Attracting the next class of students to TU is a very involved process, according to admissions counselor Solange O’Brien.
The university wants to make sure it is “attracting the best and brightest students from all of our territories,” O’Brien said, which means counselors try to get high school students exposed to the university.
Dean Barbara Adkins said that admissions attempts to “identify students for whom TU appears to be a good fit and personalize our interaction with them.”
Admissions’ first step is to show TU’s academics and various programs to prospective students.
Counselors try to visit high schools and college fairs to begin relationships with students.
To draw students to TU, admissions is emphasizing some of TU’s new programs, such as the computer simulation and gaming major.
Admissions also places emphasis on what happens after graduation.
According to Adkins, admissions wants students to “understand the importance of a liberal arts education along with a professional education or preparation for the future.”
Admissions hopes to “continue expanding the national scope of our student body,” according to Adkins.
Counselors are in charge of many different regions; O’Brien, for instance, has several schools in Tulsa, as well as the southern part of the US and Washington, D.C.
Social media has altered college recruitment, according to Adkins.
TU is on all social media, maintains an admissions blog, sends a multitude of emails and also uses traditional methods of communication.
Adkins said TU has such a “multifaceted approach because students are accustomed to having any type of information at their disposal instantly in many different formats.”
Last year, admissions added a staff member to manage social media and marketing efforts. Technology has complicated admissions’ work slightly.
To provide information in such a variety of ways requires more cost and work than previous methods.
While Adkins does want a “strong student profile of incoming students,” the goal of TU admissions is “to enroll those who will succeed and be a good fit at TU.”
Some students may not have “enviable test scores or grade point averages,” Adkins noted, but admissions may see something that makes them believe that these students will “contribute to campus life in many ways, achieve their goals, and make their professors and the University proud.”
