Academic Advice for Future Enrollment Professionals
Picture this dream scenario:
You have a bright, talented and hungry first-year admissions tour guide you already know you want on your enrollment team when they graduate.
Today, that student comes to you and asks, “What courses can I take over the next four years to help me help my alma mater when you hire me after I graduate?”
What’s your advice?
That’s a prompt I posted to LinkedIn, curious to see what the higher ed hive mind might suggest, and the hive mind rose to the occasion with inspired counsel:
Monica Inzer, Hamilton College
Data science … it is the future. Economics courses on structural hierarchies (and inequities). Finance or accounting on doing more with less (if there is such a course). Marketing and understanding the impact of social media. Anything that fosters creativity. And save time for fun!
Adrienne Amador Oddi, Queens University
Any class that has a heavy speaking component! Interestingly, I got a lot of practice preparing logical arguments and answering tough questions in presentations in theoretical math classes. Can’t think of a better way to prepare for the public-facing components of the work!
Kirk Brennan, USC
Stuff about public good, communications and human behavior: Sociology, English, Organizational Behavior, History, Public Policy, etc etc. Embrace reading.
Jacky Arias, Dominican University
Social science courses, Spanish, translation, communications, marketing. Depending on the type of school they wish to work for, being familiar with issues of DEI is crucial!
Patrick Winter, Kansas State University
Not so much a course, but rather something that gives them the opportunity to gain meaningful experience learning how to engage with people unlike themselves: a study abroad, service learning project or volunteer work. Develop their empathy now, hire for attitude and then train for skill.
The counsel inspired me to synthesize it into something more lasting than a social media post.
The evolving landscape of higher education and enrollment management requires practitioners to possess strategic dexterity, cultural competency, quantitative fluency, intellectual curiosity and interdisciplinary breadth.
You know … the things that most higher education institutions are designed to cultivate in their students.
As colleges continue to reckon with the effects of the Great Resignation, they also hold the keys to prepare the next generation of professionals who will lead their institutions into an ever more uncertain future. A creative adaptation of existing coursework would be a relatively low-effort, potentially high-return strategic path toward a more sustainable future for the enrollment professionals and the institutions they serve.
Let’s carry the thought experiment a little farther, and see how we might guide our student, starting with the basics. The LinkedIn responses conveniently cluster themselves into some familiar buckets:
Humanities
- English, including creative writing
- Ethics
- History
- Languages, especially Spanish, beyond intermediate level
- Rhetoric
Mathematics
- Data analytics
- Data science
- Statistics
Social Sciences
- Behavioral economics
- Cultural anthropology
- Micro and Macroeconomics
- Organizational behavior
- Political science
- Public policy
- Social psychology
- Sociology
Business and Communications
- Accounting
- Cross-cultural communication
- Finance
- Marketing
- Social media marketing
- Public Speaking
- Theater
I may be showing my liberal arts bias here, but it strikes me not only as remarkable, but also convenient, that you can find most of these courses in or near the core curricula or distribution requirements at most institutions. The key is assembling them in a way that makes sense for our bright, talented and hungry first-year student.
Before we prescribe any path for our student, we will, of course, ask them questions, listening carefully and noting their ambitions, interests, strengths and weaknesses, then we can map those interests over clusters of courses that fit well with their ambitions and strengths.
One approach is to choose a curricular path that augments a standard major with a collection and progression of courses from the categories listed above, bundling them into mindsets or competencies that would be valuable for future enrollment professionals. Several examples might include:
Data-Driven Strategy
To understand how to influence institutional strategy with relevant data-informed arguments and planning.
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- Statistics, Data Analytics and Data Science: building quantitative skills to analyze landscapes and opportunities, and inform measurable goal setting and evaluation
- Public Speaking and Rhetoric: to articulate persuasive, evidence-based arguments
- Economics and Behavioral Economics: for the interplay of resources and desired behaviors and outcomes
- Organizational Behavior and Psychology: for motivating individuals and organizations around strategy
Experience Management in College Recruitment
To create and deliver inspiring experiences and communications with your institution for students and their families.
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- Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology: to develop observation skills around human behavior and for inclusion-minded approaches to experience creation and management
- Art, Music and Creative Writing: to inform the aesthetics of showing and telling stories, and designing moving experiences
- Theater (Acting and Tech Design): moving audiences through compelling performances and design
- Cross-Cultural Communication and Languages: to foster conditions for culturally welcoming and inclusive experience design
- Marketing and Social Media Marketing: to learn how to create and reinforce market position
- Social Psychology: to understand how individuals are influenced by the perceptions in the college recruitment experience
Financial Management and Optimization
To develop a foundational understanding of the relationship among pricing, revenue and institutional finances.
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- Accounting and Finance: developing the vocabulary and skills to understand and describe institutional financial health and the levers that can impact that health
- Economics, Behavioral Economics, Statistics and Data Analytics: to understand the impact of pricing around college choice for students and their families
- Ethics: for the philosophical structure for decision making around financial issues
- Organizational Behavior: to understand and influence decision-making processes, especially around organizational culture and leadership
- Psychology: especially focused on the influence of environmental conditions on human behavior, as well as change management
Higher Ed Admissions Policy and Advocacy
To understand the systems that impact access and achievement in higher ed … and how to impact the systems.
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- Political Science and Public Policy: understanding how governments and NGOs work with respect to higher ed access and degree attainment
- Economics and Behavioral Economics: to understand the underpinnings of policy-making with respect to higher education
- English and History: to cultivate critical reading skills and understanding of the historic and structural factors that contribute to our higher education landscape
- Ethics and Philosophy: for the habits of mind and decision-making structures to evaluate societally complex issues
- Rhetoric and Public Speaking: to engage policy makers with persuasive arguments
Lest we lean entirely on academics to help students develop relevant skillsets and mindsets, students can lean into co-curricular or extracurricular activities, such as athletics, debate, mock trial, Model UN or—as one commenter suggested, organizing rush for a fraternity or sorority—can develop practical skills that will serve students well when they join your team after they graduate–or wherever they may go.
High-impact learning experiences, such as study abroad and long-term research work, can develop other intelligences and empathy.
Let’s not forget about internships, either, especially if you offer them in your own admissions or enrollment operation. Giving students the opportunity to test interests and build skills through progressively more intensive work—whether it’s events planning, data management in your CRM, interviews with students, support travel—is an excellent way to fill the professional pipeline, not only for your office, but for the college admission profession beyond your office.
I’ll close with a question and invitation for you, dear reader:
Think about your own career development and go back to your beginning. If you could design a cluster of courses and experiences that would serve the future version of you well in your career, what would you design for yourself?
