College Recruitment

Back in the dark ages (70's) when I was going to HS, we as juniors (maybe) and seniors (most definitely) had to know where and if we were going to college.

In my fall of my senior year I was taking my ACT test. I had no idea how to prepare for an ACT test but knew it was required in order to get into college. So I randomly filled out the colleges I thought I would go to. I had no preparation in advance. I looked down the Kansas list and put down three colleges Juco, KU, and K-state. (why I chose K-state as a possibility, I'll never know!). I just took the test on what I knew from being in high school. I do remember wanting to finish quickly in order to watch the "World Series," on television afterwards. I was heavy into baseball back in those days.

Later on I got the results, and they were AWFUL!! I couldn't take the test more than once. That is I didn't. I ended up going to my first choice for three semesters; a teacher's college for a semester; and then back to my alma mater for 3 years.

Now fast forward thirty one years after I graduated from college....

Kids are recruited from colleges all over the country. They contact the kids by email, text messaging, postcards, and phone calls. It's amazing how these colleges advertise just to get the kid's attention and their parents attention.

Students now and do take the ACT test more than once in their lifetime, and that is an improvement in itself. A low ACT score would disqualify you for scholarships and taking the test numerous times will certainly raise the score helping you qualify for more financial aid. I for one, am happy to see this change come about. But the parent must foot the bill for the student to take the test over and over again just to get a good score. In the long run, it is worth it.

I was aware of how much college's wanted students in a seminar that I attended at my alma mater when S was a year old. They talked about recruitment of students and how to get financial aid. I soaked that up and had prepared S and J to become great students. I wanted them to visit college campus' early in their life so that they could get used to the environment.

We have visited KU when they were young kids in strollers. We would make the trek just to drive on the campus and to dream what it would be like to be a student there. When S completed her freshman year at HS, we went up to KU for Jayhawk days. We attended last year's session as well.

A representative from the university talked to students and their parents about classes; financial aid; and traditions at the school. Then we took a walking tour of the campus. Could we picture our S at this school? This past year, S talked to a recruiter about the J-School and we were quite impressed with this school.

Then we branched out to look at another school, my alma mater. They offered a lot of the courses that S likes. They thought it was early that she was looking at her potential college. I didn't think that as we had been getting cards from L's alma mater for the past few years. S met with one of the teachers at my alma mater and she was quite impressed as we were.

Colleges offers kids nowadays, a potential scholarship of $1,000 if they go to their school; to Ipods; and to t-shirts. They visit at the high school with juniors and seniors and offer up their best pitch to the student. The way they go after the average student is probably how colleges went/or goes after blue-chip athletes.

So now we have more campus visits lined up in the next year. Where could S see herself in the next few years? Who could offer us a great financial aid package? What school does she see herself thriving at? Public or private? Private schools are most appealing because of the type of students they recruit and small class size. But the downside of a private college is the cost. And so public schools start to look better because it is less of a pain in the pocket.

Do kids choose where they go to college because of where their friends from HS are planning to go? Or do they step out in faith, and go somewhere where they know no one and meet new friends? Do they choose a small private college, or a huge university setting? They should choose where they feel the most comfortable living I think.

When it was my "choice," which actually turned out to be my parents choice as they were footing the bill, I chose Juco. It was in my town and I could stay at home. My friends went there and I met new friends there too. I had small classes and could actually study what I wanted to major in (then) right off. I didn't have to wait two years to get to do my major (like I would have to wait at a large university). While there I changed my major twice and wanted to teach. So I went to ESU, not quite a KU, but larger than the college I ended up at. While at ESU, I found that the teachers were not friendly and didn't care about you as a student. I was a number. It was difficult to meet good friends there. To this day, I am not friends with people who went to ESU the same time that I did.

So while I was out at ESU, my parents suggested my Alma Mater, S.C. I took a campus visit sitting in a typical History class seeing how I would like going there. I loved it! S.C. was a good fit. I have lifelong friends from there. I didn't know anyone there as a student, but because the class size was small and it is a Christian college I think that was where God called me to be.

It will be exciting to see which college S can see herself thriving in. But in the meantime, colleges will be sending postcards, emails, texting, and setting up times to meet with us as parents. It is so different than 30 years ago!