Campus Tour Exchanges of Information Ebony Smith, The Ohio State University & Aviva Walls, New York University

Our Session Agenda Introduction Unique Experiences Icebreaker The 5 Ws of an exchange Why host an exchange? Breakout into regions Discussion and questions

Introduction of Presenters Ebony Smith – The Ohio State University ◦ Program Coordinator- Office of Undergraduate Admissions & First Year Experience ◦ Supervises 100 University Ambassadors & Hosts ◦ Worked at Ohio State since July 2003 ◦ Has participated in five exchanges

Introduction of Presenters My fantastic students!!!!

Introduction of Presenters Aviva Walls- New York University ◦ Senior Assistant Director – Undergraduate Admissions, Special Events ◦ Supervise 100+ Ambassadors ◦ Worked at NYU since 2004 ◦ Worked at Barnard College ◦ Exchanges

Introduction of Presenters My incredible students!!!!

Unique Experiences Icebreaker Get to know your fellow CIVSA members! Take 5 minutes ◦ Introduce yourself to 1-2 individuals closest to you ◦ Share one campus visit experience that is unique to your campus  What makes your visit program so awesome/unique that you want others to see that?  Don’t be modest!

The 5 Ws of an Campus Exchange WHAT is a campus exchange? WHY should I do an exchange? WHO could go on an exchange? WHERE should I go? WHEN should I visit another school? Plus… HOW can I get support to do an exchange?

Campus exchange? What is that? A campus exchange can be defined as… ◦ Sharing information and best practices between two institutions/visit programs ◦ Professional development for full-time and student staff members ◦ Compare and contrast visit operations ◦ A FUN way to meet peers in the college visit and information world

Types of Campus Exchanges Spy trip Partnership trip Modified knowledge trip Establishing relationships with CIVSA members can help you design which exchange program is best for you AND find contacts to exchange with

Why should I do an exchange? Professional development for your staff (full-time professional and student) Share ideas and learn from your peers Establish relationships and partnerships See a campus through the eyes of a visitors

Why should I do an exchange? 95% of students say they will visit a school before they decide to attend Prospective students will visit 5-7 schools each year - how many do you visit? A successful campus visit is the best indicator that a student will enroll

Who could go on an exchange? Visitor relations staff Campus event planners (ie. recruitment events, information center events) Student leaders (campus tour guide captains, student host captains) Admissions counselor for the region Staff members that make your visit program stand out (in the right way)

Where should I go? What research has your office done? ◦ With admitted students ◦ With campus visitors ◦ With applicants/inquiries What have prospective students told you? ◦ What other schools are they considering? ◦ Why they are not coming to your institution? ◦ What concerns them about your institution?

Where should I go? Who does visits well? What schools are similar/dissimilar to yours? Things to consider ◦ Size ◦ Public/Private ◦ Location (urban/suburban/rural) ◦ Visit volume

Where should I go? Use student evaluation data ◦ What other schools are your prospective students checking out?

Examples of Research Ohio State uses student telecounselors to gather data from interested students

Examples of Research New York University uses information gathered from students who did not attend

Examples of Online Research

When should I visit? What are you trying to observe? ◦ Daily visit experience ◦ Large scale on-campus recruitment event ◦ Visitor center/Information center operations ◦ Campus tour guide training Check out the college’s website for clues Find out what time works best for your OWN staff

Website Schedule Example Website Location: /index.cfm

How do I get support to do this? Exchanges can be less expensive professional development Who needs convincing? ◦ Who controls the budget or determines allocation? What areas of your program need improvement that an exchange can help? Be thorough!

Example of Support Gathering Prepared detailed schedule of events

Example of Support Gathering Detailed listing of expenses

Why should I host an exchange? Great demonstration of collegial working Get honest and helpful feedback from those who understand what you do Peer to peer reflection for student workers Show off what makes your university shine! Minimal preparation needed by your staff

Region Breakout Groups Please move to the area of the room that corresponds to your region

Region Breakout Groups Introduce yourself/your school to fellow region members Discussion points ◦ How can you do an exchange for your staff? ◦ What schools would you like to visit? Why? Select a recorder for group ◦ At end of chat, please have recorder share with entire group

Questions? Ideas to Share?

Contact Information Ebony Smith ◦ ◦ Tel: (614) Aviva Walls ◦ ◦ Tel: (212) We’re here all week! We like to talk about CIVSA!