Monthly Archive for May, 2008

Page 3 of 3

Admissions Gestures

Published on May 4, 2008 in College Admissions. 5 Comments Tags: .

I’ve been taking some time away from my “online presence” to tend to some real life stuff that’s dominating my world. Believe me, I miss it; limiting my blogging, twitter, RSS, and podcast time is difficult at best. I feel so disconnected.

I’ll be taking a few more days off, but until then, I have a few thoughts about experiences with admissions offices.

I got mail from Lafayette College and RPI last week. The contents of the mail typifies my overall experience with the schools. RPI sent me a very pretty box containing an object that I’d really lost interest in – the Rensselaer Medal. After all this time, I finally received the physical object that accompanies the scholarship I received there; to be honest with you, it isn’t all that impressive. It’s more like the Rensselaer keychain than anything else and it feels too hoity-toity for my taste, much like the entire RPI experience from the mouthes of their admissions officers.

A complete contrast, Lafayette College sent me a letter containing this:

Thank you for notifying us of your decision to withdraw your application for admission to Lafayette College.

Best wishes for a successful conclusion to your senior year. If we can be of assistance to you at any time, please do not hesitate to contact me or any other member of the admissions staff.

After spending a considerable amount of time on the Lafayette campus and more time corresponding with the school’s admissions office, I really believe their offer of help.

Always – it’s all about the brand.

Deus Ex Machina

Published on May 1, 2008 in A Dover Dilemma and Dover. 1 Comment Tags: .

Big news in the development of the Dover Dilemma – I did it.

Yes, I’ve done it.

Last Wednesday (8 days ago), I attended a meeting of the “Health and Wellness” committee, a Board of Education committee. I’ve been attending these meetings as a representative of the Student Council for a few months now, and I decided to finally leverage my presence there to bring about some good.

As we were speaking about the “health and wellness” of the high school, I matter-of-factly mentioned how Administration didn’t have the funds for our routine spring leadership assembly and that I was struggling to create an alternative assembly for the students. My (completely awesome) District Superintendent said he was shocked to hear this and rather ashamed.

He found us some money in the budget and the Student Council booked a speaker. I didn’t write about it earlier because I wanted the speaker to be booked before I celebrated any victory. I didn’t even tell my friends about it to not get their hopes up. It was hard keeping it all a secret, but worth it.

Although that’s only one of many problems plaguing Dover right now from my perspective, this solution is a good start in solving them.