/ACT when the deadline is three days from today (SAT) and January 7 (ACT) this doesn’t work terribly well either.  If your standardized test score resulted in a decision to defer, a strong academic record in your senior year along with demonstrated interest (contacting your admissions counselor via e-mail) may be helpful as the Committee re-evaluates your file in February.    Naturally, we cannot guarantee admission for everyone who provides what we request but every year we admit hundreds of deferred EA candidates in Final Deadline.     Still others are offered a place on our Wait List.

The university will close for a week tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. EST.  Let me thank you for reading and wish everyone health and safety in the New Year.    Without one or both, nothing else matters.

The admissions process at a selective university is wonderfully cyclical.   It’s very much like enjoying the seasonal changes I love so much living in NC.   Generally speaking, it’s a very busy environment in which to work.    I’d say our busiest season(s) run from travel (fall) to application review (winter) to yield in the spring.    However, the three week period between Thanksgiving and Winter Break is without doubt, our very busiest of the year.    Over this time we process and read 5400 Early Action applications while releasing ED.  

Most of the admissions committee members are out of the office reading for a final week this week.  If you have called to speak with someone or sent an e-mail, let me thank you in advance for your patience.   We do our very best to be as responsive as possible because everything we do is an absolute priorty for us.    We go to Committee review next week so hang in there! 

I know that if you applied EA to Elon it feels like December 20 will never arrive.    Trust me, it will – sooner than we think.      A stack of files awaits me on my desk so I will close for now.    Let me once again thank you for your interest in Elon.   I love knowing you have discovered what a special place this community truly is.

Why extend it? Last year, November 10 fell on a Tuesday. We found that because it was earlier in the week (even if only by a day) most EA candidates applied over the weekend. This year, that was not the case. Having a deadline is stressful for any of us. Naturally, college-bound high school students are some of the busiest people out there – and that creates stress for them – and for us.

When we received exactly 900 applications in one night earlier this week, it became obvious that we all could take advantage of the school holiday that is Veteran’s Day.

I hope we posted it early enough so many of you could benefit. Perhaps your day off was spent on college applications. If it was, I imagine it was helpful to have more time. At least 50 applications were submitted during the day today and I imagine we’ll see many more submissions tonight.   In fact, it’s been extended until midnight tomorrow night to allow more time to work on your essays.

Let me say a word about our new Think Fast section.   We’ve received several e-mail messages from students inquiring about what we want to see.   These are new this year so we have few expectations!   We added these because we thought this would be a fun way to get to know you.   As I explained to one student who e-mailed me, try not to over think your response.   These are new to you and they are to us, too!   Remember, we’re looking for two sentence responses (though there are no penalties for three!)

The committee is hard at work reading Early Decision applications and our Records staff is busy preparing Early Action applications for later this month.

As always, we’re excited to have a large number of students so highly interested in Elon.   Thank you for applying – whether you already have – or choose to use the extra 48 hours to put the finishing touches on your application.

As the weather finally cools and travel comes to an end, our attention turns to reading the nearly 2000 applications we have in house. With the Early Decision deadline of next Monday (November 1)  and Early Action following on November 10, the next two weeks will be busy – and we are ready for it!

We’ve hosted receptions in CA and MA, done college fairs in at least 30 states and presented on Elon in probably 1000 high schools the world over – all since the end of August!

What’s ahead?  Well, in support of Elon’s commitment to sustainability, there will be a whole lot less paper in our office this year.   We began scanning all documents a couple of years ago and our Early Decision and Final Deadline files will be read electronically.    Early Action applications will still be placed in paper files.   The expected volume and turn around time is such that we need to ease our way into on line reading with what is historically the smaller two of the three applicant pools.

It was never my intention to avoid my blog while traveling.   Though admittedly, the pace is such that it makes writing entries a bit challenging.   Our newly designed information session for campus visitors refers to the many ways students can connect with our office.   Facebook, Twitter, RSS feeds and multiple blogs.   Our research indicates that students find these resources particularly helpful once they are deeper into the admissions process.   Perhaps that’s why no one raises their hand when I ask who is following us on Twitter or “friending” us on Facebook!  

That said, I DID receive some “fan mail” this week from a reader asking if I intended to maintain my blog for another year.    I want to thank everyone for reading and especially offer my gratitude to the reader who inquired!    I’m back and ready to offer more than a glimpse into the world of college admissions throughout the coming year.   My goal is to convert some of my entries to Vlog entries.   We’ll see.

We’re expecting over 700 people tomorrow for Open House.   We have some new programming as well so I’m looking forward to meeting many students who will ultimately join me as Elon alumni come 2015.