1. Guess Who’s
Coming To Visit
RUSSELL ALTHOUSE
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR of
COLLEGE COUNSELING
The Wardlaw-Hartridge School
ralthouse@whschool.org
908-754-1882 Ext. 181
ANDY MORRIS
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY
STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
ahmorris@binghamton.edu
607-777-3485

2. WELCOME
ANDY MORRIS RUSSELL ALTHOUSE

3. And we are off….

4. How Did You Do?
What we will cover:
Identify common goals
Understand common grounds
Meeting and managing expectations
Learning styles
Making this work
Stepping into the future

5. The College Search/Visits: YESTERDAY
 Barons Big Book of Colleges
 Parents not as involved in college search process
 Except legacy and Uncle Joe’s recommendations
 Few students visited colleges
 College reps traveled with road maps for months at a time
 College-high school visits in all markets and most regions
 High school students not as obsessed with APs
 Students meet with college reps at fairs
 School counselors, that generation knew it all

6. The College Search/Visits: TODAY
 Computers
 Internet allows a plethora, a quagmire of information
 Helicopter parents haul freshmen & sophomores to college visits
 Students load up on AP courses beginning in 10th grade
 Many/most students visit some/all their college campuses
 Online college “rant zone” sites
 Online college search sites
 Facebook; Instagram; Twitter; WeChat; Skype
 Cell phones

7. Serving Our Students
 This is a partnership
 We are both matchmakers
 School counselors get to know their students (the best
they can)
 School counselors prepare the students to meet college
reps & the admissions process
 School counselors must know about:
 Colleges’ programs of study
 Colleges’ costs
 Colleges’ requirements
 Colleges’ personalities
 School counselors must satisfy their matchmaking to their
administrators/principals, the parents and the students

8. Tell Us About Your Little College

9. Serving Our Students
 This is a partnership
 We are both matchmakers
 College reps get to know their students (the best they can)
 Colleges prepare their reps to meet school counselors and their students
 College reps must know about their high schools/region
 HSs’ community and students’ backgrounds
 HSs’ special programs of study;
 HSs’ curriculums: dual; IB; AP; college classes;
 HSs’ policies for visits, panels, presentations, fairs, etc.
 College reps must satisfy their matchmaking to their college
administrators, HS principals, counselors, the parents and the students

10. Getting to Know You
 Entering a new territory college reps learn a little from those who came
before (if they are lucky)
 Colleges collect data on high schools: EPS (SAT data); previous applicant data;
visit notes; new software making that easier
 HS web sites and especially school profile educate the college rep
 Web sites for college reps establish connections, instructions, directions and
directories
 A rep has to visit a school multiple times to know the school’s location; the
college office location; security policies; parking policies; visit times and
opportunities
 HSs could consider needs of the college reps: young/new or old/experienced
 Together we can learn from each other and be efficient in our efforts

11. I’m Sorry, Which Ivy League School
Did You Say You Were From?

12. Getting to Know You
 School counselors learn about colleges from others in their office
 Colleges offer opportunities to meet with school counselor groups
 Colleges sponsor drive-in or fly-in programs
 Regional ACACs or college consortia sponsor college tour programs
 Naviance offers information about colleges
 HS college offices maintain files/folders on individual colleges
 HSs maintain college data bases of info sheets; results of interviews
with college reps; electronic versions of college materials
 HS counselors gain release time to tour colleges
 Conference networking opportunities
 HS visits face-to-face with college reps at HSs or during college fairs

13. What’s Up School Counselors?
 Mind-blowing caseloads of students
 Amped up stealthy fighter-helicopter parents
 Leave no common child behind core-success testing
 Naviance is great….ooops drat Naviance sucks….oh did that transcript go
through…
 Could you colleges come up with new deadlines for EA 1,2,3; ED-1-5?
 Priority; preferential, scholarship, Christmas surprise, last gasp, app
deadlines
 “Oh and who is this new guy your college sent us this year? We had just
gotten used to the one you sent last year……”
 The Coalition Application—on board?
 New SAT….

14. WHAT’S UP ADMISSION PEOPLE?
 Sorry, but we have a few new staff and we’ve re-drawn territories so
not sure yet who your school will be read by
 Budgets are tight; I have to check to see if your high school is in our
master recruitment strange strategic statistically generated lists
 We did get still another new computer system, so expect to get
congratulations emails in September and missing items emails in late
May
 We have been asked again to find as many students as last year and if
they could have a little higher GPA, oh and ACT/SAT score and we’re
hoping with the economy up again, fewer financial aid needy types
 Oh and while I have you on the phone, hope your summer was fun,
and I’m going to be near your school next Thursday, would that work
for you to visit?

15. Who Wants to Meet the Next
College Rep?

16. Managing Expectations
(college reps wish list)
 Colleges: want HSs counselors to know enough about the
school to appropriately get onto their students’ college
lists
 Colleges: would very much want interested students to
meet with them; if an unknown college or one coming
onto the scene—counselor could identify students with
interests matching programs at that college
 Colleges: do not want to spend time waiting for students
to approach them in lunchroom
 Colleges with a yet-to-be-known reputation want a chance
to leave their mark for future referrals

17. Managing Expectations
(how many wishes do we get)
 Colleges: hope that information from their visit is
shared among other counselors
 Colleges: especially good to great colleges do not
want the velvet rope treatment
 Colleges: expect to meet briefly with a counselor
who will impact college list development rather
than application processing (school counselor vs.
college center staffer)
 Colleges: really want to meet you!

18. Managing Expectations
 HS counselors want college reps to connect the dots for them:
why U?
 Expect efficient presentation of pertinent information
relevant to their school, its students and its staff
 Who and how might I contact you if I need you?
 Is it worthwhile for me to host you for a meeting with me and
my students?
 How can I help to develop awareness of your school with my
students once I realize your unique worthiness?
 WHAT ELSE?

19. Open the Velvet Rope
To New Opportunities

20. Breakthrough Moments
 But this was MY high school….
 College finally voices concern with counselor or
director
 School who had shunned a college for several years…
 Valuable meeting happens finally
 Director discovers a college that every student should
know about
 College feels the beginning of a beautiful relationship
 Strangers on a plane…….true story

21. You Really Do This for Every College?

22. How we do our thing
 Recruitment travel is expensive: time + travel expenses= apps?
 Major fairs
 Top feeder HSs
 Secondary feeders
 Special interest schools
 3-5 visits per day and a college fair
 Scheduling is like a jig saw puzzle missing a couple edge pieces
 Getting through to who schedules
 Good date-bad date-good time-no won’t work-teacher conference
day-oh no
 Glory be to online scheduling tools

23. It’s All About the Swag:
Giving and Getting

24. How You Do the School Counselor Thing
 Incredible balancing act
 Plunge into phone and email messages left throughout the
summer asking for call backs to set up appointments
 75 of your students want to change their senior schedules
 Meets with frantic students who applied to 36 colleges on
August 2nd.
 Frantic parents who want to know why their junior cannot take
one more AP course that’ll only make 6 this year
 School Board people asking, “what happened to that girl you
know our valedictorian you were sure she was going to get into
Penn?” “We hope you got her into at least Yale or Princeton
”What is this sudden attraction to this Binghamton University,
our students want to go to Alabama?

25. School Counselor vs. College Center
 Many HSs have school counselors who “work” with
students to:
 develop college lists;
 discuss testing choices
 School counselors get to know the students’
personality, academic strengths and weaknesses
 Early on, begin to guide students toward certain
future possibilities
 “Why don’t you look at Binghamton University…”

26. School Counselor vs. College Center
 Some HSs or entire regions have dedicated staff
to bring the college search to fruition
 These College-Career Center staff often:
Help students to sign up for testing
Begin the application education process
Assist with internships or other career exploration
activities
Examples: In Florida: BRACE & CAP counselors

27. Q: Who Should College Reps Meet With?
 If a college is entering a region and trying to establish
itself where first-hand knowledge is absent
 Who should they meet with?
 Who could/should they influence?
 Is meeting and sharing with a College Center Counselor a
dead end?
 How can school counselors point students toward a new
college on their radar if the college rep and their valuable
information never gets to the school counseling staff?
 DISCUSS……..

28. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
Best Practice:
The Wardlaw-Hartidge School, Edison, New Jersey
Russell W. Althouse
Associate Director of College Counseling
 My website for College Counselors
(http://www.whschool.org/page.cfm?p=625)
 Contains:
 Contact info for both school counselors
 Visit Hours
 How to schedule a visit
 Directions to campus
 Parking information
 Other schools of interest in the area

29. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 For College Admission Officers
 Susan R. Swenson
Director of College Counseling
sswenson@whschool.org
908-754-1882 Ext. 112
 Russell W. Althouse
Associate Director of College Counseling
ralthouse@whschool.org
908-754-1882 Ext. 181

30. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 Visitor Information
 The Wardlaw-Hartridge School welcomes visits from colleges and
universities each year in order for our students to learn more about
your school, and for you to learn more about what distinguishes
Wardlaw-Hartridge.
 Visit Hours
 Fall college visits are scheduled during the months of September,
October, and November for 40-45 minute time blocks, which coincide
with our class start times. Available times include: 8:10, 8:55, 9:58,
10:36, 11:21, 12:06 (not a lunch break), 1:30, and 2:15.
 If interested, interviews with potential applicants can also be
arranged. Please contact either of our college counselors to make
these arrangements.

31. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 To Schedule a Visit
 Visits can be scheduled online, using this link: Click here
to schedule your visit. We hope you will take advantage
of this option, as it allows you to schedule at your
convenience. If you prefer, you may also arrange your
visit by calling either of our college counselors.

32. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 Directions to Campus
 The College Counseling Office is located in the main
building.
 Directions to Campus
 Parking
 As you enter The Wardlaw-Hartridge School, please stay in
the right lane of the driveway. Just beyond the statue,
you will see visitor parking spaces on your left. If the
visitor parking area is full, please park in any open
space.

33. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 Other Schools in the Area
 Bishop George Ahr High School – 1.75 miles
 J.P. Stevens High School – 2.17 miles
 Plainfield High School – 2.47 miles
 South Plainfield High School – 3.06 miles
 St. Joseph’s High School – 3.61 miles
 Colonia High School – 3.87 miles
 Metuchen High School – 4.19 miles
 Westfield High School – 5.3 miles
 Rutgers Preparatory School – 12.67 miles
 Kent Place School – 12.98 miles
 Pingry School 14.02 miles
 Gill-St. Bernard’s School – 23.49 miles

34. HIGH SCHOOL HELP:
Website for College Counselors
 College Representative Date Time
 Washington U in St. Louis Victor Thomas 9/9/11 8:58 AM
 Case Western Reserve U Rachel Oscar 9/11/14 2:32 PM
 Vassar College Kelly Harrington 9/15/14 8:58 AM
 Skidmore College Ariana VacsRenwick 9/15/14 2:32 PM
 University of Virginia Ryan Hargraves 9/15/14 7:00 PM
 Binghamton University Justin Brymn 9/17/14 10:46 PM
 University of Richmond Beth Anne Spacht 9/18/14 11:33 AM
 Rowan University Allison Wedell 9/22/14 12:21 PM
 Seton Hall University Jenna McAteer 9/23/14 10:46 AM
 Bucknell University Mohammed Ahamed 9/24/14 11:33 AM

35. On-line Registration for Rep Visits
GoogleDoc – not recommended
 Uses an interactive excel or GoogleSheet
 Requires college rep to have a google account
 Information gets “lost” after its been entered, or people
get weird error messages etc.
 The school enters each day and time for appointments in Column A
 In Column B you would enter your name next to the date you
wanted –
 Column c was email
 Column D was phone, etc etc etc

36. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

37. On-line Registration for Rep Visits
YouCanBook.me (https://youcanbook.me/)
 Basic level is free – an upgraded account is $10/month
 only provides HS to ask college rep 7 questions on the free version (name, phone, cell
phone, email, etc)
 This may not be enough for some schools needs
 System sends email to both HS and College counselor confirming the visit and it can also
send a text depending on set up of the system.
 Can only book appointments for time lengths they allow (45 mins to 1,440 mins)
 This can be a problem if times do not match up with HS bell schedule. Note also that times
available are in blue, those not available are gray with an X.
 The system is linked to one calendar.
 This could be a problem if there are multiple counselors in the office.
 If one counselor had a meeting it would X out the time, but a co-worker was available to
host the rep.
 A plus side of that is that you don’t have to enter the visits onto your own calendar

38. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

39. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

40. On-line Registration for Rep Visits
Sign Up Genius
 Free for most things, upgrades depends on how many
bells and whistles you want/need. After free, the price
is 9.99/month, 24.99/month, and 49.99/month. You
can turn it on and off as needed (if you pay for
upgrade)
 http://www.signupgenius.com/

41. On-line Registration for Rep Visits
Homepage for sign-ups
 This system could not match my bell schedule exactly on time either, but, it
was much closer than YouCanBook.me. With the note on the homepage, and
in the confirmation email, issues were mitigated regarding times were off
by 1-3 mins.
 Reps can only report name, email, phone, address. You can also allow for a
“comment” which I used and asked them for their school name in the
comment box.
 System will send you, and the rep a confirmation email. System will notify
and remind the college reps a set number of days before their appointment.
 Reps who make an account with Sign up genius can go in and change their
appointment dates and times – you are notified of the changes,
 You must enter the visit information into your personal calendar

42. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

43. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

44. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

45. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

46. On-line Registration for Rep Visits

47. On-line Registration for Rep Visits
RepVisits
 New company
 Product is very similar to the two above, but it was designed by a
HS Counselor, so in theory it works better for college rep visits
since the other programs where not designed with college reps in
mind, they are much more general.
 Russell signed up for an account, and canceled it the same day
because they make you pick a length of time for your visits 45
min, 50 min, 60 mins

48. Sometimes We Feel Like:
Overwhelmed

49. Styles of Interaction

50. Making This Work
For All of Us
 We ALL have hard jobs
 At times we complicate each other’s world
 We need to be respectful of each other
 We need to find solutions and compromises for what we want and
need
 We need to prepare and to anticipate the needs of the other
 We need to make best use of technology to free us up for
other…..stuff
 We need to be open and honest and genuine
 We need to first and foremost put the best interests of the student in
focus
 We need to make this work for all of us

51. We Owe HS Secretarial Staff a Lot

52. Making This Work
For All of Us
 Make finding each others’ contact information
easy
 Provide up-front info for college reps regarding
how best to interact with your office
 Make HS profile easy to find
 Consider online appointment software
 Reconsider lunch time tabling
 Encourage staffs learn about new colleges

53. The Future of College-HS Visits

55. What is SUNY?
 The State University of New York is the largest
comprehensive university system in the United States.
 Our impact in New York State and across the globe begins
with our 64 institutions, including research universities,
academic medical centers, liberal arts colleges,
community colleges, colleges of technology and an online
learning network.
 We educate approximately 463,000 students in more than
7,500 degree and certificate programs.
 Our nearly 3 million SUNY alumni are located around the
globe, each making their own unique impact.
 There is a SUNY college or university for every student.
Urban/rural/small/large/techie/artsy, etc.

56. SUNY-Diversity
 SUNY’s diverse educational environments
create an intellectual climate that fosters
respect for differences, stimulates
innovation, encourages collaboration, and
prepares students to live and work
productively in a multiracial and
multiethnic society.

57. Incredible Campuses

58. Talented Students

59. Success At Every Turn

60. No Bad Choices

61. The Best of the Best

62. We Are On Everyone’s List

63. Exceptional Education
Extraordinary faculty
Engaged students
Facilities that support
success
Opportunities to excel
Freshman Research
Immersion program

64. Recruited By The Best

65. Successful Alumni

66. Best Value Public Colleges and Their
Overall Ranking:
University of California, Berkeley 1
University of Florida 3
University of California, Los Angeles 4
University of California, San Diego 5
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 7
Georgia Institute of Technology 8
University of California, Irvine 10
SUNY, Binghamton (Binghamton University) 15
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 16
University of Texas, Austin 17
Texas A&M University, College Station 18
University of Virginia 19
College of William and Mary 22
University of Washington 23
University of Maryland, College Park 24
University of California, Santa Barbara 25
University of California, Davis 26
Virginia Tech 29

67. Money magazine & Pay Scale ROI
SCHOOL 4-YEAR GRAD RATE PAYSCALE.COM 20-YEAR ROI*
University of California-Berkeley 72% $806,000
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 76% $667,000
University of California-San Diego 57% $643,000
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University 61% $633,000
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 69% $619,000
University of Virginia 87% $612,000
SUNY-Binghamton University 68% $604,000
University of Texas 52% $571,000
University of Maryland-College Park 67% $560,000
Rutgers University 59% $558,000
University of California-Los Angeles 72% $555,000
James Madison University 65% $544,000
University of Washington 61% $540,000
University of California-Davis 53% $514,000
The College of William and Mary 83% $514,000
University of Connecticut 67% $497,000

69. The Wardlaw-Hartridge School
Edison, NJ
 Founded in 1882
 Pre-K to 12 Independent Co-Ed Day School
 Total Enrollment: ~475
 Upper School Enrollment: ~210
 International Students: ~10%
 The most diverse independent school in NJ
 JUST had groundbreaking on a $5 Million, 10,200 square foot
Performing Arts Center
 Hosted 90+ Colleges (including 4 from outside of the US)

70. Thank You