VOLUME 33 NUMBER 1 The Leader in Graduate Enrollment Management
SPRING 2021
PERSPECTIVES A Newsmagazine for Graduate Enrollment Management Professionals
IN THIS ISSUE 2 From the President
3 Meet the Chapter Presidents 5
Communications 101: Three Higher Education Professionals Share Their Experiences
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CRM Transition
11 Health Professions Program Recruitment During a Global Pandemic: Insights from GEM Professionals and Pre-Health Advisors
14 International Recruitment in a Virtual World 17 Understanding Holistic Graduate Admissions Practices: Summary of a Current Research Project 21 Re-invisioning Student Centered Service in Graduate Enrollment Management 26 Rehumanizing Admissions Practices 29 How Your Digital Toolkit Delivers More Than Just Marketing Wins 31 2021 Virtual GEM Summit
www.NAGAP.org
FROM THE PRESIDENT NAGAP, you are THE BEST! I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but feel optimistic about our collective future. Through all the hardship and disruption, we have persisted. I have witnessed extraordinary generosity as colleagues have repeatedly come rushing to the aid of members who raise their hands for help, guidance, or simple reassurance. This mutual care for one another is what community is all about. It is a big part of what makes NAGAP so special. On the horizon is the 2021 GEM Summit with a host of new features and opportunities to gain knowledge and engage. Like so many of our campuses, NAGAP has evolved and learned from a year of virtual professional development offerings. We have had great success with the virtual delivery of the Fall and Winter PDIs and are excited to deliver our GEM Summit in April to our members virtually as well. What's more exciting – all of the material that is delivered virtually will be available on demand for one year after the conference. That means no more toiling over which of the multiple sessions you want to attend most in the same time slot. Attend one live and mark the others to watch later. For many of us, this pandemic has resulted in the longest stretch of time without travel in our adult lives. If you’re like me, you crave the opportunity to catch up with your friends and colleagues and to unplug from day-to-day responsibilities to fully invest in your professional development and networking. The second cohort of the NAGAP Leadership Academy will begin in fall 2021. Based on everything we know so far, an in-person immersion weekend in New York City hosted by Teachers College seems very possible by fall. Graduate education will play an increasingly important role on most campuses in the coming decade as undergraduate demographics shift. Now is the ideal time for colleges to invest in developing the leaders needed to maximize these emerging opportunities. As we round the corner to the second half of my presidency, I remain enthusiastic about the incredible work your NAGAP board is doing to strengthen the association, increase member value, and position us for sustainable success in the years to come. I am so grateful to be surrounded by and collaborating with this extraordinary group of leaders. Please join me in thanking them at every available opportunity for volunteering to serve and offering their time and energy during this unprecedented time. Stay strong. Stay safe. Stay connected. n With appreciation,
Jeremiah Nelson, NAGAP President
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PERSPECTIVES A Newsmagazine for Graduate Enrollment Management Professionals
Editor, Stanley Kania, PhD Associate Director of Admissions Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Scranton, PA (570) 558-3954
Assistant Editor, Melissa Sersland
Associate Director of Graduate Admissions and Financial Aid Northwestern University Evanston, IL (847) 491-5042 NAGAPpublications@gmail.com NAGAP Perspectives is published three times per year (fall, spring, summer). Articles of particular interest for publication are graduate enrollment management research/study results, how-to articles, success stories, reports of workshops/ seminars, book reviews, etc. Submissions should be sent to the editor via email. Articles should be provided in Microsoft Word format, with figures and photos provided separately as high-resolution TIF or EPS files. APA style is preferred for documenting sources. Submission deadlines: August 30, January 6, May 17. Copyright © 2021 NAGAP NAGAP is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in all of its activities. This commitment embraces respect for differences including age, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, gender, life experiences, race, religion, and sexual orientation. NAGAP champions an open exchange of ideas in a collegial environment that embraces academic freedom, cooperation, mutual respect, and responsibility. NAGAP supports activities that promote and nurture professional development, best practices, research, and collaboration of a diverse and global community of graduate enrollment management professionals, encouraging dialogue that fosters professional growth among all of its constituents, in the U.S. and internationally.
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MEET THE CHAPTER PRESIDENTS Troy Sterk, Seattle University This is the third part in our ongoing series: “Meet the Chapter Presidents.” In this series, we introduce you to Chad Baker, PAGAP Chapter President, and Katie-Ann Mason, NEGAP Chapter President.
President to further engage NAGAP members with your chapter?
to the director of marketing and public information position at the college. I spent six years in that role. I then moved to Millersville University where I began my GEM career as the director of graduate admissions and recruitment. I have been at Millersville for four-and-ahalf years now.
One of the things I am most impressed with as I have connected with other chapters is the amount of activity and development they have installed within their areas. Thus, I would like to see PAGAP offer more professional development opportunities for GEM professionals, and I would like to see us have more networking opportunities. Obviously, in the age of COVID, everything has changed, but I think it is more important now, than ever, to bind together and recognize not only how important we are to the structure of institutions, but also how important we are as a resource to each other. This pandemic has provided GEM professionals an opportunity to finally step forward at institutions where GEM was relegated to an afterthought as opposed to what it is now, the cornerstone for recovery at many of our schools.
2. Briefly describe your pathway to getting involved with NAGAP and then becoming a chapter leader.
Chad Baker Millersville University PAGAP Chapter President 1. Please tell us about your background (professional and academic). How did you begin your GEM career, and how did you progress to where you are now? I am a two-time graduate of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. My undergraduate degree is in history with a public relations minor. My master's is in organizational development and leadership: higher education concentration. I have been in higher education for more than 15 years. I began as a recruiter for The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in Philadelphia. I then became a recruiter at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster. After six months as a recruiter, I also became the marketing coordinator. I did this for twoand-a-half years and then was promoted
Not long after I began working at Millersville, I started to explore what professional development options were available to me. In my previous positions, one of the most rewarding opportunities dealt with professional development and networking with others in the field. Thus, as a result of research, I found NAGAP. I became a member and immediately was able to access a number of resources. In the summer of 2018, I attended the Summer Institute in Las Vegas. This was the first opportunity I had to realize the true networking opportunities within NAGAP, and it motivated me to be more involved. That same summer, I threw my hat in the ring to become the PAGAP marketing and web committee director and won the election. I began working with the chapter's website and social media, and more importantly, began to work with the chapter’s leadership team. In 2019, I was accepted to the inaugural NAGAP Leadership Academy. I attended the opening sessions in New York City and participated in the multiple online learning opportunities. In April 2020, the opportunity arose to run for the PAGAP president’s position and again, I threw my hat in the ring, winning the seat and thus beginning my role as the chapter leader.
4. How has your involvement with your chapter enhanced your experience as a NAGAP member? Exactly what I was seeking when I first sought out NAGAP is what I found in my chapter. My GEM colleagues are such an important resource to me when I am planning, organizing, and building at my own institution. They allow me an opportunity to bounce ideas off of others who are entrenched in GEM every day. Even just in conversations we have had at in-person grad fairs (Remember those?) have enabled me to add valuable information to proposals and plans within my own area. I consider those I have met through PAGAP and NAGAP as amazing professional connections, but more importantly, I consider many of them
3. What are some of the things you are looking to accomplish as a chapter
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MEET THE CHAPTER PRESIDENTS friends. These folks have made me a better GEM professional, and I hope I have done the same in some small way.
Katie-Ann Mason Bridgewater State University NEGAP Chapter President 1. Please tell us about your background (professional and academic). How did you begin your GEM career, and how did you progress to where you are now? I have my Ed.M. in higher education administration from Boston University's School of Education. When I graduated from Simmons College, now University, with my B.A. in history and a minor in the performing arts, I explored the field of social work for a year. I knew I wanted to help people. It is something I learned in college as a senior admissions interviewer, resident advisor, peer health educator, and history liaison president, but I hadn't considered that I could work in higher education. After a year at Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and some career research and interviews, I decided I needed to get my foot in the door. I applied to the Boston University School of Social Work as an administrative coordinator and
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was hired! I was fortunate enough to begin in a place where my supervisor and institution valued my professional development. Benefitting from this I learned to always look for that in places I applied to. I was also able to progress to a management position at BUSSW because I took on any task I was given and gave it my full attention. No task was too small. With five years of experience under my belt I landed my current role at Bridgewater State University as associate director of graduate admissions. I have been with BSU for five years now. At first there was a learning curve going from a private university to a public university, but again I feel I have been successful because I am not afraid to ask questions, tackle any projects, and step in where I am needed. As I have grown in my career, my work with NEGAP has grown. The professional development and connections provided by NAGAP and its chapters have been of extreme value to me. Through NAGAP and NEGAP my peers in this field have taught me numerous lessons, approaches, and styles of reaching success from small field-related tasks to professional development. 2. Briefly describe your pathway to getting involved with NAGAP and then becoming a chapter leader. The key to my getting involved with NAGAP was having the director of admissions at BUSSW tell me I should be. They could see I had a great interest in the field and would benefit from the organization's offerings. I admired their success and style and figured I should take the suggestion and run with it. I started going to NEGAP events. Then worked up the confidence to present at them, and then felt ready to run for an E-Board position. I began as secretary, then moved up to vice president, and now president. I am still learning
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new things every time I meet with our members. 3. What are some of the things you are looking to accomplish as a chapter president to further engage NAGAP members with your chapter? As a chapter president I have been working with my fellow board members on ensuring we are keeping the NAGAP community aware of our NEGAP events and progress through NAGAP News. We also keep the NEGAP chapter informed about NAGAP. What it is, especially in relation to our chapter, and all the benefits that come with a NAGAP membership or participation in one of their professional development opportunities. There are both NAGAP members who haven't signed up for NEGAP despite being in our region, and there are NEGAP members who are not NAGAP members yet. Keeping this in mind so that it informs everything we do has been key to getting people access to these great organizations. 4. How has your involvement with your chapter enhanced your experience as a NAGAP member? My involvement with my chapter has been the micro-learning experience to the macro experience I get at NAGAP. Attending NEGAP events first and getting involved with my chapter taught me professional organizations are useful and can help you transform in many ways. NAGAP did this on a larger scale and now getting to attend both NAGAP and NEGAP events for the past few years I have a well-rounded picture of what is going on nationally and internationally, as compared with my region. Both in terms of enrollment trends, marketing, and recruitment practices, and regarding professional commonalities or issues. n
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COMMUNICATIONS 101: THREE HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES By Amanda Miller, Brandeis University, and Samuel Sanchez, Boston College With many colleges and universities operating remotely or with limited in-person recruitment opportunities, improving communications streams has become a top priority. But where should you start? Which resources should you draw upon? How much research should go into your communications plan? I spoke with three higher education professionals at Boston College to get their insights. Adam Poluzzi is the assistant vice provost for graduate enrollment management at Boston College, which has eight graduate and professional schools. He has worked at Boston College for 20 years; prior to this role, he was the associate dean of enrollment management at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, and before that, he was the director of admissions and financial aid at Boston College’s School of Education. Tracy Bienen is a senior associate director of marketing communications in Boston College’s centralized communications office. She has been at Boston College for 12 years, and prior to that, worked at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. Samuel Sanchez is the associate director of graduate admissions and financial aid at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College, which largely involves planning, recruitment, and communications. He started working at Boston College in October of 2019, and before that worked in graduate admissions at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and before that in undergraduate admissions at Brandeis University. Amanda Miller: My first question, because this is relevant to people who already have streams developed and people who may still be in the process
of developing streams, is how do you set goals for your communication streams? Tracy Bienen: Generally, there are programmatic and institutional goals that are set, and the communications goals stem from those goals. So for example, if we have a program that is in need of students— we have the bandwidth to be able to put more people in classes and we have room for additional practica — we would focus on a program like that. What’s unique about the Lynch School is there are 52 programs, so there might be between four and 10 of those in any one year that we’ll focus on. We're going to set up a stream of communications that could speak to people in a general way, but we're going to try and really hone in on these four to 10 programs, but that's certainly something that comes from the programmatic goals. Samuel Sanchez: The goal of communications is to connect the prospective student to a specific program. And that was one thing that I noticed when I started; I came from a school where we had six programs, so we had the ability to, and the capacity to, work on programmatic specific messages across the entire suite of programs, information that we wanted to share with prospective students and admitted students and even enrolled students. Coming to the Lynch School, where there's a larger number of programs, the challenges are different, but the focus and the goals are the same: trying to provide program-specific information throughout the cycle. AM: When you're designing these communications, how are you setting yourself apart from your peers? What are you thinking about when you're starting to develop those communications in a way that makes your school stand out?
Adam Poluzzi: You really need to know who you are, and what your brand and identity are. Whenever I think about developing any communication tool, I want to make sure that it's offering the highest level of service to the student or applicant. I spend a lot of time in focus groups asking students, "If you're staring at your decision letter, what's your first thought, what's the first thing you want to know?" I’m trying to be proactive in anticipating what their questions are. Another way that we push ourselves to stand out is in the design of the emails, and Tracy's team, the Office of University Communications, came up with a great solution to that over this past year, to design emails that presented the information in engaging ways. Everybody's getting millions of emails in their inbox right now, and you want those emails to stand out and be really easy to consume, and that the design really reinforces the message, and we worked on that a lot over this past year. AM: So say you were in a brand new office or working with a brand new program, how do you prioritize your different communication streams (i.e., a prospective stream versus an applicant stream versus an admitted student stream versus a deposit stream)? SS: It's looking at your suite of options and resources and what you've already established in terms of your communication streams. So for example, I started in October, and I noticed that there was already a more robust inquiry stream and it hit all the themes that we wanted it to. But I knew that the next cycle that we were going to really invest a lot of time in was our yield cycle. We admit a lot of students, and we want to make sure we give them all the information that is necessary for them to make an informed decision. And there continued on page 6
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COMMUNICATIONS 101: THREE HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES CONTINUED was an opportunity there because there was a very small amount of programspecific content in that stream already. I know that Adam had conversations about the larger yield strategy, not just what events are we going to do, but how we communicate information about the events. Just by virtue of the time when I started and the resources that we had, the overall consensus was that the next important step for communications, at least within The Lynch School, was to focus on admitted students and to try to provide as much relevant and programspecific information to them as possible. TB: Just to hone in on one part of what you said, Sam, which is that the calendar is really key. In October, we're not creating a stream for inquiries, because we need to think about what we can have an impact on based on where we are in the calendar. It takes us a long time to do these projects because we again put a lot of research into them and we do a lot of reporting. So based on that, we can start thinking about rolling out a campaign around April; if we're rolling out a campaign in April, that by necessity is going to be an admit stream. AP: It does really matter where in the year you're starting from. But two things that really helped, is that first, Sam was very early on able to leverage the data that was available, and second, that he could utilize the technology that we had available. Sam worked very closely with the faculty to create short videos, as a way to respect the faculty’s time so that they weren't doing oneon-one conversations every single day with students, but it was also a way to share the particular faculty member’s voice and created high-quality content that we could lead folks to from the communications email. AM: Are there any other tools, or
specific features of your CRM, that you used to reach students? SS: Slate was certainly instrumental, especially when it came to managing the data and understanding what the data says about our population of students. It also allows for timely communications, so that you see your decision letter and you automatically start getting a series of emails that are relevant to your program. Another resource that was helpful when it came to trying to develop faculty videos and finding a platform to place them into was Panopto, which Boston College uses in a number of different capacities. “Our communication streams are very content-rich, and we try and make it digestible. But all of it is very well-reported, and we can stand behind every sentence. It's all absolutely 100% accurate.” When we had to look into virtual alternatives for our admitted student days, there were a lot of conversations to find resources that would host videos and let us be able to stream this content and to put it into an email, so that it’s one click away. I think that's the bigger point, thinking about the tools and resources you have. TB: I’d add that we do have an integrated marketing communication strategy for how we handle most things. We do digital advertising as mentioned for select programs. We have data from those who are interested in our programs. We also have a website that utilizes Google Analytics. So we can, with Google Analytics, see they’re landing on these pages, where they are going from those pages and how they got to those pages. Adam has focus groups where
we can ask people more qualitative information, but just in terms of the quantitative data, we can utilize that in order to bring people in and get the best information out of those kinds of data that we possibly can. AM: How much research are you doing prior to designing or redesigning a communication stream? TB: We do a ton of research, but it's never enough. Every program, in order to become a graduate program at Boston College, has to go through a faculty committee where they have to basically prove that they should even be a graduate program, so we get all of that information from them: Why is this program relevant, who are you reaching out to, who do you think is the audience for this, what are the things that differentiate us, all those basic things. We also have data people who give us tons of data. We use this reporting to create these messages that aren’t just, “Boston College is beautiful. You should come here,” although that's also true. Our communication streams are very contentrich, and we try and make it digestible. But all of it is very well-reported, and we can stand behind every sentence. It's all absolutely 100% accurate. SS: We also do a lot of research to contrast ourselves against competitor schools. We want to see what similar programs exist and how their messaging might be positioned on their website. If we have access to some of their messaging content, looking at that is also important, to see what the landscape is for messaging for specific programs. I will try to focus on a few programs at a time and try to develop content that is informative, that has the design look that we're going for, but also accurate from the first sentence to the last sentence. And I imagine many schools will juggle this continued on page 7
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COMMUNICATIONS 101: THREE HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES CONTINUED issue of capacity because we're not just doing communications in the admissions office; this research is just one project in a series of multiple projects focused on communications, and every couple of months we'll revisit different programs. AM: That actually brings up another question that I wanted to ask about: because, as you mentioned, it is just one project in a series of many. How do you manage the communications workflow? AP: Well, we have been very intentional about making all of these different activities more connected and complementary. So we do some digital marketing, and the visuals that you see in those digital ads are then reinforced, hopefully, by the messages that you see in the drip email campaigns and then are reinforced by the look and feel and navigation of the website. We are trying to be much more intentional about connecting those different pieces so there's a through-line in the experience. Last spring we brought different stakeholders together, who had different views: a budgetary view, a programmatic view, or a recruitment view, current student capacity, and that worked well for us. TB: In any school, you need to find your people. And they may not be in your office, they may not be in your division, but you can always find people around who can add to the communication streams that you're building. I mean, Sam sits in the Lynch School itself, Adam sits in the provost's office, I sit in the centralized university communications, but we've been able to come together. And then with the network that we're building with the faculty and the students and graduate students services and off-campus housing, we all have the same goal at heart. And I don't think that's just a Boston College thing, that's a higher education thing:
we're all here to benefit the students and that comes through in our communications as well, that sense of teamwork, that sense of we're all here to serve you as a student and it works from the project point of view. And that teamwork, how we actually get the work done, hopefully, flows through to the students feeling that there's really going to be a team around them when they come here. AM: Obviously, reaching out to alumni, the Career Center will be part of it, as well as faculty members and program managers, but who else would you say would be an asset that people who work in communications should tap into? TB: I tend to talk to all those people that you mentioned, but you never know who's gonna be helpful. Sometimes you can find somebody in the library or the archives who can tell you about the history of a program and how long it's been around. But certainly, all of the outward-facing people who deal with students, alumni, faculty, anybody who touches the program, should be seen as someone who you could bring into the fold because they're all people who have skin in the game. I generally go to faculty first, and it’s like looking for a job: you never leave one meeting without getting one name to talk to next; everybody you talk to, you should get another name from. I would also add that although these contacts are really key, sometimes people forget to ask about the people in data, because they're not part of your communications group. SS: I tend to think about it in terms of additional resources. It's important to think about who students interact with. So for example, if a student is new to the area and wants to learn about how they find an apartment, talk to off-campus housing. Or if students are worried about health coverage, the health center might be an
office that you would feature. I constantly think about, even if the student doesn't utilize the resource, what other resources can we package or present to them before they make their decision. TB: Especially this year, we did focus on health services, because of the pandemic. As we were bringing people in, all of a sudden, we needed to communicate to them that we're going to test every single student before they arrive on campus. We needed to make sure that we were connecting with people in health services or people in the administration who would make the call about whether we were going to remain open. COVID made communicating a lot of that even more important this year than it would be in any other year. AP: It’s an opportunity to connect with them and actually work together. It opens up some opportunities of where and when and who that communication is coming from and as Tracy said, it just creates more partners. We did a better job of that this year– because of the pandemic, we had to do that. We had to try and get that right, as much as we could. But it's on the agenda again for this year because we realized, "Oh, this actually helps," so let's keep improving the process. AM: You brought up how the pandemic has shifted or changed the ways that you think about communications. To close, I'd love to dive a little more into that. AP: It’s an interesting exercise to go back and try to remember when all the different things happened because everything is just now a blur. In late March, early April, higher education consulting firms were sending the top findings from their surveys, and a lot of those reinforced the idea that students were really yearning for more continued on page 8
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COMMUNICATIONS 101: THREE HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES CONTINUED communication during this time of uncertainty. So that required that we really did step up our game. By April or May, we had developed all of the prospective student emails, but we had to ask ourselves, “What do admitted students need?” We didn’t want to lose students because we can't give them the answers, and we didn't have all the answers at that point. There were a lot of questions asking, "What’s going to happen for classes? Is it on campus?
Am I going to be safe? Am I going to be tested?" We had to figure out how to respond to those questions, but we also wanted to make sure that people knew that this was a place that is going to support them. Then in May through July, a lot of racial justice issues began to really erupt, and that was a good opportunity for us to check in as a community here at Boston College. It was a good way to have accountability about the ongoing projects that we all need to
be working on. It was a good chance to brainstorm what else needed to be done. So out of that, Tracy and Sam worked on an amazing yield drip campaign that came out of anticipating the questions of students. This year especially, we wanted to be very intentional about the care and support and reinforcing the idea that this is a place that's going to maintain a community, no matter what things look like. n
NAGAP Chapters
Join or Start a Chapter Today!
For those of you looking to get more involved with NAGAP, your local chapter is a great place to start. Chapters provide a wonderful opportunity to network, to participate in regional workshops and conferences, and to assume leadership positions. They are also a great resource for learning more about GEM, especially if you are unable to attend the GEM Summit. NAGAP has eight regional U.S. chapters, one international chapter, and two special interest chapters. To find out which chapter your state is a member of, visit NAGAP’s Chapters page. Here you will find contact information for each chapter president, and a link to the chapter’s website or social media page. Most chapters have a “join” or “contact us” link on the landing page. If you find your state is not affiliated with a chapter, you may be interested in beginning a new chapter. For more information, review the How To Get Started overview. Questions? Please contact us at info@nagap.org.
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MAKING THE TRANSITION TO A NEW CRM By Caitlin A. Getchell, J.D., The University of Tulsa The past year has had many challenges, but in the midst of restructuring and moving to remote work the Graduate School at The University of Tulsa also undertook a transition to a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. In 2016, our office first moved to an online CRM system when we contracted with Ellucian Recruiter. While there were challenges related to building the system in Recruiter, moving our homegrown application process online went relatively smoothly. This year in an effort to streamline our university processes, we transitioned from Recruiter
into your timeline, and build in time for potential delays. Consider whether some steps can wait until later in the transition. For example, can you continue using your current communication flow to keep your internal processes running smoothly and only edit this step once you are ready to make the final transition? You may also want to consider your academic calendar and how to implement the new system with minimal effect. For instance, choosing to activate your new system in the middle of an application cycle may complicate
Building a New System Our move to Slate began in early 2020 when our project lead attended a training on how to customize our Slate application. Upon their return they trained the rest of our team on creating the templates and system processes in Slate. We then began working on pieces of the application build with a goal of having the application ready for testing by March and transitioning all applications into the new CRM by June. Our office opened the new applications in batches, starting with two programs
relevant systems
to Slate, a system our undergraduate admissions office has used for several years. The main issues we faced with the transition included: timelines, building the new application system, preserving data from the old application system, and communication between the application system and other university databases.
Timelines
the application process if you have applicants in two systems simultaneously. The system administrators for your new CRM may have valuable insight on timeframes for each step, and you may also want to discuss their schedule for system updates so you don’t use valuable time during the building phase fixing a glitch that will be corrected in an upcoming update.
When you create your timeline, start by setting the date that the new system should be live, then work backward setting time for each step. Include time for building and testing the new system, as well as the data transition and creating the communication between the application system and any relevant university systems. Take time to create accurate estimates for each step of the process in order to build ample time
The timeline was the biggest challenge for our office as our deadline was set by the expiration of our contract with the previous CRM; after September 30 we would have no access to our Recruiter application system. We needed the transition to Slate to be completed prior to that deadline. As a result, our testing and data transition phases were a bit rushed, causing some hiccups that may have been avoided if we’d had more time.
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in the spring. By June all our program applications were live in Slate, although we still had a handful of applicants who completed applications in Recruiter since they were far enough in the process that transitioning them to the new system would have created a barrier to their application process. Other ways to help soften these barriers may include application fee waivers for students affected by the transition; advance messaging about the transition on your website so applicants are prepared; or separating the application systems by term, especially if you have rolling admission (i.e., fall applications use one system and spring applications use the new system). The application build was the longest part of the process, and one that is ongoing with small tweaks as we continued on page 10
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MAKING THE TRANSITION TO A NEW CRM discover issues that aren’t working as expected or could be updated to run more smoothly. While working with a CRM means you have a template to start with, there is a lot of customization required to create the application. This part of the process may not take as long for some institutions, but our office manages the application process for all graduate programs— meaning we were creating applications for programs with vastly different requirements and needs. Additionally, applications are reviewed by the department so once the build was complete the faculty had to be trained on the new application process.
Transitioning Data Another challenge we faced moving from Recruiter into Slate was that once our contract with Recruiter expired we would lose access to all the application files in Recruiter. Once you have made the decision about what system your office is transitioning to, create a complete list of all the information you want to preserve from your current CRM and create a plan for rescuing that data. Information to preserve may include your recruitment trends from previous years, applicant and prospect data, event data, etc. Conversely, depending on your programs, you may not need to save prospect data from previous recruitment cycles. Our office routinely saved admitted student applications to their student
The NAGAP Experts Bureau
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record once they enrolled, but records for students who declined their admission or were denied admission were not generally saved outside of the CRM. Additionally, our recruitment event data was also stored in the CRM. We often refer to this data when making decisions regarding recruitment or reporting admission statistics throughout the year, so this needed to be considered when deciding what data to prioritize preserving. Taking our list of data we wanted to preserve we generated a list of all the events, applicant records, etc., that would need to be transferred. Starting with the data we considered highest priority, in March we had our graduate assistants begin pulling this data and saving it in a secure file on our university server. We circled back around to this project in early September and began verifying that all the data we needed successfully transferred and began pulling additional data missed in the first sweep. It is important to accurately assess the time needed for this step, especially if you have a deadline after which the data will no longer be accessible to your team.
Communications Between University Systems The final step we needed to complete was the communication between our application system and the university databases. For our office, not only did the application need to be connected
to the university website and online payment system, but we also needed the application CRM to communicate with the university CRM in order to create student records and storing application documents in the electronic student records. Until the systems were communicating the only way to have student records created was for our admissions team to manually enter them into the university database. The process for having the two systems communicate had several unanticipated delays, and we weren’t able to get the system communication live until December, which is why it is important to build time for unexpected delays into your timeline. This delay didn’t prevent our new application system from going live or delay our ability to preserve data from the previous application system, but there were other effects that might have been avoided if we had been able to give this step more time before switching systems. n
Join the Conversation! This was a great learning experience for our team, and we are now at a point where we have the new system running smoothly. Join the conversation on NAGAP’s The Exchange and discuss in more depth your experiences, questions, or concerns regarding implementation of a new system!
The NAGAP Experts Bureau provides members, as well as outside media, with valuable and reliable resources in the matters of GEM. NAGAP members benefit from having well-respected colleagues within the organization who can confidently and respectfully respond to their best-practice questions or concerns.
Areas of expertise include, but are not limited to: • Recruitment & Marketing • International Recruitment & Retention • Graduate & Adult Student Services • Staff Professional Development • Ethical Issues in GEM • Admissions Policies & Procedures and Operations & Technologies
• Diversity & Inclusion in GEM • Academic Program Development • STEM, Biomedical, Medical School Recruitment and Retention
Questions, concerns, or feedback for the Experts Bureau may be directed to nagapmedia@gmail.com.
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HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAM RECRUITMENT DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM GEM PROFESSIONALS AND PRE-HEALTH ADVISORS Dr. Stanley Kania, Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine; Dr. Dave Fletcher, Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine; Kate McConnell, Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies; Emily Olsen, Iowa State University As the spring 2020 semester began, everything was business as usual. Higher education professionals returned to campus from their holiday break. Recruiters were continuing to plan their spring travel schedules in hopes of meeting excellent prospective students and seeing familiar faces at graduate fairs. Advisors were scheduling meetings with students to help them develop plans for applying to graduate and health professions programs in the upcoming application cycle. The semester was pressing on as usual; that was until March 2020 came upon us. The global spread of the COVID-19 virus that became a pandemic significantly impacted the higher education industry. Colleges and universities began to close campuses and move to remote instruction for students. Campus administrators needed to quickly pivot to ensure their campuses were operating as normally as possible, given the rapidly changing global climate due to the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, GEM administrators and recruiters needed to quickly adapt their recruitment strategies, especially since they were in the middle of an admissions cycle. As GEM professionals have transitioned to working remotely and have adapted to virtual recruitment initiatives, there have been some NAGAP members who have asked for information on health professions admissions during the pandemic. How has the global pandemic impacted your recruitment strategy? How has it impacted your admissions cycle? What changes did you make and what has/has not worked? As such, this article aims to explore how the global pandemic has impacted health professions student recruitment. To investigate these questions, we interviewed a variety of health
professions GEM administrators and recruiters to gain insights on changes to their student recruitment initiatives. Additionally, we wanted to gain insights from undergraduate health professions advisors to see what concerns they were hearing from current undergraduate students regarding applying to graduate health professions programs during a global pandemic.
applicants, the consensus is most health professions institutions would prefer students to take letter grades for classes if given the option. Additionally, since testing centers across the country have cancelled or rescheduled standardized testing dates for many applicants, some institutions have been flexible with applicants taking certain standardized admission tests. For example, some institutions are allowing students to submit standardized tests later in the admissions cycle or even substitute the GRE in place of discipline specific standardized tests. Some institutions have extended their application deadline for students in order to accommodate those applicants still waiting to take standardized tests. Also, some institutions are allowing applicants to request standardized test waivers for this application cycle. Whatever changes these institutions made to their admission policies this cycle, all of them reported posting this information on their website, notifying applicants via email, and even posting these changes on their institutional profile through their centralized application systems. Institutions also reached out to collaborating undergraduate health professions advisors to let them know about the changes to their admission policy and process this cycle.
Insights from GEM Health Professions Administrators and Recruiters To explore how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted health professions GEM operations and recruitment, we interviewed several GEM administrators and recruiters at various health professions programs and institutions across the United States representing the following fields: allopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, nursing, and optometry. The first question during these interviews asked about the changes these institutions made during the current cycle in recruiting students, specifically policy and recruitment tactics. Some undergraduate institutions have given students the option of taking pass/ fail grades instead of traditional letter grades for their courses over the past few semesters. Other institutions changed their entire grading procedure to a pass/ fail system and have not given students the options of taking letter grades. As a result, most graduate institutions consulted made changes to their admissions policy to allow for pass/fail grades this cycle and for future cycles in which previous semesters were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While many graduate health professions programs are accepting pass/fail grades from
When asked about recruitment tactics, many institutions reported that they have moved from on-campus interviews to offering virtual interviews for candidates. Transitioning to virtual interviews was new for most institutions, as many institutions had conducted in-person interviews with admissions candidates until the pandemic forced a change. While a few institutions reported experiencing some growing pains with moving to virtual interviews, continued on page 12
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HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAM RECRUITMENT DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM GEM PROFESSIONALS AND PRE-HEALTH ADVISORS CONTINUED the transition itself was mostly smooth. Institutions had immediate support from faculty and administration in moving to virtual interviews and conducted training with their faculty regarding the relevant virtual platform. Most institutions conducted live virtual interviews with candidates. Henry Cantu, director of admissions and special programs at the University of Texas at San Antonio School of Nursing, shared how his institution was handling interviews. “We switched to conducting virtual interviews well before the pandemic,” said Cantu. “We use a platform for candidates to record their interviews, which are then reviewed by faculty. Our faculty really like this system!” Institutions have reported being able to interview a greater number of candidates this cycle. This may be attributed, in part, to students being able to interview virtually, which allows students to save significant amounts of money since otherwise they often must pay for their own travel when interviewing at many institutions. Each institution consulted stated that they have moved to a virtual recruitment strategy since the start of the global pandemic. Institutions have reported using a variety of virtual recruitment tactics, such as hosting virtual open house/ informational sessions and attending virtual graduate recruitment fairs. Most institutions who hosted these virtual sessions saw good registration numbers and high levels of engagement with prospective students. Dr. Linda BerardiDemo, associate dean of admissions and assistant professor of medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, found their virtual open house events to be quite successful. “We have seen excellent attendance at our virtual open house events,” said Dr. BerardiDemo. She continued, “These events allow us to reach a larger number of
prospective students, and they will probably continue after the pandemic because of their success.” Dr. Michelle Schmude, associate dean of admissions and associate professor of medicine at Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, also saw great results from virtual admissions events. “Our institution quickly pivoted to hosting online virtual admissions events, such as open houses and informational sessions, and have been quite successful. We have seen great attendance at our virtual events.” “We switched to conducting virtual interviews well before the pandemic. We use a platform for candidates to record their interviews which are then reviewed by faculty. Our faculty really like this system!” However, there were some institutions that reported that moving to a completely virtual recruitment strategy was not helpful at all and saw poor attendance at some virtual events. Some institutions reported offering virtual advisement sessions for students as well, in addition to other virtual recruitment events. For example, Lisa Lee, dean of student services & enrollment management at New York College of Podiatric Medicine, reported prospective students being able to request one-on-one advisement meetings with counselors. Similarly, Teisha Johnson, senior director of admissions at Illinois College of Optometry, stated that her office has been offering one-on-one virtual counseling sessions with students this cycle. Many GEM professionals reported hearing some concerns from prospective students this cycle, particularly
surrounding clinical shadowing experiences. Dr. Dave Fletcher, director of admissions at Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine, noticed a significant number of prospects and applicants concerned about the limited availability of shadowing opportunities because of the pandemic. As a result, in fall 2020 he implemented a series of webinars presented by faculty on various aspects concerning the practice of podiatric medicine, for example, wound care, podiatric sports medicine, podopediatrics, and general surgery. We then asked these GEM professionals how their institution has shifted their course delivery method to their students during the pandemic. All institutions stated that they have shifted mainly to online course delivery for their lecturebased courses. Some institutions reported still having small in-person sessions for clinical experiences and labs while ensuring that social distancing guidelines are followed. Although institutions are doing all they can to ensure the quality of course delivery to current students, we asked these GEM professionals if they believe that online course delivery is deterring students from applying and matriculating this cycle. Most institutions have indicated that they have not heard this concern from prospective students. “If anything, it’s quite the opposite,” said Teisha Johnson from Illinois College of Optometry. “Many students are eager to start their optometric careers despite the impact that COVID-19 has had on educational delivery methods.” However, the same cannot be said for podiatric medicine programs. Both New York College of Podiatric Medicine and Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine reported their highest number of deferral requests in the past admissions cycle. Anecdotal evidence reported by some schools indicates that the online delivery continued on page 13
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HEALTH PROFESSIONS PROGRAM RECRUITMENT DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC: INSIGHTS FROM GEM PROFESSIONALS AND PRE-HEALTH ADVISORS CONTINUED environment has impacted matriculation. One director of admission spoke of a “pervasive belief that the education is sub-par if not conducted in person. This is compounded in the medical profession, which is a contact discipline and, when done remotely, there is an inherent belief that it is not up to standard.” This point is further reiterated with one institution reporting that current students are having trouble with online coursework and miss the traditional face-to-face interaction with faculty.
Insights from Undergraduate Health Professions Advisors While it was vital to hear from GEM professionals who work in health professions admissions, it was equally important to hear from undergraduate health professions advisors to provide context from the undergraduate student perspective. The first question we asked the advisors was about the primary concerns for undergraduate health professions students. The number one concern of undergraduate students, as identified by advisors, is the inability to gain clinical exposure (i.e., clinical shadowing, clinical volunteering, etc.). “One area that has caused a great deal of concern among students is the availability, or lack thereof, of experience opportunities during the pandemic,” said Emily Olsen, academic adviser in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. “Many students have expressed concern that they have not been able to get shadowing experiences and are concerned that their application will not be considered if they do not have as extensive experience as they might have if they had been able to follow their original plan. This lack of experiences has been especially concerning for students who have come to the decision to apply to a health professional program later in their college
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career.” Megan Dailey, health professions advisor at Moravian College, agrees, “Current hospital systems do not have the capacity to take in student observers due to space and PPE.” The next major concern of undergraduate students is maintaining good grades in the midst of a global pandemic. Mary Ellen Raposa, associate director of pre-professional and pre-graduate advising at Lehigh University, says, “My observation, from conversations with prehealth students during the pandemic, is that, although they have some trepidation about contracting the virus, their major concerns are the same as pre-pandemic: grades, extracurriculars, and compiling a competitive application to their health professional school of choice.” All the academic advisors interviewed stated that they have not heard that online delivery of coursework at graduate health professions programs is deterring undergraduate students from applying to these programs. Other concerns mentioned by health professions advisors include students’ concerns over virtual interviews, how graduate health professions programs will view pass/fail grades, especially if students were given the option of receiving letter grades, how graduate programs will view online coursework, standardized test scores and how pandemic fatigue reflects on their application to graduate programs.
It is apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the process of applying to and recruiting for graduate health professions programs, to a greater or lesser degree. However, the ability of programs to adapt and of advisors to give appropriate guidance have made a significant challenge more manageable, on both ends. This will likely continue to be the rule of the day as we continue to navigate this new COVID-19 world. If your program or institution is struggling to adapt, don’t forget to reach out to your NAGAP network and ask your colleagues for help and suggestions, or be the one to offer assistance. Working together, we’ll get through this together. n
The last question for the undergraduate health professions advisors was centered around gap years and asked if they found that more undergraduate students were considering taking a gap year because of the pandemic. A gap year can be defined as the year between the completion of college and the next application cycle to graduate school/ professional programs where students engage in various educational and/or professional activities, such as academic
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enhancement, research, volunteer activities, community service, etc. After speaking to the undergraduate health professions advisors, it appears that some students are taking gap years and some students are not. Some undergraduate students just want to apply directly to graduate programs because they do not want to stop their education. “I have not heard of more students delaying professional school this cycle than in previous years,” said Emily Olsen, from Iowa State University. “I think some are applying, even if they don’t have the expected experience, to see what happens.” Megan Dailey, from Moravian College, said that more students have traditionally applied directly from undergraduate studies and she tries to explain the benefits of taking a gap year and how it can improve their application the next cycle. Mary Ellen Raposa, from Lehigh University, on the other hand, sees a good number of her undergraduate students take a gap year after college. “The large majority of our applicants to medical school already take at least one gap year [in order to compile a competitive application],” said Raposa.
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INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT IN A VIRTUAL WORLD: CHALLENGES FROM THE FALL SEMESTER Melissa Sersland, Northwestern University, and Amanda Miller, Brandeis University We followed up with four higher education professionals to find out how they dealt with the challenges of the fall semester, their plans for the future, and their successes of the past year.
Sarah Gallagher, Northeastern University Battling Zoom Burnout, Launching a New Mentorship Program in a Pandemic, and Hosting On-Campus Events Sarah Gallagher, associate director of academic services, student support, and programming within Northeastern University's Office of Global Services, had significant experience in hosting virtual events prior to the COVID19 pandemic; one of her office’s international yield events had always had a virtual session for students who were not able to attend. However, transitioning activities to a virtual format still posed significant challenges. One of the primary obstacles Gallagher faced was "Zoom burnout:" “I think there were so many opportunities, and people were trying to do so much that students were overwhelmed.” Gallagher’s own team began providing programming twice a week, a significant increase from their four signature programming events hosted in past years. The upshot, Gallagher added, is that the virtual format provided a unique opportunity to be creative since virtual events are less expensive to host than in-person events. Their new virtual programming struck a balance between giving students opportunities to connect with one another (such as virtual study halls and trivia events) as well as informative programs that covered both cultural and academic topics. Programming with a more practical focus, Gallagher says, has proved to be the most successful among students; particularly well attended were webinars that focused on applying for H1-B visas,
filing taxes, how to stop procrastinating, and effective study strategies. Another challenge arose from launching a new initiative in the middle of a pandemic: by March, Gallagher’s team was in the midst of launching a new mentorship program that would match incoming international students with current students. With many new international students unable to come to the U.S. due to travel restrictions or an inability to obtain student visas, Gallagher’s team had to think critically about how the mentorship program would be implemented: “We had to take a look at our program goals, which were helping students transition to the United States, helping to build a community, and improve resource utilization.” Rather than open the mentorship program to students who were abroad, Gallagher’s team opted instead to have a smaller cohort and focus on providing quality content to the approximately 150 students who signed up for the program and were able to come to the U.S. Gallagher explained, “Particularly in the fall, when we were still in the midst of the pandemic, we had so many students who were unable to come, and even the students who were on campus, many of them weren’t able to meet in person. Instead, we offered a lot of professional development opportunities like, ‘How to make the most of virtual meetings? What can you do with your mentors from afar and how to still build those connections?’ I do think it was helpful to have the mentorship program in place. Our survey results were really good, and I think it had a positive impact on the mentors as well.” In addition to these initiatives to engage international students, Gallagher was also challenged to provide safe in-person events (Northeastern University adopted a hybrid model for the Fall 2020 semester). Most in-person programming
was hosted outdoors, mask-wearing was enforced, and there was a limit on how many students were able to participate. Events ranged from having food trucks set up in one of the quads to a kayaking expedition. Only one event was hosted indoors, with significant safety measures in place: students were given timed tickets, and Gallagher’s team reserved two separate spaces so that one space could be cleaned while the other was in use and vice versa. Students followed a strict check-in protocol to ensure they were in testing compliance. It is possible, but, Gallagher cautioned, it took months of planning in partnership with her institution’s Public Safety Office and Facilities. For enrollment management professionals looking ahead, Gallagher has this advice as you plan for the coming semesters: “It’s really important to be able to pivot and adapt and be able to come up with new things, trying to innovate and trying to make sense of the data and give students what they need and want right now, instead of what might be easiest. This has been a time when we have all learned new skills, and that’s been an opportunity.”
Kathleen Costello, Clemson University Success in Virtual Grad School 101 Sessions and Pop-Up Ad Campaign This fall, virtual graduate fairs proved to be a challenge. Kathleen Costello, director of graduate admissions and recruitment at Clemson University, said the reception from her programs on virtual fairs was “not positive.” “Many paid to participate and had little to no students chat with them,” she said. Instead, Costello found success with Virtual Grad School 101 sessions and a pop-up ad campaign through Halda, continued on page 15
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INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT IN A VIRTUAL WORLD: CHALLENGES FROM THE FALL SEMESTER CONTINUED a digital marketing company. Costello’s team offered 16 sessions (all online) that were attended by 370 prospective students. Of the 370, 68 have applied and 100 have started an application. Costello said the sessions discuss graduate school generally, including the benefits and funding options. Her team walks through the application process and concludes with a Q&A. When possible, they invite current graduate students and faculty to serve as panelists. Costello worked with campus partners and other schools to find the best days and times to hold sessions – midday and midweek and evenings worked well. They held an international-studentspecific session at 9 a.m. Eastern to accommodate for the time difference. After the session, they send a recording of the session and a short survey to get feedback. The Halda pop-up ad campaign allowed Costello’s team to focus on “stealth” prospects, who visit their site but are not yet in their CRM. On Clemson's preparing to apply and general graduate academic program pages, students were prompted to answer three questions: Where are you in the grad search process, what is your biggest motivation for going to grad school, and what is your biggest concern? After prospective students put in their name and email, Clemson then put together a short, personalized plan addressing their motivation and concern, with information on who from Clemson would reach out to them to go over their program of interest. The pop-up ad campaign resulted in 350 leads, 27 of whom have submitted an application. “They were super easy and enjoyable to work with. Their ideas and turn-around time was great,” Costello said.
Da'Esha McPhaul, North Carolina State University
and we try to communicate that to them through that space,” McPhaul said.
Common 2020 Questions, Successful Joint Virtual Recruiting Event
In terms of COVID-19 application related questions, McPhaul said requests for application fee waivers and inquiries about TOEFL/IELTS scores are up. “We’re assuming students are looking to lower the risk to apply for schools,” McPhaul said. Prospective international students are also concerned about taking the TOEFL or IELTS in person, and with getting application materials submitted on time due to universities being shut down.
Pre-March 2020, Da’Esha McPhaul’s team focused on monthly in-person information sessions, coffee chats, in-person consultations and tours. Information sessions were held in fall and spring and paused in summer. However, McPhaul, assistant head of admissions for the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University, sees her program’s virtual information sessions becoming more of a regular thing. Her team holds the sessions at 9 a.m. Eastern every three weeks.
Finally, McPhaul and her team partnered with several other analytics programs to host a joint virtual graduate fair through CareerEco. The inspiration to collaborate based on disciplines came from the 2018 NAGAP conference in New Orleans and BIOGAP. The event had good turnout; the largest presence was from international students, McPhaul said. During the four-hour long event, McPhaul and her team utilized the general chatroom and individual chats, while other programs used video and hourly information sessions. Her team is looking to repeat the event for next year.
“It’s our main way to interact with students right now, so even if we reduce the frequency of them, we plan to keep those in play,” she said. In their emails to prospective students, McPhaul and her team include links to schedule a virtual consultation and to register for upcoming virtual events. At every one of the information sessions, McPhaul said her team has received some common COVID-19 questions, including how the school responded to COVID-19, what next year’s class will look like, and career outcomes.
Sebastian Fuentes, the University of Texas at Arlington Adjusting to Meet International Needs
To address questions about the current student experience, McPhaul also shared a brief message on the state of their program with prospective students and held a virtual panel with current students talking about what starting the program virtually looked like for them.
Sebastian Fuentes’ team has fully committed to working at hours convenient to international students. “It’s lots of 3 a.m. waking up in the morning,” said Fuentes, associate director of graduate and international recruitment at the University of Texas at Arlington. Schedules have been moved around so a recruiter can start at 5 or 6 a.m. for a virtual fair and finish work at midafternoon, or to take a day off to then work a fair from 2 a.m. to 8 a.m.
For career outcomes, McPhaul said her team likens 2020 to the job search after 2008 as a benchmark to anticipate how students will fare now. They also included pieces in their newsletter on 2020 alumni and their new jobs. “We recognize this is a major concern for a lot of people,
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INTERNATIONAL RECRUITMENT IN A VIRTUAL WORLD: CHALLENGES FROM THE FALL SEMESTER CONTINUED “Overall, adjusting our work schedule to be conducive for international populations at a timeframe closer and more feasible for them has been more beneficial,” he said. “That’s the big underscore for all of this.” They’ve also continued to offer 7 a.m. information sessions geared for international time zones. A key challenge Fuentes and his team have addressed is how to remain present in a market when you physically cannot travel there. “Do you look at digital marketing or geofencing in the area? Do you rely on faculty contacts to do recruitment? I think that our inability to travel and it continuing to be prolonged is going to be an ongoing discussion on how we continue to be present when we’re not there,” Fuentes said. Fuentes noticed that international recruitment webinars focused on increasing engagement with overseas partners and international agents. He has implemented strategies to do so, including more frequent meetings, trainings, and event planning with his international partners. Two virtual events coordinated with agents in December led to 800 new student inquiries and 150 pending applications for fall 2021. Fuentes' team also added a country coordinator based overseas to bolster their international recruitment efforts. “Their focus will be to help maintain partnerships with agents or university agreements and increase recruitment efforts for some populations we’re not as strong in,” Fuentes said.
not be able to. Especially working on the prices, it’s more economically feasible to have this person travel than to book travel from the U.S. that costs $2,000.” But he sees the continued possibilities for international virtual student fairs even when travel again becomes possible. Virtual fairs running in tandem with in-person fairs would help schools be strategic in allocating budget dollars. “I’m hoping post-COVID, virtual recruiting internationally continues to be an option,” Fuentes said. Fuentes found engagement waning at the end of October and November. “Graduate prospects were probably Zoomed out,” he said. But international student interest in studying in the U.S. remains. “There’s still a desire to come to the U.S. and pursue studies,” he said. “The U.S. is still the gold standard of education worldwide.” n
2020–2022 NAGAP GOVERNING BOARD Officers President Jeremiah Nelson Wake Forest University School of Business
Vice President Kristen Sterba University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Secretary Naronda Wright Georgia Southern University Treasurer Andrew Kim Memorial University of Newfoundland School of Graduate Studies Immediate Past President Keith Ramsdell Ashland University Executive Director Katherine Hughey NAGAP, The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management
References Costello, K. (2021, January 5). Personal interview. Fuentes, S. (2020, December 21). Personal interview. Gallagher, S. (2020, December 22). Personal interview. McPhaul, D. (2020, December 17). Personal interview.
Having someone based abroad could benefit travel short-term and, with budget cuts a very real possibility for the future, will save travel dollars long-term, he said. “Someone on our team may be able to travel to other countries when we may
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UNDERSTANDING HOLISTIC GRADUATE ADMISSIONS PRACTICES: SUMMARY OF A CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT
Directors Paula Baker University of Minnesota Katherine Beczak Rochester Institute of Technology
Dr. Joseph Paris, Temple University
Gregg Henderschiedt University of Florida
Abstract
Stanley Kania Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine Jennifer Kulbeck Saint Mary's College of California Dana Mordecai University of North Texas Amanda Ostreko University of Kansas Mary Pascarella Sam Houston State University Ryan Taughrin University at Buffalo
Publications Committee Denise Bridwell University of Kansas Dave Fletcher Barry University School of Podiatric Medicine
Holistic review, or the consideration of a wide range of applicant qualities including “non-cognitive” or personal attributes, is a growing strategy for expanding the predictive potential derived from the variables most commonly evaluated in graduate admissions: cumulative undergraduate GPA and standardized test scores such as the GRE (Kent & McCarthy, 2016; Okahana et al., 2018). This article describes a NAGAP-sponsored research study that responds to the need identified by Kent and McCarthy (2016) for a “clearer understanding of what constitutes a truly ‘holistic’ graduate admissions process for master’s and doctoral programs” (p. iv). The project also aims to generate guidelines for the practice of holistic review in graduate admissions.
Introduction
Caitlin Getchell University of Tulsa
The growing prominence of graduate
education as an economic and societal imperative requires colleges and universities to utilize evaluative criteria and selection methodologies with concern for the fair and equitable distribution of educational opportunities. Research suggests that graduate admissions models that place undue emphasis on quantitative measures of student academic achievement and ability may not reliably and accurately predict success in graduate school and may disadvantage underrepresented student populations (Bleske-Rechek & Browne, 2014; Kent, & McCarthy, 2016; Miller & Stassun, 2014). Given the decline of traditional aged undergraduate students and the role of graduate admissions as a gateway to graduate education, there is applied interest in the processes and methodologies by which institutions evaluate and select applicants. Holistic review, or the consideration of a wide range of applicant qualities including “non-cognitive” or personal attributes, is
Kate McConnell Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate Professional Studies
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Amanda Miller Brandeis University Kittie Pain Kutztown University Troy Sterk Seattle University
The Exchange Check out NAGAP’s The Exchange: a social networking resource library to communicate with colleagues, share ideas, and get the most up-to-date NAGAP and GEM-related news. Learn more about this members-only platform and its various functions by visiting nagap.org, and join a discussion today!
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UNDERSTANDING HOLISTIC GRADUATE ADMISSIONS PRACTICES: SUMMARY OF A CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT CONTINUED a growing strategy for expanding the predictive potential derived from the variables most commonly considered in graduate admissions: undergraduate GPA and standardized test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) (Kent & McCarthy, 2016). In its truest form, a holistic approach to the evaluation of graduate admissions applicants does not consider a single criterion in isolation (ETS, 2020). In response to the broad and variable definition of holistic review, researchers and practitioners have called for a “clearer understanding of what constitutes a truly ‘holistic’ graduate admissions process for master’s and
doctoral programs” (Kent & McCarthy, 2016, p. iv). Additionally, there has been an increased emphasis on the intentionality of holistic admissions processes and whether these processes are being executed in a way that identifies the most promising admission candidates while ensuring equity, equality, and inclusivity (ETS, 2020). Okahana et al. (2018) examined three factors that combine to improve master’s degree program success: “defining the potential for student success, identifying the admission attributes considered most important for achieving success, and systematically identifying the materials used to evaluate those attributes” (p. 3). A key distinction from Okahana et al. (2018) is that the study summarized
in this article examines these factors in the context of both master’s and doctoral admissions. Further, the current study emphasizes how holistic review processes in graduate admissions may differ across institutional contexts (e.g., Graduate Enrollment Management [GEM] structure, institutional characteristics) and graduate degree levels (e.g., master’s, doctoral).
Purpose of the Study This article describes the research project, “Evaluating Potential: An Investigation of Holistic Graduate Admissions Practices,” a study sponsored by NAGAP as part of its Graduate Education Research Grant program. The current study explores the use of continued on page 19
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UNDERSTANDING HOLISTIC GRADUATE ADMISSIONS PRACTICES: SUMMARY OF A CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT CONTINUED cognitive and non-cognitive criteria for evaluating and selecting graduate admission applicants and predicting their potential to achieve success and make meaningful contributions to their learning environment. The study investigates the development and use of various tools and methodologies for reliably collecting, reviewing, and evaluating graduate admissions applicants’ noncognitive attributes. These non-cognitive characteristics include, but are not limited to, persistence, grit, stress management, coping, interpersonal effectiveness, and commitment to the discipline or careers associated with applicants’ intended graduate program1.
and graduate enrollment managers to better understand the opportunities, benefits, and challenges of holistic review, the current study responds to the following research questions:
Additionally, the current study examines the relationships between holistic review practices and institutional characteristics (e.g., geographic setting, institutional control, enrollment size, graduate degree types and levels, academic disciplines); GEM organizational structures/models (Integrated Interdependence Model, Integrated Interdependence Nexus Model2); and the institutional mission, values, and strategic priorities (e.g., enrollment and tuition revenue growth, enhancing student diversity [institutionwide and/or within specific academic programs], increasing student quality [as measured by undergraduate GPA, standardized test scores, or other measures]). These relationships are underexplored despite the fact that the study conducted by Okahana et al. (2018) remains one of the most comprehensive investigations of holistic graduate admissions practices to date. The findings of the study will be used to generate guidelines for the practice of holistic review in the context of GEM.
4. How do GEM professionals describe their perceptions and understandings of holistic review in the context of graduate admissions?
In the interest of aiding faculty members and higher education administrators such as graduate deans, program directors,
Participants
1. Does the practice of holistic review differ across institution types and characteristics? 2. Does the practice of holistic review differ across GEM structures (e.g., Integrated Interdependence Model, Integrated Interdependence Nexus Model)? 3. Does the practice of holistic review differ across academic disciplines?
The study also responds to the following secondary research questions: 1. In what ways (if any) does the evaluation of non-cognitive attributes reflect institutional mission, values, and strategic priorities of the specific academic program for which a graduate admissions applicant is evaluated? 2. How do institutions collect, review, and evaluate applicants’ non-cognitive attributes (e.g., personal qualities and experiences; personality traits, temperament, and self-appraisal; motivation and perseverance)?
Methodology
Participants in the study include GEM professionals who are members of NAGAP, The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management. The target recruitment for this study is 306 respondents to a survey instrument disseminated to NAGAP members (P = ~1,500). According to Krejcie and Morgan (1970), a sample of this size allows the researcher to conduct statistical analyses with a 95% confidence interval (d = .05). The target recruitment for this study also includes 10 interview participants. Respondents of the survey will be asked whether they are willing to participate in a 30-minute follow-up interview via Zoom. Those who indicate a willingness to participate in an interview will be selected randomly for participation in the follow-up interview. In order to participate in this study, participants must be currently employed in GEM or a related field at a graduate degreegranting institution and 18 years of age or older. Data Collection Participation includes the completion of a survey instrument and a follow-up interview (if randomly selected based on indication of willingness to participate in follow-up interview). The survey takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. The interviews are expected to last 30 minutes. This study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Temple University. Survey data were collected between June 24 and October 15, 2020. Interviews were conducted between July 8 and October 29, 2020. The survey instrument used in the current study was adapted from two surveys developed by Okahana et al. (2018) to collect data on what admissions processes are used in master’s
In order to answer the research questions above, the researcher will employ a mixed-method approach to data collection and analysis.
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These skills were identified by Okahana et al. (2018) as essential for improving admission success thereby leading to overall graduate program success.
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According to Connor, LaFave, and Balayan (2017), GEM organizational structures have multiple models that range from decentralized to centralized, including a number of hybrid models, such as a centralized GEM office that works collaboratively with other decentralized departments. A decentralized GEM office is typically situated within an academic school or college.
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UNDERSTANDING HOLISTIC GRADUATE ADMISSIONS PRACTICES: SUMMARY OF A CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECT CONTINUED education. The interview protocol used in the current study was adapted from questions developed by Okahana et al. (2018) as part of regional focus groups that informed the design of the aforementioned survey instrument. The interview protocol included semistructured interview questions designed to elicit participants’ perceptions and understandings of holistic review in the context of graduate admissions. Limitations There are limitations to this study of which readers should be aware. Several non-cognitive attributes will not be examined such as collegiality, collaboration, cooperation; social orientation; time management; and ability to work under stress. These attributes were studied by Okahana et al. (2018), but are not the focus of the current study. These non-cognitive attributes were not included as items on the survey to limit the length of the survey and thereby enhance response rate. At the current time, the researcher does not intend to expand survey dissemination to include the members
of other enrollment managementrelated professional organizations. The administration of the survey to members of a single professional association may potentially limit the size and representativeness of the sample.
Conclusion The study summarized in this article was designed prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, amid the crisis, this study presented a unique opportunity to explore how COVID19 is shaping GEM and the practices institutions use to evaluate graduate admissions applicants. The study will be completed in March 2021. The results will be published in a forthcoming issue of NAGAP Perspectives and presented at the 2021 Graduate Enrollment Management Summit. n
References Bleske-Rechek, A., & Browne, K. (2014). Trends in GRE scores and graduate enrollments by gender and ethnicity. Intelligence, 46, 25-34. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.intell.2014.05.005
The emergence of Graduate Enrollment Management (GEM). NAGAP, The Association for Graduate Enrollment Management. https://customer.nagap.org/ app_themes/NAGAP/documents/135361WhitePaper-FINAL.pdf. ETS. (2020). A promising practice: Holistic admissions in U.S. graduate education. https://www.holisticadmissions.org/ curated-approaches. Kent, J. D. & McCarthy, M. T. (2016). Holistic review in graduate admissions: A report from the Council of Graduate Schools. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607-610. Miller, C., & Stassun, K. (2014). A test that fails. Nature, 510(7504). 303-304. https://doi.org/10.1038/nj7504-303a Okahana, H., Augustine, R. M., & Zhou, E. (2018). Master’s admissions: Transparency, guidance, and training. Washington, DC: Council of Graduate Schools. https://cgsnet.org/publicationpdf/5396/CGS_Masters_Web_Final.pdf.
Connor, C., LaFave, J., & Balayan, A. (2017). Integrated interdependence:
NAGAP Volunteer Opportunities NAGAP is a member-driven association, and there are many ways to get involved! The annual Call for Volunteers occurs each spring after the GEM Summit.
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RE-ENVISIONING STUDENT-CENTERED SERVICE IN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT Brittany Sansagraw, Missouri Baptist University, and Amy Harrison, Missouri Baptist University Higher education institutions across the nation are facing tough financial times with shadowy national reports forecasted over the next decade: enrollment will be historically low and institutions must adjust to stay afloat (Grawe, 2018; Seltzer, 2016; Seltzer, 2020). This was the outlook before the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been a major impetus for more disruption in change in higher education, the effects of which have yet to be seen (Seltzer, 2020). This shift, discernible pre-COVID, has inspired an implementation of a corporate customer service model to increase enrollment, particularly among schools and programs that have looked to new technologies and modalities to reach and recruit a rapidly growing demographic – the online graduate student. This article, designed around a case study model, will explore a small, liberal arts institution's efforts to provide holistic student services, while increasing enrollment for graduate programs and meeting the demands of the competitive market. The two authors serve at the institution in administrative and faculty roles. Brittany is the director of graduate admissions and adjunct professor for the master’s in higher education leadership program. Amy is an assistant professor of higher education and serves as the program director for both the master’s and doctoral programs in higher education leadership. Together, they have crossed the administrative and faculty divide, demonstrating how both units can collaborate to serve the student and the institution with effective, robust results geared toward offering a new brand of student services that will lead to enrollment growth and retention of online graduate students.
A Case Study for Change
emerge, bureaucracy can also hinder the organization because of the silos this model can create. Job duties, while defined, can cause important issues to be missed if a novel situation or need arises. Things can slip through the cracks due to poorly evolved and defined structures. (Birnbaum, 1988).
Because strategic, effective change does not happen in a vacuum or accidentally, it is necessary to pause at this point and hover around a 30,000 foot view of how the institution propelled this change forward. Two changes happened almost simultaneously that positioned online education and graduate students at the forefront of the institution’s enrollment management strategy. That first change was an institutional buy-in for online growth. The second, and most profound change that will be discussed here, was the result of a culture change driven by new administrative leadership.
Problems from the Bureaucratic Model When the authors came into their middle management roles as staff and faculty, the middle management structure at our institution was operating inside a bureaucratic model, which was implemented to manage the institution’s record growth over the last 15 years. The demand for student services increased and the appropriate reaction of the administration was to implement some clear structures. However, as the institution grew, the bureaucracy did not adapt and what began to circulate was a question of whose job was whose. This caused students to be passed around, thereby navigating the internal structure themselves.
Change Leadership from A Theoretical Framework An institutional development that impacted this culture shift was a leadership change that is framed well within Birnbaum’s (1988) models of organizational governance. Considered seminal scholarship in organizational theory, Birnbaum’s work is germane to this discussion because it situates organizational change inside a model to examine how problems and solutions emerge within a framework.
The problems emerged due to a bureaucratic culture where members did not know the full parameters of their job. When the institutional growth happened and new demands emerged, those demands were not assigned to anyone in particular, which caused gaps in the boundaries. As a result of those gaps, students were passed to others in the institution who may know the answer– others whose job that may be.
Birnbaum offers four theoretical models of organizational structure: collegial, bureaucratic, political, and anarchical. The institution was operating within a largely bureaucratic model, though there is evidence of overlap with other models. A bureaucratic model is characterized by an institution that is divided into hierarchical layers and departments. The institution also imposes order (i.e., policies, job descriptions) to increase efficiency and mitigate repetition in job tasks. While some positives of this organizational model
An institution with job gaps may look like admitted students not matriculating or admitted students not registered for an upcoming term. If one department is fielding all the calls from students needing support, the system is breaking down. continued on page 23
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RE-ENVISIONING STUDENT-CENTERED SERVICE IN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT CONTINUED Another gap that emerged as a result of the growth was that student services did not mirror the modality in which students were receiving coursework. Kruger and Jarrett (2018) argue that, “Despite the growth of online populations, building student support infrastructure for these students is still a nascent field” (n.p.). Student affairs and student services must evolve with the online classroom delivery. Simply put, online students should receive online student support services (Crawley & Howe, 2016; Kruger & Nascent, 2018). Two Key Developments That Interrupted Bureaucracy In Fall of 2018, the institution inaugurated a new president. This installment is a catalyst for big change in any organization, but in higher education a change in the senior leadership has the potential to introduce something new into the culture that can often be found missing in smaller institutions: cultural capital. When institutions tend to lack hard capital resources (i.e., money for new programs, new positions, etc.), they should turn their attention to investing in its existing human capital to increase its overall cultural capital. That is, the administration should seek out campus leaders who are dialed into the larger culture of higher education and are able to see their own institution or their own program among the landscape. A new cultural capital inspires institutional change naturally. The presidential change brought with it some new cultural capital. As a result, two key positions were added to the president’s cabinet: vice president of enrollment management and associate vice president of extended learning. In addition, middle managers were entrusted with important jobs to manage the day-to-day operational changes a new model of student services would require.
task-oriented work it takes from staff to accomplish that vision, the role of middle managers on both the faculty side and the administrative side is crucial. Middle managers also provide accountability because they know what is happening in real time among the staff and other faculty who work directly with students.
New Cabinet Positions The enrollment management executive position was charged to create a cohesive narrative and an external to internal experience for students. That is, students are receiving the same level of service as prospects and as admitted students. Also, Admissions and University Communications were moved under enrollment management so Graduate Admissions was no longer on the academic side of the house. This change really bridged a gap so that students began receiving a seamless on-boarding experience driven by best-practices in the field. Hayes (2015) argues that marketing is everyone’s responsibility. The institution must realize that every student encounter, or possible encounter, creates a narrative of the institution. The elevation of enrollment management to an executive level sends a message that marketing and enrollment management work together as a cohesive unit to build a narrative and a brand that is student-focused.
A Task Force is Formed To provide a kind of signpost for the reader, the following discussion will focus more closely on the action steps taken to turn a culture change to a workflow change. Coming down from our 30,000 foot view, we will provide a more granular view of how a change in student services went from the president’s cabinet to the student experience. Brittany Sansagraw’s new role reported directly to the vice president of enrollment management. She had ongoing communication with him to discuss the gaps she was seeing and how those gaps were impacting the online student experience. After elevating the discussion to the president, the president appointed a task force, chaired by Brittany, to bring cohesion to this discussion and to develop a plan to roll-out a customer service approach to student services across the university. Brittany gathered representative middle managers who represent student services offices. In addition, Amy Harrison, was asked to serve on the task force as a faculty representative.
The second key position, associate vice president of extended learning, elevated online education programming and delivery to the cabinet level as well. This position gave visibility to the centrality of online education as part of the new strategic shift. This position is able to speak directly to the decision-making body about how to best serve online students. In this way, online education at our institution moved from an acceptable alternative to a preferred choice.
The Proposal Focus on Middle Management
After many meetings, the members of the Customer Service Task Force developed a proposal that would be presented to the president’s administrative council. The proposal outlined three targeted phases of implementation.
Finally, the execution of this change was delegated to the middle managers. It is worth emphasizing the significance of this decision. Because middle managers occupy a space between the vision of the executive leadership and the
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RE-ENVISIONING STUDENT-CENTERED SERVICE IN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT CONTINUED Phase 1 Centered on the idea of promoting a culture of service excellence, phase 1 addressed future new hires. The new hire initiative consisted of three main action items: 1. Create a robust onboarding initiative that cultivates a student centered approach to service. 2. Develop a cloud-accessible staff knowledge base that has a fluid system of useful information. 3. Update the evaluation tool to include a performance factor that evaluates student-centered service. Phase 2 While the institution already operated through a lens of service excellence, it was important that the taskforce address the culture of service excellence among all employees. Phase 2 focused on the current employee and consisted of one main action item: 1. Develop an ongoing student centered service initiative that promotes growth and identifies expectations for current staff employees. Phase 3 Phase 3 focused on the whole university system. The taskforce is currently working through this phase by identifying potential interdepartmental gaps to pinpoint significant challenges to providing student-centered service.
Customer Service – An All-Encompassing Term It is important to note that the taskforce experienced some resistance both within and outside of the group. The debate centered on the usage of the term
“customer service” in higher education. The taskforce had to address this point of contention to ensure success. Through open dialog opportunities, the taskforce attempted to address any concern. The group focused on two perspectives: the student and the faculty. A shift in enrollment trends, including a rise in enrollment at for-profit institutions, has served as a caution flag for many higher education professionals (Boyd, 2012). A recent survey evidences that post-traditional graduate students shop multiple schools but are most likely to enroll with the first institution to provide admittance (Aslanian & Jeffe, 2018). In that same survey, post-traditional graduate students indicated a desire for student-services aimed at promoting their success (Aslanian & Jeffe, 2018). Speed and service are essential for the graduate student experience. In order to remain competitive, staff must work alongside faculty to bridge a gap in student services. Through this lens, you can better understand Amy and Brittany’s belief that exceptional service is key to student success. By contrast to the faculty member’s role in the student lifecycle, student service professionals do partner with students in a customerlike relationship. Students have made a significant financial investment in the university, and they should be assured of a level of service that is responsive and adjusts to their needs. Faculty may criticize the use of customers when referring to students. There is a consensus among faculty that relationships with students should not be reduced to a customer-vendor relationship. If faculty are serving students in a way that honors the profession, a customer-vendor approach devalues our relationship profoundly. Practically speaking, it is also not an accurate description. In a consumer, corporate driven organization, the product is driven by the customer and the customer’s
needs; their wants shape the product and the market. While that can be applied to some functions of higher education, it is not appropriately descriptive for faculty and students. To this point, while a classroom space is transactional, the student does not get what they want, simply because they’ve paid for it. As a faculty member at a teaching university that also has a strong faithbased mission, student services, however, should be at the forefront of one’s mentorship and care for students. Student problems are faculty problems, insomuch as faculty can help reduce institutional barriers and provide professional and personal mentorship. This is how faculty should see themselves as firstline ambassadors for student services. Faculty must develop a commitment to the institution and the students that is isolated from the commitment they have toward our discipline and our scholarship.
Key Takeaways Higher education must step back from a “business as usual” approach and challenge the operational status quos that may be hindering enrollment growth and the student experience. By increasing the level of cultural capital at the institution, innovation and change will naturally follow. Furthermore, institutions should focus on tapping the human capital within their leadership, specifically focusing on middle managers. Innovation does not happen in isolation. Collaboration must occur to ensure innovation aligns with the institution’s mission and values. Open and honest conversations should occur at all levels. The conversations will increase employee buy-in and engagement, while ultimately contributing to the success of the student. Faculty and staff must partner together to bridge the gap and cultivate a culture of service that nurtures strategic enrollment management. Academic rigor does not have to suffer at the hands of service and enrollment growth. continued on page 25
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RE-ENVISIONING STUDENT-CENTERED SERVICE IN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT CONTINUED Finally, it is worth mentioning here that both authors worked together to implement these strategies before taking the idea to the executive leadership. Brittany and Amy changed some processes within one academic program to demonstrate that this approach can be successful and is scalable. The best advice is to start small. Work with one academic program or one student support office on campus to begin retooling your institution's student services model. Work patiently toward institutional scalability. n
Resources Arnett, J. (2019, January 21). What level of customer service are you providing? American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. https://www.aacrao.org/resources/ newsletters-blogs/aacrao-connect/article/ what-level-of-customer-service-are-youproviding Aslanian, C.B, & Jeffe, S. (2018). Posttraditional graduate students: Insights for
program development and marketing. Education Dynamics. https://www. educationdynamics.com/three-insightsrecruiting-graduate-students/
Grawe, N. D. (2018). Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education. Johns Hopkins University Press. Kruger, K., & Jarrat, D. (2018, December 16). Student affairs goes digital: Translating student support to the world of online learning. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. https://www. diverseeducation.com/article/134371/
Birnbaum, R. (1988). How colleges work: The cybernetics of academic organization and leadership. Jossey-Bass. Boyd, R. (2012). Customer service in higher education: Finding a middle ground. The Mentor: An Academic Advising Journal, 14. https://doi. org/10.26209/mj1461308
Seltzer, R. (2016, December 6). The high school graduate plateau. Inside Higher Education. https://www. insidehighered.com/news/2016/12/06/ high-school-graduates-drop-number-andbe-increasingly-diverse
Covelli, B.J. (2017). Online discussion boards: The practice of building community for adult learners. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education 65(2), 139-145. https://www.tandfonline.com/ doi/full/10.1080/07377363.2017.127 4616
Seltzer, R. (2020, December 15). Birth dearth approaches. Inside Higher Education. https://www. insidehighered.com/news/2020/12/15/ more-high-school-graduates-through-2025pool-still-shrinks-afterward
Crawley, A., & Howe, A. (2016). Supporting online students. In G.S. McClellan & J. Stringer (Eds.), The handbook of student affairs administration, (pp.343-364).
UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The Leader in Graduate Enrollment Management
Summer PDI: Thursday, July 16 and Friday, July 17 The Summer Institute is designed for both new and seasoned GEM professionals. A variety of topics and sessions for all levels will be offered. Professionals working in undergraduate, graduate, faculty, or related higher education environments have also found these conferences to be useful and appropriate. Session topics: • Introduction to Graduate Enrollment Management (GEM) • Successfully Building a GEM Career • Recruitment and Marketing • Admissions Operations • GEM Changes and Insights • Data Collection and Analysis • International Student Recruitment • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion • Legal Updates • Student Support and Services
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REHUMANIZING ADMISSIONS PRACTICES Justin Yuille, Pasadena City College The nascent tenets of rehumanizing ontology should undergird student recruiting models. Rehumanizing ontology recognizes, emphasizes, and affirms the unique modes of being expressed by the dehumanized as they traverse the journey toward “being” and authentic humanity. The metamorphosis into being a scholar, especially for vanguard scholars1, is supported by institutional rehumanizing recruiting practices, a 2020 qualitative study found (Yuille, 2020). Possibly more nuanced than individualized recruiting practices, rehumanizing practices recognizes intersectionality as it relates to positionality and oppression (Ballard & Cintron, 2010; Yuille, 2020). The need for narratives that affirm the experience of vanguard students is evidence of the white male narrative (Ballard & Cintron, 2010; Collins, 1990) and reality that vanguard scholars attempt to create knowledge regarding the world, and themselves in. Preexisting cognitive obstacles, such as the internalized voice of hegemony (IVH)2, caused by the social injustices created in said realities may have infringed on the belief that doctoral study and being a doctor was achievable for certain populations (Yuille, 2020). Most of the participants expressed concern about their academic ability. Tacitly, each was aware of the IVH and the impact it had on their entire doctoral experience. Therefore, critical admissions practices, reflective curricula, an empathic structure, and a relational pedagogy conscientiously implemented to include and affirm the voices and experiences from the vanguard are effective in supporting scholars from all communities. In what follows, readers
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will be provided a definition of each of the aforementioned components of rehumanizing recruiting practices along with quotes from the co-knowledge creators (cc’s) interviewed for the project.
Critical Admissions Practices Institutions committed to critical admissions practices are taking political action. Admissions into doctoral programs require the unsubstantiated performances of intellectual ability. Completion of some form of standardized test is the academic filtering process (Griffin & Muniz, 2011; Pruitt & Isaac, 1985; Tapia et al., 2003), separating the capable from the incapable. Critical admissions practices recognize intersectionality and the history of race and gender bias in U.S. context (Ballard & Cintron, 2010) more directly than holistic practices. Two critical admissions practices are the de-emphasis of test scores and the emphasis on interviews. Standardized tests are not the best tools for determining academic preparedness and can act as obstacles for people of color and women (Griffin & Muniz, 2011; Pruitt & Isaac, 1985; Tapia et al., 2003), like a "do not enter" sign on a chain linked fence. Juniper shared, “I appreciated that you did not require the GRE. Philosophically, I don’t believe in the GRE or SAT or standardized tests like that and so I was specifically looking for a program that didn’t require that.” Kathryn explained, ”I think one thing that definitely gave me some relief is that they stopped doing the GRE as part of admissions.” She went on to say, “Oh, they don’t do the GRE anymore. Like, oh thank heavens, I think I could do this.”
In-depth interviews with members from the department where research ideas, professional experiences, and hopes can be discussed rather than standardized test scores, proved to be an effective recruiting strategy-based study results. When seen as a critical admissions practice, the interview serves the essential purpose of centering the narrative experiences of vanguard populations causing a “feeling of support and care in the program that I felt like, I could do this, and I really wanted to do this.” (Otis)
Empathic Program Structure All the cc’s interviewed worked during their course of study. A program structure that required weekly evening classes was not as conducive to achieving a healthywork-school-life balance. “And, I like the program, how it was set up where you attend classes, you know, the one weekend out of the month each month as opposed to another program that I was looking at, [ABC university] was more. It was just set up differently. It didn’t really jive with my schedule.” (Lua) “The schedule of classes and how it was an intense weekend I found to be very conducive to lifestyle and what I could do — what was going to fit with me and my family.” (J. T.) An empathic program structure which is constitutive of critical admissions practices recognizes the complex realities of students' experiences. Meeting more regularly could have been prohibitive for students and recreated the exclusivity ever present in doctoral programs. continued on page 27
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Vanguard student: rather than using the phrase ‘marginalized student/s’ in this study, vanguard student/s was used because the students involved in this study, and students from these populations generally, are forging a new path replete with new experiences, rendering new knowledge. They are among those orchestrating burgeoning new developments and ideas. They are more accurately described as vanguard students or students at the vanguard and will be referenced in this manner moving forward in this article.
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Internalized voice of hegemony (IVH): recognition of the stereotypes foisted on members from non-dominant communities regarding their academic abilities and the internalization of said stereotypes. This phrase is purposely used to emphasis the feelings of academic inability do not come from the students’ communities, rather from the beliefs that are internalized from the dominant community regarding their community’s ability.
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REHUMANIZING ADMISSIONS PRACTICES Reflective Curriculum Concerned With Social Justice Those interviewed, with the excitement of acceptance ebbing and the logistics of attendance determined, continued to crystallize their affective aims and looked more carefully at the aims of the institution and program. They wanted to have a meaningful graduate experience where they were significantly connected to their research (Goforth et al., 2016). They appreciated a reflective curriculum. “I think through a lot of the things that we read provided through the program. In particular, it gave me the opportunity to reflect upon and affirm my humanity.” (Juniper). Amanda added, “coursework was more, more in touch with your connection with yourself and with others.” A curriculum in harmony with their predilection for positive change and unwillingness to perpetuate the status quo Ballard & Cintron, 2010). “Really, the social justice focus was really what drew me in. I really wanted an institution that had justice and liberatory practice at the forefront of the curriculum.” (Juniper). These scholars wanted to continue to develop as change agents in their respective context and needed an
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institution to mirror those requirements. J. T. captured these sentiments, “there was a huge, big focus on access and equity and student access and I liked that. They were very explicit about your students of color, people of color, access, and equity.”
By virtue of the faculty rendering these scholars and their various identities visible, a greater sense of belonging was achieved (Ballard & Cintron, 2010). When discussing his own identities J. T. shared “they were legitimized and valued by again, by the environment that was created. That everyone’s opinion and thoughts mattered.” “This created a sense of belonging and feeling like I’m understood which is essential to a relational pedagogy.” (Alissa)
Relational Pedagogy If vanguard students are to successfully fend off IVH on their graduate school odyssey, they will need to carefully listen to the admonishments of faculty. Faculty are the mentors and guides on this steep academic expedition (Baldwin, 2010; Griffin & Muniz, 2011). They are skilled in seeing students with other eyes and hearing the untold story buried under the sounds of students’ self-doubt. Through a relational pedagogy they cultivate students' academic identities and harness their academic potential (Reichert, 2006; Stallone, 2003).
Conclusion U.S. institutions of higher learning are wedded to a hierarchical reality accidentally buttressed by desultory tolerance and ethnic sensitivity programming. Fundamental questions, such as “why do these modes of being presuppose success” and “who determines the value of knowledge claims,” are ignored and students are expected to acquiesce to the prevailing assumptions, such as objective academic perspectives and middle-class values are preferred (Jones & Stewart, 2016). Male, upper-middle class Eurocentric philosophies have permeated the interstices of higher education and have become the unquestioned norm. The knowledge this antiquated
Logan a 2017 graduate thankfully shared, “ I feel they saw me, and I truly felt that more than any of my other programs. I felt that I was able to bring my whole self...I bring all of the intersecting identities, my gender, my race, all these different abilities and privileges that I have.”
continued on page 28
Strategic Partnership Council The Strategic Partnership Council (SPC) is designed for organizations whose missions are aligned with NAGAP’s and who wish to become more strategically engaged with our association. Through customized marketing and collaboration platforms we offer bundled packages and unique opportunities for organizations to help build and maintain year-round relationships with our members and GEM professionals across the nation and around the world. Applications due April 1. To learn more about the SPC, visit our website: https://nagap.org/strategic-partnership-council
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REHUMANIZING ADMISSIONS PRACTICES
curriculum conjures can no longer be allowed to reverberate in the halls of the academy as the only legitimate forms of knowledge. Rehumanizing admission practices— which includes critical admissions practices, reflective curricula, an empathic structure, and a relational pedagogy — should be considered if the aim of the academy is to create less biased knowledge, help all students better achieve their full humanity, and positively impact society. n
Resources Baldwin, C. (2009). Situatedness: The interrelation of factors impacting the educational pathway to degree attainment among Black and White doctoral [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. College of William and Mary. Ballard, H. E., & Cintrón, R. (2010, October). Critical race theory as an analytical tool: African American male success in doctoral education. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 7(10), 11–23. https://search. proquest.com/openview/c89fa5180 8013fff1064eed5d06fc788/1?pqorigsite=gscholar&cbl=60280 Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought (2nd ed.). Routledge. Goforth, A. N., Brown, J. A., Machek, G. R., & Swaney, G. (2016). Recruitment and retention of native American graduate students in school psychology. School Psychology Quarterly, 31(3), 340–357 Griffin, A., & Muñiz, M. (2011). The strategies and struggles of graduate
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diversity officers in the recruitment of doctoral students of color. Equity & Excellence in Education, 44(1), 57–76. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.20 11.540961 Hooks, B. (2003). Confronting class in the classroom. In A. Darder, M. Baltodano, & R. Torres (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (pp. 142-150). RoutledgeFalmer.
Yuille, J. (2020). The implications of becoming a scholar and knowledge creator: The experiences of vanguard doctoral students at a christian institution [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Azusa Pacific University.
Jones, S., & Stewart, D. (2016). Evolution of student development theory. New Directions for Student Services, 2016(154), 17-28. https://doi. org/10.1002/ss.20172 Patel, L. (2016). Decolonizing education research. Routledge. Pruitt, A. S., & Isaac, P. D. (1985). Discrimination in recruitment, admission, and retention of minority graduate students. Journal of Negro Education, 54(4), 526-536. Reichert, W. M. (2006). A success story: Recruiting & retaining underrepresented minority doctoral students in biomedical engineering. Liberal Education, 92(3), 52–55[1] . Stallone, M. (2011). Factors associated with student attrition and retention in an educational leadership doctoral program. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 1(6). https://doi. org/10.19030/tlc.v1i6.1952 Tapia, R., Lanius, C., & Alexander, B. (2003). Factors that influence science and engineering graduate student diversity: Results of a Rice faculty survey [Data set].
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HOW YOUR DIGITAL TOOLKIT DELIVERS MORE THAN JUST MARKETING WINS By Veronique van Cruchten, Studyportals, and Sebastian Fuentes, University of Texas, Arlington Travel limitations since 2020 have brought new challenges to universities marketing internationally. When your team can’t pitch themselves on the annual fairs circuit, digital marketing becomes your go-to tool for keeping your institution relevant on the international stage. And innovations in the digital space are bringing unexpected wins. This latest case study with the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) explores how working with a digital partner can offer benefits beyond simply growing your digital presence. By leveraging new data technologies and insights, Studyportals helped UTA create innovative ways of working to deliver exciting results even during a crisis. Sebastian Fuentes, associate director of graduate and international recruitment, shares how his move towards digital has given UTA tools to better deal with the impact of COVID-19, as well as prepared them to meet the needs of an increasingly competitive international future. “OUR DIGITAL MARKETING APPROACH HAS ACCELERATED THE GROWTH AS WELL AS THE DIVERSITY OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS.”
Ambitious International Goals UTA is one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the United States (U.S. News & World Report in 2020). To further this positive trend, the university leadership set out to double their share of international students from around 4,000 in 2019 to 8,000 by 2025. With over half of their international population hailing from India, UTA planned to expand their strategic approach by extending recruitment efforts to China, Southeast Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
Founded in 1895, the UTA is an academic powerhouse pursuing excellence in research, teaching, and community service. They offer baccalaureates, master’s, and doctoral degree programs to more than 60,000 students (as of 2019). The student body – drawn from almost every state and over 100 countries– fuels a highly skilled workforce. The University’s alumni community reaches around the world, yet approximately 65 percent of graduates live in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and contribute significantly to the local economy. Many graduates find themselves working at one of the 24 Fortune 500 companies in the Dallas area.
annually. They targeted traditional fairs and school visits as well as partnerships with education agents, consultants, and university associates. Agreements with international agents grew from two to more than a dozen. Alongside these in-person efforts, the department’s digital marketing strategy took the shape of social media and paid advertising campaigns designed to co-occur with recruitment activities in local markets. A recruitment trip to the Philippines, for example, was preceded by a national Facebook campaign targeting prospects. Foreseeing a growing reliance on digital media, UTA partnered with Studyportals in 2019 to help them structure their digital presence year-round. The team immediately gained access to a much wider audience in Studyportals’ 36 million annual unique users as well as global visibility in locations without partners or UTA reps.
From Traditional Models to Digital Innovation in Just One Year with the Help of Studyportals At the Division of Enrollment Management, Fuentes is tasked with recruiting undergraduate and graduate students both stateside and overseas. Fuentes also facilitates agent partnerships and collaborations with external marketing platforms with an international focus.
“YEAR-ROUND DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT IS THE FUTURE.”
Establishing a Digital Presence With a database of over 200,000+ published academic courses from 3,750+ higher educations, Studyportals is the leading information source for study seekers at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. Their results-based approaches help universities with digital marketing and international student recruitment efforts, enabling them to reach the global student population.
“HAVING DIGITAL CONTENT IS NOT THE SAME AS HAVING DIGITAL PRESENCE.” Before 2018, international recruitment consisted of two annual trips to India centered around UTA faculty engagement. In 2018, UTA stepped up its game by creating Fuentes’ role, as well as the International Programs Working Group (IPWG) – a committee that coordinates linkages with universities around the world. The team expanded UTA’s in-person marketing activities to more than two dozen locations
UTA and Studyportals agreed on an innovative Enrollment-Based Partnership with a joint goal of recruiting talented students from all over the world. This approach focuses on long-term continued on page 29
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HOW YOUR DIGITAL TOOLKIT DELIVERS MORE THAN JUST MARKETING WINS CONTINUED cooperation and close communication between the university and Studyportals teams. Right away, Studyportals began building UTA’s profile alongside a full catalogue of degree offerings and program information on its various platforms. However, the support didn’t end there. Studyportals helped UTA to build on prospect searches through eCRM email and retargeting campaigns. This enabled students to find and compare their education options before making an informed choice on where to study. As a Studyportals partner, UTA could be part of that conversation. Collaboration with Studyportals has led to massive growth in UTA’s classroom diversity; the digital marketing efforts are paying off. In 2019, UTA received more than 800 leads via Studyportals, resulting in over 200 UTA enrollments using Studyportals to decide on their international education. That equates to an estimated $8.3 million in course sales. It’s interesting to note that many of these enrollments came from regions outside UTA’s original international strategy, including from countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, and Pakistan. Today, UTA welcomes students from over 100 countries and counting.
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pandemic resulted in a significant number of international deferrals either for a semester or for a whole year. To compensate for the decrease in international students, Fuentes’ team was able to quickly pivot their digital offering to target a domestic audience, especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Texas region. The result was a muchintensified effort to recruit domestically as well as a higher rate of induction of UTA undergraduates to its graduate programs. In targeting this new domestic audience, UTA was able to leverage Studyportals’ unique data insights for rapid analyses of which courses were trending during the pandemic. “KNOWING WHICH PROGRAMS APPEAL IN WHICH REGIONS ARE A BIG WIN.”
The Future is Digital
Pivoting International Strategies for Domestic Gains
With no travel opportunities on the horizon in 2020, Fuentes’ team seized the opportunity to go digital-first. That decision allowed the team to reach new audiences and establish visibility in areas without representatives or partners. Here, insight from Studyportals became invaluable in determining opportunities in the digital space, helping to refine targeting efforts in selected countries and increase engagement.
The pandemic of 2020 resulted in changes to the higher education industry that few could have foreseen. Nonetheless, institutions positioned for a digital future found themselves in a privileged position when it came to marketing during the crisis. Despite the pandemic, UTA was able to enroll its largest freshman class ever in Fall 2020. Naturally, however, international sales took a blow. Political uncertainty combined with the effects of the
To feed a diverse pipeline for 2021 and beyond, UTA increased its attendance at virtual recruitment fairs in new locations such as the Emirates, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, and selected countries across Eastern Europe and South-East Asia. These would serve as both brand-building efforts and as a means to lay the foundation for later in-country representation. In parallel, the team increased their efforts to sign international agents by attending or
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hosting more events and providing more digital content. Studyportals’ intensified their promotion across the platform to establish a year-round structural presence via geo-targeting. This new digital approach allows the team at UTA to stay agile and respond to international student interest with focused marketing and outreach. Targeted banner campaigns, mailings, and content engagement campaigns can now be actioned to a range of demographics with a moment’s notice. The team can also engage with students in the middle of their decision journey by remarketing to students who have shown interest in UTA’s programs anywhere across the contact journey. “DIGITAL INSIGHT FEEDS BETTERTARGETED DIGITAL MARKETING.” UTA’s analysis of campaign data, in collaboration with data input from Studyportals’ global data share, provides the team with insight on which levels or programs are attractive to which audiences, countries, and regions. Studyportals continues to support UTA with reports of student interest as input for short-term and longer-term marketing planning. “BEING ACTIVELY PRESENT IN CYBERSPACE BEYOND OUR UNIVERSITY WEBSITE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER.” n
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2021 GRADUATE ENROLLMENT SUMMIT, VIRTUAL By Joshua Walehwa, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2021 GEM Summit Marketing Chair This year’s planning committee is excited to host the 2021 NAGAP Graduate Enrollment Management Summit, April 28 – May 1st! We are looking forward to sharing great content that will meet your professional development needs during the conference and beyond.
Graduate Enrollment Management Summit
If you are looking for ways to engage with NAGAP, we’d like to encourage you to participate as a presentation moderator or recorder, consider joining the virtual Fun Run, or join us for a virtual happy hour. This year’s list of presentations and speakers will help you make the most of your conference experience. In addition, please explore Pathable, our chosen virtual platform where you may plan your virtual conference experience. Make sure to get the latest updates in our regular communication through NAGAP News along with our Instagram, Facebook, and
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Twitter accounts. If you post content related to the conference, feel free to utilize the hashtag #NAGAPImgoing.
April 28-May 1, 2021
We are excited to be part of your professional development
Virtual
experience this year. We look forward to seeing you online! n
Hear Insights from GEM Professionals How are Jeremiah Nelson of Wake Forest University, Lisa Sperling of University of Georgia, and Gretchen Briscoe of University of Rochester adjusting their recruitment and admissions strategies to navigate through this pandemic? Watch the Navigating Through Change video series to find out. holisticadmissions.org/change
Copyright © 2020 by ETS. All rights reserved. ETS, the ETS logo and GRE are registered trademarks of ETS. SIAS18843
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