Despite the challenges of not having in-person admissions recruitment events, innovative efforts and teamwork have resulted in Early Action applications remaining on last year’s pace and strong attendance of virtual admissions programs.

“It’s been an all-campus effort, really,” said Ebony Dixon, the college’s first executive director of enrollment management, who started with Oswego in September.

As of the morning of the Dec. 1 Early Action deadline, applications had topped 2,700 for these students most likely to commit to Oswego -- consistent from last year and impressive given how much has changed since then -- while a retooled virtual open house hit high marks in quantity and quality. In all, 449 prospective students attended over the course of the three-day (Nov. 11 to 13) open house events.

“The team told me that this was the most well-attended open house they have ever experienced,” Dixon said. The convenience of holding it virtually, which brought a larger geographic spread than ever before, was a large factor, but a focus on student-led sessions and a variety of new aspects to the program bolstered both draw and effectiveness. 

August to December is the heaviest recruitment season, with admissions counselors traditionally traveling to high schools, community colleges and information sessions throughout New York and into other states, plus three fall open houses providing the most comprehensive in-person opportunities to get acquainted with campus.

When it became obvious months ago that the fall open house season -- a key showcase of the college, its campus and the faces that make up the Oswego family -- could not follow the usual format, Dixon said her admissions team began holding brainstorming sessions and weekly meetings to imagine what this season would look like as the college attempts to attract the Class of 2025 and new transfer students.

Virtual admissions events are drawing students from all across New York state, but also from as far as California, Georgia, Michigan, Virginia and Texas. Dixon said when they checked with these attendees, many realized they could start their college journeys virtually anywhere but also noticed things New York was doing well.

“They've been paying attention to the news and how New York is handling the pandemic,” Dixon recalled. “They said that they were really aware of what other states are doing and they're really conscious about their health and just really wanted to have a good college experience.” 

Open houses transformed

The plans to redesign the open houses in the virtual realm bore fruit with the high turnout, with the most popular feature being the virtual version of an in-person staple: the student-led campus tour. 

Student tour guides on smartphones walked through campus and into buildings to showcase points of interest, while other student guides would narrate the tour. 

“So they were giving a full story and talking about some of the things that they do in those buildings,” Dixon said. “It was set up in a Zoom webinar so the students and family members that attended could pose questions in our chat box and a staff member would read those questions to the tour guides out loud, and then they would be able to interact with the audience in that same way.”

Some virtual attendees asked the guides to point their smartphone cameras toward the always-popular Lake Ontario, Dixon added.

Prospective students were very interested in virtually meeting current Oswego students to hear about what they were studying, student organizations they are involved with, what happens on campus and why they chose Oswego. 

During the open houses, some faculty opened their virtual classrooms to prospective students to attend live classroom sessions and hear how a class would be taught.

“They were able to hear how the professors and the Oswego students connected in the classroom,” Dixon said, Students could learn about the types of assignments they might receive and about expectations for Oswego students.

“To end each night, we had a student panel of current Oswego students called ‘Ask Me Anything,’” Dixon said. “It really was students in their residence hall rooms and they would answer questions posed by the student audience. That was a pretty popular event.”

The addition of a virtual Help Center to answer questions and a counselor Zoom room to help direct attendees to find what they needed through the events were other popular open house initiatives. Dixon also reported strong attendance for financial aid sessions, as scholarships and ways to pay for college are always of great interest. 

“We did run some numbers on students who had made a reservation for an open house and who had yet to apply,” Dixon said. “There were a good number of students who had applied but as each day closed we saw that number go up just a bit more. After they heard about us, after they talked with us and after they sat in on the presentations, that evening, they then went on to the website and applied.”

Opportunities to connect

Another growing success is one-on-one admissions interviews, previously held in person but this year’s virtual sessions found a huge jump in interest. 

“We had 191 students participate in the admissions interviews and last year there were only 34 students who did,” Dixon said. “This is for students who may want to have just a one-on-one session and who may want to just tell us a little bit more about themselves. There is a convenience that happens virtually as we're able to reach more students, and they were coming from everywhere.” 

As a result, the college plans to offer more one-on-one interview sessions through at least January. 

This year, for the first time, SUNY Oswego held dedicated National Transfer Week programs, Oct. 19 to 23. Big hits included one-on-one appointments with a counselor that offered prospective students unofficial degree audits “so you really know which credits will be coming into Oswego, so you can make a more informed decision,” Dixon explained. “We found such great success with having those degree audit conversations that we've since incorporated it into our overall recruitment plans and want to make that more of a monthly event.” 

The sizable interest in the student-guided tours has the admissions team planning ways to make such content more widely available. This could include recording tours resembling the fall open house tours with student narrations, but also offering more live tours that prospective students and families can register for, given limits on the ability for visitors to experience the campus in person.  

“We want to incorporate the students even more” for spring events, Dixon said, including a redesign of what Admitted Students Days and regional receptions might look like. 

“We're working on how we can make the reception feel more intimate to the students and their families,” Dixon said. 

This could include a student from that region making a virtual presentation where “they really show their progression from leaving the hometown to matriculating here at Oswego,” Dixon said. “We want to tell more stories for the reception, so that there is more of a human connection, even though we're virtual.”

The Slate relationship management software system is helping the college better plan campaigns to communicate with students about upcoming admissions sessions and send reminders. The Admissions Office can then send out “thank you for attending” or “sorry you couldn’t attend” emails and provide future opportunities and next steps.  

And all those efforts and more continue, with regular applications encouraged by Jan. 15, and many more events and connections planned as Oswego builds its next class throughout the spring cycle to encourage applicants to convert into future Lakers.

 For more information on upcoming admissions events and activities, visit the Admissions website.