Edward J. Connor '92

Dean of Admissions

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

October In the Office of Admissions

Well after a long hot summer the last couple of weeks have been damp and chilly. September is typically one of the quietest months for visitors to WPI as everyone is busy returning to school and getting into the new routine. Given the weather and the rainy tours probably a good thing!! That will all change with our first open house of the year next Monday. We are expecting about 400 students and 1,000 visitors overall...extended forecast looks good:)

In addition to September being a quiet month for visitors, there are many days when the staff offices are dark. From mid-September until mid-November most staff members are traveling across the US and around the globe meeting with counselors, families and students. As we speak there are WPI Admissions Staff in Louisiana, Minnesota, Maryland, New York, and Connecticut.

If you come for a visit in the next couple of weeks you are likely to find Julie Chapman or me in the office, along with another counselor or two in between their recruitment trips. However even I get out of the office a bit as well. Last week I was off to St. Louis for the National Association of College Admissions Counselors Conference. This is the "main event" each year for the profession.

In addition to a couple of thousand admissions counselors, the conference welcomes hundreds of guidance and college counselors, as well as many companies with educational related products. It was a short trip...2 nights...but a busy couple of days. Yes I did squeeze in a short steamboat ride on the Mississippi, but in addition got to attend a couple of sessions, meet with a reporter from CBS Moneyline, touch base with some vendors we team up with, and connect with colleagues at many of the other technological universities across the country. In addition several schools (MIT, Carnegie Mellon, RIT, U-Miami, WPI and others) hosted a dessert reception for guidance counselors from across the country. I was pleased to see over 200 guidance counselors in attendance. A good time was had by all and hopefully the counselors learned a bit about our schools as well.

That was my excitement for the fall...although I will be in Framingham, Maynard, and Lincoln next week. Maybe I'll see you there:)

Ed