First impressions are important, and the impression you leave during the college search is no exception!
As admissions professionals, first impressions of prospective students are often made via email, texts and phone calls. They set us up to learn more about you, what your interests are and whether you might be a great fit for our institution. This foundation is important as you become more engaged with us through campus visits, applications, scholarship decisions and financial aid award packages.
To help make your college search the best possible, our admissions team presents our top recommendations for making a good impression during the college search:
The Application Process
- You’ve inquired or started your application – hooray! Every admissions office asks that the student fill in their information in the student fields (student email, phone, etc.) and parents fill in their information in the parent fields. We have information geared specifically for each of you and what you want to know about may vary from what your parent(s) wants to know.
- Submit your own college applications. You’d be surprised by how many parents tell us they completed their student’s application. Don’t let your parents take the reins of your college search process. This is your first step towards independence! This is college, after all, and your parent won’t be there to do the work for you. Plus, parents who complete applications often accidentally mis-enter information. We end up with many wrong birthdays, preferred names and phone numbers because parents accidentally type in their own and not their student’s information!
- If you decide not to attend, let us know! We may be sad hearing that you’re not attending Transy, and we know that it’s not easy sharing bad news, but it’s a lot better to know than suddenly getting the cold shoulder. We invest significant time in building relationships with our prospective students and their families. Much like a high school break-up, the “college break-up” isn’t fun, but a necessary part of the process!
Phone Calls
- Every phone call we make is personal and intentional. At Transy, we do not pay robo-callers to call you on our behalf – we do the work ourselves! Sometimes we need to verify information, let you know about application pieces you’re missing or talk to you about financial aid. We assure you, there is a real person behind each call hoping to speak with you.
- If you’re busy – don’t answer the phone. We understand you have a lot going on, so if we miss you, it’s not a big deal. Just make sure you have a mature voicemail greeting set up and that your inbox isn’t full so we can leave you a message. We love, and highly encourage, calls back – and if you do return our call, leave us your full name, phone number and let us know when IS a good time to call back.
- Hanging up on us hurts our feelings. If you’re not interested in Transy, that is completely fine – we just ask that you let us know! We don’t want to pester you if Transy isn’t a serious option for you and your family. Trust us, we’d rather know you’re not interested than never hearing from you. It saves us time and saves you the aggravation of receiving unwanted phone calls!
Emails & Texts
- Set up an email for your college search and check it regularly. Here’s a behind-the-scenes secret: most colleges can see whether you’ve been opening their email or clicking on their links. Creepy? Maybe. But, with email services today, it’s the norm! If you haven’t been engaged at all, then your counselor may think you’re not interested (even though you may be)!
- Make sure your email address is mature and appropriate (with no childhood nicknames or inappropriate words). It can be awkward e-mailing a student at “hotstuff23@hotmail.com”.
- Use your email as the contact email (see No. 1 under admissions process). You can assure your parents that for important information, we will CC: them if we have their email. We love to see that you’re doing the work yourself. It makes a strong impression and says a lot about your drive and determination. So next time, submit your own visit or event registration, call your admissions counselor and, most importantly, complete your college application on your own. (Applications should never be completed by parents!)
Campus Tours & Events
- Plan ahead and bring the family! Most schools appreciate at least two days notice, preferably more. There are often many steps involved in planning a visit, and even more if you elect additional options, such as attending a class or visiting with a coach, staff or faculty member. To provide the best visit possible, give as much notice as you can. And, the more, the merrier!
- If your plans change and you can’t attend a visit or event, let us know – we won’t be offended! For big events and visit days, there is significant preparation necessary, from making name tags and printing badges to creating schedules and assigning counselors. We don’t mind if you cancel, life happens! But, it doesn’t make a great impression having a “no show” for a visit/event if you’re truly interested in our school.
- Read instructions for your visit in advance. What is your arrival time? Do you need to print a parking pass? Are there specific parking instructions? Is there a time zone change that may affect your arrival time? Make sure you know these answers before you leave.
- Have questions ready! Our tour guides love to answer questions on tours, it makes it more enjoyable for them to have a back-and-forth with you and your family than to talk for the full 90-minutes. It doesn’t matter how simple or tough, they’re ready to answer!
- Be wary of insensitive questions. It’s probably not best to ask your tour guide how much scholarship money they received or if they utilize disability services. Some questions, like those, are very personal and can make an exchange with a current student awkward.
- If you use your phone, use it to your benefit. Because we have small tours, it’s easy to tell when a student is “checked out” and not engaged in the tour. We ask that if you come for a visit, you use your phone in a way that is beneficial – take photos of campus and take notes of things you see and hear. It will help you better remember your experience and compare it to others later down the line!