JCU Blog Central

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

Most people are not thrilled about having to come in to work on a Saturday when they normally work Monday through Friday.  However, Saturday, February 16 was an exception.  This past Saturday the Office of Admission, the Honors Program, and the committees for the Arrupe Scholars Program and the Leadership Development Program, welcomed nearly 60 students and their families to campus.  These students interviewed with members of the John Carroll community to become members of different campus organizations and for merit scholarships.

I love working on scholarship interview days because there is such a great energy on campus.  There is the energy of the faculty and administrators who are anxiously waiting to see what this next group of students can bring to campus.  There is the energy of the current students who were out in full-force to help with the day's activities.  And, of course, there is the energy of the scholarship finalists who are vying to become members of these presitgious programs. 

It was a great day that I think had a positive impact and everyone who was present.

Back in the Swing of Things

So what did you do over your holiday break?

We accepted over 1,000 students to the Class of 2012.

Is this as daunting a task as it sounds?  Absolutely.  Crafting a class out of thousands of applicants can be difficult and is definitely time-consuming.  But it's worth it.  The staff here finds that working the long hours and grueling schedule is all made worth it when you read that one essay that just makes you say "wow." 

So here we are again, back to work and school and getting back to the business of admission.  It's far from over as we will be working diligently to get our class that will begin in the fall.  May 1 is when accepted students must make their final decisions about which university to attend and our staff will work through then to make sure that we are getting the right students for the university.  We take our job very seriously at JCU.  Our job as admission professionals is not to just fill seats in the class, but to fill the seats with students who will thrive in the classroom and in the community. 

If you are a senior in high school you have three and a half months to make your decision.  Please let us know if we can help in that decision.  That's what we are here for. 

Time for a new calendar

I really cannot believe that it is 2008.  It doesn't seem all that long ago that the admission staff was spread out around the country recruiting the class of 2012 and now, just like that, it's 2008.  Time truly does fly. 

2007 was a great year for JCU and specifically the Office of Admission and we are expecting even better things for 2008.  With the Campus Master Plan being finalized soon, we should have lots to share with you over the next few months to show you where John Carroll will be going in the next 10 years.   There are exciting things just around the corner!

From the entire admission staff, we wish you the best of luck, happiness, and success in 2008!   

Journey to the top of the tower

  If you know John Carroll, you know Grasselli Tower.  Grasselli Tower is the clock tower in the middle of campus that you can see the minute you walk onto campus.  Very few people get to go all the way to the top - I am one of the lucky ones.

I have a lot of cool jobs as part of my duties as Assistant Director of Admission.  Have you ever received an E-Streak email newsletter?  That was me.  Gotten a JCU admission brochure?  I probably edited it.  Been to campus and seen our presentation?  I may have given it.   But some of the jobs I like best are my online responsibilities, like this blog.  My newest duty is to manage our new online videos.  I don't take any of the video, that's Ashley's job, but I do help out as much as I can.  That leads us to the tower...

Ashley had come to me one day asking if we could get up to a high point on campus to get some good footage of the campus grounds.  After some phone calls, emails, and planning we were approved to go up to Grasselli Tower for 30 minutes.  Why so short?  Well, WJCU's radio antenna is up on top of the tower and it needs to be turned down in order for humans to go near it and not get sick (fun, right?), so we only had a small window of time that the radio station would allow for a lower frequency.  Anyway, it was quite a trek to get up to the tower which involved getting into the elevator and going to a floor that is only accessible with a key, several flights of old, metal, spiral staircases, and two ladders.  But once we got there, it was all worth it. 

The view as spectacular on a beautiful Autumn day.  We could see straight to Cleveland with no problems and even see the Lake!  It was definitely as unique a JCU experience that could have ever had and one that I am not going to forget for a long time. 

A five hour meeting?!

There are lots of meetings at a university:  Meetings for curriculum.  Meetings for planning events.  Meetings for bird flu emergency response (no, I'm not kidding).  There are so many meetings here because we have to plan for any scenario because, well, we have a bunch of people's children on our campus that we want to be happy, safe, and well-educated.  That all makes sense because these are our current students.

But you'd be surprised by how many meetings we have about people who don't even attend John Carroll.  Yesterday the whole admission staff had a meeting, a five hour meeting, to talk about one topic: reading applications.  I know what you are thinking: "why does it take 5 hours to go over how to read an application?"  The answer, I think, lies at the heart of what makes JCU so special.  We had a five hour meeting about reading applications because we want the experience to be as personal as possible.  The admission process is a human process at John Carroll.  We are not going to just take your grades and test scores and run them through a computer system to see if you are admitted or not (I'd be out of a job if we did that!)  We feel that our applicants have taken a significant portion of their time to choose us to apply to and we have the obligation to read everything that is submitted for that application.  Do we read the recommendations?  Yep.  The extracurricular resume? You bet.  The essay?  Sometimes more than once.  It is with that type of dedication, time, and commitment that we craft our freshman class.

So when you are applying the John Carroll this fall, don't think of yourself as a number, because we surely don't. 

Good luck and give the Office of Admission a call if we can be of any assistance.

The end (and beginning) is near

You know it's close to the end of travel season when the first snow flakes dance across the sky.  As I stare out my window I see the first few snow flakes of the year swirling around in the hard Cleveland wind.  There are many people who say that it really doesn't count until it starts accumulating on the ground, and I tend to believe them, but the first snow flakes do trigger some sort of change.  It means that winter is closing in on us and that its time to bundle up a little more (I actually wore gloves to work today!)  It also means that our first admission deadline is quickly approaching and the high stress of our early notification mailing time is on its way.  We get the largest chunk of our applications in for the December 1 deadline and we only have a few weeks to read all of them and get decisions in the mail the week of December 17. 

There is a strange dichotomy in the office during this time.  First, obviously, we are under a lot of pressure to get all of the applications read and decisions in the mail in a short period of time so it can be a very stressful few weeks.  But second, it can also be very energizing to read good applications from students who truly want to attend JCU.  I really get a kick out of reading good, original essays from students who obviously have taken the time to write something that will make them stand apart from the crowd. 

So here we are on November 6 gearing up for the big push and I, for one, am excited to get started.  Next week we start reading applications and crafting the class of 2012.  If this years' freshman class is any indication, the future is very bright indeed.

Life (and work) continues

Just in case you were wondering - life does continue on after a crushing Indians loss in the playoffs.  It was fun while it lasted and it was great to see the campus get caught up in the excitement of the MLB playoffs and what could have been for the city of Cleveland.  There is nothing to be ashamed of and no reason to hang our heads - the Tribe engineered a great season that was exciting and fun.

Now back to the real world at JCU where students are finishing up their mid-terms and the Office of Admission is slowly coming back to the campus after months of travel.  Soon, we will begin reading the applications that seniors have already begun to submit.  I have always liked the transition from traveling to application reading because it can be very energizing.  After months of recruiting you tend to get pretty worn out, but the second you are back in the office and read an amazing essay it is rejuvenating.

One more short trip to southeastern Ohio and I'll be back in the office to read your applications.  I can't wait!

And away we go...

Switching gears and opening our doors

What a crazy month October has been, and it's only half over!  Not only has the majority of the staff been in and out of the office (mostly out) with recruitment travel, but we also have 3 Open Houses scheduled for this month. 

So far so good.  We just completed our second Open House yesterday and we could not have asked for a better day.  It was a beautiful, mostly sunny day that topped off at about 70 degrees (strange for a mid-October day in Cleveland, I know, but that is another topic all together).    We welcomed more than 100 families to campus and treated them to an informative day of presentations, panels, and tours (and dinner too!). 

I've always liked putting together events in the Autumn months. For an admission professional, the fall is usually dominated by individual work (recruitment travel, application review, etc.) and it is nice to be able to switch gears, come together as a team, and welcome a large group onto our campus.  I am lucky enough to work on a staff that not only can make these events work, but also likes to work them.  Working on such a great, energetic staff is just another plus to working at JCU.   

Cleveland Rocks!

It's fun being in the admission office for a university that is so close to a great city.  It's also fun to see the city portrayed in such a great light in the national media.  With the Central Division Champion Cleveland Indians surprising the New York Yankees (sorry, LeBron) in the playoffs, there has been a lot of talk about the energy exuded by the people of Cleveland. 

Sure we have a lot going for us in the sports arena (the Cavs made it to the NBA Finals last season, and the Browns are surprising people this year),  but Cleveland is enjoying success in other areas as well.  One of the reasons that I love the location of JCU is its proximity to Cleveland, and when I speak to families about it I always tell them about Cleveland's great public transportation system.  Well, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has just been named the North America's Best Public Transportation System by the American Public Transportation Association.  This is an incredible feat and one that the city is very proud to have accomplished.  It's nice to know that the great city of Cleveland is getting some positive recognition for the amazing strides it has taken over the last few years.

Now if we can just get past the Red Sox, all will be well in Greater Cleveland.

Go Blue Streaks and Go Tribe!

(Stunt) Driving in Pittsburgh

Tomorrow begins my second trip to Pittsburgh as part of fall recruitment travel.  Let's hope that it goes better than the first.

Hold on...don't get the wrong idea about the trip.  In recruitment terms it was stellar.  I met some great prospective students from about 15 different high schools.  That's the best part of travel - just being able to talk to great students about coming to a great institution and seeing if JCU is the best fit for them.  The worst part of travel?  Travel.   

Now, this is my fifth travel season in Pittsburgh, but I still can't get the hang of driving there.  It's almost like a nightmarish dream where you can see exactly where you want to go, but you have no idea how to get there.  And the bridges (my goodness, the bridges).  Let's just say 3 rivers + bridges + mountains + not knowing where you are going = very difficult place to drive. 

So, as most people in my position would do, I went online to download directions to my destinations.  This process met with extremely mixed results.  I kid you not, my first list of directions told me to take a u-turn on a bridge ON THE HIGHWAY!  I chose to disregard those directions and figured my own way to the college fair in a manner that would not require a stunt car and Jack Bower behind the wheel. 

Obviously, I survived my week in Pittsburgh and it repaid me by giving me an incredibly productive week of high school visits and college fairs.  I guess I'll do it again this week and hopefully I will not be asked to perform a Hollywood-style chase scene on my way to Fox Chapel.