Admissions and Addresses

The first step in a person's college career is applying for admission.  It was probably about this time of year back in 1978 when I first applied for admission to two, (or was it three)  different universities in my state.  I applied for admission and scholarships to more than one, as is the common practice, but my heart was set on the private university in the nearby city to the south where all of my older siblings had attended.   Back in those days admissions applications were paper forms that were filled out and submitted to the college or university via US mail, along with any other transcripts, test scores, or letters of recommendation that might be required.  I was very excited and happy when I received word that I had not only been accepted to the university of my choice, but that I had also been awarded a one year scholarship!  Of course that meant that I attended the college of my choice along with my best friend.  We were the only two from our high school that chose to attend there, and it was undoubtedly a sacrifice for my friend, but I was so grateful to be admitted!

When I began working part time for our local community college over twenty years ago, I worked in the department responsible for processing admissions applications.  Back then the college was completely open admission, and anyone who applied was accepted.  Currently a high school diploma is required to be admitted for college credit courses, but there are many other technology programs and community education programs that are available for persons without a high school diploma.  When I began working, paper admissions applications were still the norm, but gradually over the years we also worked with several different versions of online applications, and I currently oversee the admissions processing team that handles most of the college's admissions applications.   The work still involves working mostly at a computer all day long, but now instead of straight data entry from paper, we work at making decisions and resolving errors related to the automated processes that admit students with the online applications.  

Mailing addresses have always been important when processing applications, and email addresses too.  One of my first tasks when I started working at the school was to update student's mailing addresses.  Some students had email addresses back then, but not all students did. Now with so much of the world being digital, we send much less snail mail that we did 20 years ago, but it is still important to have a correct mailing address for each student who applies to the school. Today an email address is required in order to apply for admission.  It's very important to have accurate email addresses and phone numbers, since most of our communication to students is now done via email, and even text messaging.   Our goal in admissions is to make the admissions process as easy and smooth as possible for our current and prospective students.

Have you applied to attend a school recently?  If so, how was your experience?