Adventures in Admissions

Open House to Halloween

The end of summer in the Office of Admission marks the beginning of our busiest season. In September, October and November we counselors are traversing the country, and are spending our time visiting with students at high schools and participating in college fairs. The fall is also a prime time for prospective students to come and visit the campus. While our daily visit programs offer a fantastic overview, our Open House programs are truly unique. We hosted two Open Houses this year, both incredibly successful events. Students and families visited on October 12th and October 26th, and our staff was ready to show them what our University is really all about!

Here are some pictures from our 10/26 program:

It was a beautiful day – clear and crisp!

 

 
Shanna and Stephanie, pre-departmental fair.

 

 
A view of one of the many towers on campus.

 

 
Some members of our lovely staff.

 

 

By the end of the day, we needed some comic relief – thanks to Emily and Nashwa for providing it!

 

We also celebrated Halloween in style (as always – this is a festive office!). Here are a few pics from our Batwing Bistro potluck:

 

 
Troy, Margret and Dnyee – looking fine!

 

 
Nashwa was a lumberjack – I was a Christmas tree ; )

 

 
Andy’s swine flu doctor (unfortunately, you can’t see the piggy bank in this picture) making sure Margret’s little housedog was still alive.

 

 
The whole gang!

 

After all of the fall travel and festivities, we’re now ready to read the thousands of Early Action applications that have been sent in – if you have any questions about the admission process, please let us know. Enjoy the rest of 2009!

Stephanie Cuddihy, Admission Counselor

Fall travel

I am in the midst of fall travel season.  October is so busy I am in 5 states and I might be home for a total of 5 full day (not all at one time).  This is the time of year I get excited about the students who are starting their application process.  Some students have visited DU as juniors and many more are scheduling their campus visits now during their senior year.

A typical day for me goes from 6:30 AM to 10 PM or later.  I am conducting high school visits and attending college night programs throughout the Midwest.  I am also asked to give presentations for high school junior programs and not-for-profit organizations like College Bound in MN.  

In October there are four national college fairs in the Midwest; Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, Minneapolis.  These national college fairs draw students from the home state and surrounding states. The Minneapolis National College Fair is the largest program I attend for DU.  I always invite area alumni and current parents of DU students to join me for the two day event.  If you happened to come by the DU table you would see us 2 – 3 deep with people asking questions and filling out inquiry cards to get more information.  We talk non-stop from 9 AM - 1 PM and from 4 PM – 9 PM.  I am ever so thankful for the assistance from my DU parents and alumni that are with me at these programs.  They add a different perspective and insight that I don’t have.

Presentations offer me an opportunity to reach out to students and families in a different way.  I have a PowerPoint on How to Set Up a Successful Campus Visit, help conduct Mock Admissions Committees, and a Dear Director of Admission Simulation.  These presentations go beyond DU and offer insight into the admission process and campus visit planning.  I am always amazed ant the responsiveness of the audience for these programs.  The students offer thoughtful insight and really seem have a good grasp on the admission process this year. 

As I wind down travel season, it is time to prepare for the optional Hyde Interviews and file review.  Admission is a season that continually changes.  Travel starts at the right time and concludes just when you need a break.   I look forward to seeing many of my Midwestern students at the Hyde Interviews in November and I also am looking forward to reviewing the applications from my territory.  Have a great fall!

Jenn Paar, Midwest Regional Director

We Want to Get to Know You!

It’s hard to believe that it’s already October 23^rd!  The Early Action application postmark deadline is only about a week away (November 1), which means we will soon be busy reading all of your essays, recommendations, and reviewing your transcripts.  At the University of Denver, we do a very good job of reviewing your application in a holistic manner.  We don’t just consider your grades and test scores but we also look at your extracurricular activities, leadership roles, commitment to service, and diverse experiences.  By reading about you, we begin to feel like we actually know you.  However, nothing beats being able to match a name to a face and having that personal interaction!

This is why we strongly encourage all of our students to interview.  We want to make sure that we are learning as much about you as we can.  Our interviews aren’t designed to be grueling or intimidating (they’re about 15-20 minutes) – we just want to get to know you a little better.  We want to learn about the personal characteristics that you possess that we may have missed in the application.  Specifically, we want to know how you are motivated to learn, what you value, especially in regard to honesty and integrity, and how you are open to new ideas and differences. 

At the Ammi Hyde Interviews, you are greeted by an admission counselor but you are interviewed by one to three individuals who are faculty, staff, or alumni.  They are as excited to meet you as we are. The best part is that these individuals know nothing about you – they haven’t read your application, so you are the true expert in this situation!  All you have to do is relax and be prepared to brag about yourself and your awesomeness! 

We conduct these interviews in 30 cities across the nation in November for Early Action Applicants and in February for Regular Decision applicants.  We also conduct interviews on-campus throughout the year just in case we won’t be in a city near you.  We would love to meet you in person, so if you want to register for an Ammi Hyde Interview, please contact us at 1.800.525.9495 or admission@du.edu.

Have a great weekend and hope to see you soon!

Nashwa Bolling, Coordinator of Ammi Hyde Interview and Volunteer Programs

Staying healthy

Like many campuses across the nation, DU spent the summer preparing continuity plans for a possible H1N1 flu outbreak on campus.  While we've had several cases reported, it has not significantly impacted our student body this fall.  We still had hundreds of students camp out overnight to buy season tickets to watch our number one ranked hockey team, theatre students handed out beach balls on 16th street mall as part of a senior project, and members of the Alpine Club went hiking, biking and climbing at Independence Pass.

Meanwhile, our staff has been traveling around the world on planes, trains and automobiles - trying to stay healthy ourselves.  We all carry bottles of hand sanitizer with us and wash our hands multiple times throughout the day, as our dry hands will testify!  At one high school I visited in Idaho this past week, their school newspaper reported that they had over 200 students out sick every day for more than two weeks.  I flew in late Friday night and found Denver receiving the first snow of the season - by the time I woke up Saturday morning we already had about 4 inches on the ground.  With the combination of constant travel and the change in weather, I woke up with a sore throat and worked all weekend to get healthy again for a busy week meeting with students and families.  Good thing a constant diet of tea, chicken noodle soup and vitamin C work so well!  Now it's back on the road...

Emily Forbes, Assistant Director of Admission

Universities using social networking?

The counselors have returned triumphant! Another successful year at the NACAC National Conference (NACAC is the National Association for College Admission Counseling). This annual conference provides us with a unique opportunity to speak with counselors from different regions of the country (and the world), reconnect with colleagues from our own part of the country, participate in engaging educational sessions about the current state of college admission counseling, and explore a new city with friends and coworkers. This year the conference was held in Baltimore, MD, and we all enjoyed the dynamic, energetic setting – not to mention the crab cakes!

I attended several memorable sessions, one of which spoke to the significance of social networking amongst college-bound seniors. There was some lively discussion afterward about the way in which these sites (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) are most effective, and whether they should be used as a tool by the colleges and universities themselves. What do you think? If each of the counselors at DU had their own university-sanctioned Facebook page where we could hold virtual office hours and update students on current news and information within their region, would you visit those pages? We would love to hear your feedback.

We returned from our trip refreshed and ready to read the thousands of applications that are going to be crossing our desks any day now. Many of us are still in the midst of fall travel and are visiting high schools across the country, so be on the lookout for the University of Denver in your counseling or post-grad center!

 

Stephanie Cuddihy, Admission Counselor

Counselor Workshop Update

 For the past week our admission counselors have been traveling around the state of Colorado updating high school counselors about all the new, exciting things happening on campus.  We welcomed the smartest, most diverse class of students to DU earlier this month and are excited about the ways in which they are already getting involved and making a difference on campus.  For the third year in a row, DU enrolled the highest number of Boettcher scholars (13 just started classes last week) in the state.  The Boettcher Scholarship allows 40 Colorado students to attend any college or university in the state by providing them with a full tuition, room and board, books and expenses.  This is always an exciting group of students for us to interact with because they tend to be excellent students and leaders in their communities.

We launched a new sustainability minor this year focusing on three pillars: the environment, economics and social equity.  This minor will complement much of the work already happening on campus around sustainability and will allow students to formalize this emphasis and learn new ways to apply these concepts in their studies.  We also formalized another dual-degree opportunity for students studying natural sciences, mathematics or engineering at the undergraduate level to pursue a master's in engineering - and they will be able to complete both degrees in just five years!  Quite an accomplishment when many students around the nation struggle to finish a bachelor's degree only in five years.  The dual-degree in engineering will join our current program offerings in business, education, social work, art history, international studies, public policy and geographic information science.

This past year we saw many student-led initiatives focusing on how we truly fufill our mission of being a private university dedicated to the public good.  Our student senate worked closely with the city of Denver to launch the bike share program which will eventually have over 1000 bikes available throughout the city with bike stations on campus for students to pick up a bike, ride it downtown for an internship or down to the Cherry Creek Resevoir on a nice Saturday afternoon, then return it for free.

 

Photo by Wayne Armstrong

The environmental team partnered with Denver Urban Gardens to launch a new organic garden next to campus open to both students and community members.  Throughout the year they will host free workshops about composting and the benefits of organic gardening.  We had students serving not only in the Denver community, but around the world through International Service Learning projects or while they were studying abroad through Cherrington Global Scholars. 

It is so exciting for us in the office of admission to learn more about the ways in which our students are engaging in the community and truly tackling the big issues of the day!

Emily Forbes, Assistant Director of Admission

Scholarship Fair on Campus THIS Saturday!

Scholarships For Colorado is holding its first ever scholarship fair and workshop event. For anyone in the Denver area, feel free to join us on Saturday, September 26th from 1:00 – 4:15 pm at the University of Denver Driscoll Student Center. At the fair you will be able to speak directly to scholarship providers to learn about scholarship opportunities. By attending the workshops you will be able to gain strategies for obtaining various types of scholarships. We are excited to host this great event on our campus because we realize that in these challenging economic  times students and families are looking at all possible ways to make the college experience an affordable option.  For more information on this specific event, please visit their website.  Our Office of Financial Aid also does a great job of collecting information on various outside scholarships that our students may be eligible to apply for, which you can view here. 

Emily Forbes, Assistant Director of Admission

They're here!

All of our first year students moved onto campus yesterday and were officially welcomed as the class of 2013 earlier this morning.  Continuing students return to campus later this week and then classes begin on Monday, so campus is abuzz with excitement!  This is such a fun time for our new students, but we realize that it can also be an emotional time as families start their treks back home, leaving their sons and daughters here at DU.  The Pioneer Passage event marks the transition time for our office - we say hello to all the students we recruited last year and then hit the road again to start meeting new students and families.  Our staff has spent a lot of time together over the summer - both in the office and out (two counselors got married, we attended concerts and Rockies baseball games and had a few office get togethers after work), but now we say goodbye because we won't all be together again until November!

Emily Forbes, Assistant Director of Admission

What's going on in Denver?

There is so much happening on campus now as we are getting ready for our Discoveries orientation week - that we have no trouble staying busy! When we have a spare moment, though, we like to check out what’s happening in Denver. If you're coming to visit campus this fall, take a look at these sites to round out your visit:

*The Best of Westword is a great place to start. It will link you to many of the incredible restaurants and shops that make the city so unique, and it will also provide you with an extensive calendar of events.

*Take a tour of or see a concert at Red Rocks, a must-see for anyone coming to town.

* Kooza, a Cirque du Soleil production, is playing downtown throughout the month of September – you could take the light-rail right from DU and not even have to pay to park.

*The Colorado Rockies are offering some fantastic ticket specials, and they have a 10 game home stand the first two weeks of September– they could be leading their division by then!

*Denver.org is a one-stop shop for all things related to the Mile High City. It gives you sample day itineraries, hotel information, and offers great discounts on local businesses.

Stephanie Cuddihy, Admission Counselor

Roses are red, violets are blue…How do you pick the right college for you?

 It’s that time of year again when students are beginning to fill out their college applications, and I’m suddenly remembering that frantic feeling that came the fall of my senior year. What schools did I want to apply to? Should I go for a state school or private university? Did I want to stay close to home or move away? And how, with thousands of colleges and universities to choose from, how was I going to narrow it down?! Would they even admit me?!! Picking the schools I would apply to felt like I was a contestant on the “My Future College Dating Game”; I learned a little bit about each school, shared some information about myself with them, and hoped to find a compatible match. If there is one thing I’ve learned growing up with reality tv though, it’s that you probably won’t find true love on a 30-minute sitcom. Similarly, it can take a little extra time and information to really know if a certain campus is going to be the right fit for you, and the best way to do that is to visit!

At DU, we give prospective students the chance to really get to know us through a program called Open House. During the day-long Open House program, you’ll have the chance to visit and have lunch on campus, take a tour, meet and talk with current students and professors, and learn about the organizations and activities that are offered for students. There are interactive Q & A sessions and opportunities to connect with your admission counselor.  It’s a great way to get a little more insight on what DU has to offer you, both academically and socially. You can even stay overnight in the residence halls and experience what living on campus is really all about. The Open House program gives you the chance to learn everything there is to know about DU, including all the behind the scenes information that you might miss by just surfing the website – and we want you to come and see it all for yourself! There are two Open House programs this year: October 11-12^th and October 25-26^th. Registration is a 5-minute process you can complete today at http://admission.du.edu/admissions/visit/extendedvisit.asp.

After my visit to DU, I knew it was love at first sight, but you may need some more convincing before you find that warm, fuzzy feeling. Open House gives you the chance to see all aspects of DU, from the residence hall lounges and crowded pathways in between classes, to the athletic facilities and the lab classrooms, and all the friendly faces that bring life to the 125-acre campus. After spending some time on any campus you visit, hopefully you’ll walk away with a better sense of if it’s the campus for you. The best advice I ever got was to take risks, give myself options, and trust my instincts because remember - this is the real thing! If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at 1-800-525-9495 or locally at 303-871-2036, or by visiting the DU website at www.du.edu. Happy hunting!

Lalu Abebe, Program Visit Fellow