Weekly Musings

Introduction #3

Name: Tim Reardon

Title: Assistant Director of Regional Recruiting

Hometown: Norwell, MA

Education: Norwich University, 2007
BA History, BA Political Science

Majors You Review: Students from TX, FL, NC, SC with last names ending in A-L

How long have you been at Norwich University?

4 years as a student, 1 month as an  Admissions Counselor.

Why did you choose to enter into the world of Admissions?

I loved Norwich as a student and a member of the Corps of Cadets, and thought that this would be a wonderful way to stay around Norwich and to show what Norwich as to offer to students.

What do you focus on the most when reviewing an application?

Why the student wants to come to Norwich.

What is your favorite part of this job?

Working at my alma mater.

What are your outside hobbies?

Running, reading

What’s something about you that surprises most people?

My ultimate career ambition is to be President of the United States.

Let's talk about email addresses...

So here in Admissions we have started the annual task of contacting all of those students who have inquired to NU for the fall 2008 semester. It's a tedious task, but it must be done! We all have hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of calls to make, and I must say that during this time we'll take any little laugh we can get. This is where email addresses come in. I cannot believe what some students have submitted, to a UNIVERSITY, as their email address. Yes, we all laugh over it and share our daily "bad" addresses, but really it's something that we should discuss. In this day and age where you can have as many email accounts as you'd like, please, please dedicate one account to college admissions. This address should be firstnamemiddleinitiallastname@wherever.com. Not only will you have one central place where all of your college information lands, but it allows all of us on the other end to easily identify you. It also saves me the personal embarrassment of having to verify your email address and having to say back to you, "yes is your email address still triplexplayaboy69@yahoo.com?" Really, it's uncomfortable. And you all are young adults. You should have enough knowledge to know whether or not your current email address is suitable to give to a college or university. If you hesitate, if you have to think about it, then you need a new address. However, if your current address is something like crazycat12@yahoo.com, there's no urgent need to change it. Why? Because that's not inappropriate. There are no sexual undertones, no blatant insults, nothing which crosses the line. So please, take a look at your current address and if need be, change it. Whether we should or not, Counselors take notice of these things, and it stays in our heads. 

Is this the end of my slackerdom? (is that even a word...)

Well things have still been pretty quiet around here, but we have had some activity on campus with our summer school students arriving and we're gearing up for all of our summer camps. On top of that the Admissions Office has hired four new counselors, three of which started with us this past Monday. We've spent this week training them up on how things run around here and needless to say, their brains are pretty near full at this point. We're so excited to have these guys as a part of our team, and we're already getting ready for fall 2008 recruiting! That's right, we start a full year in advance to bring in the  class. So for you rising seniors, expect your phone to start ringing in the next few weeks! We'll be calling all of you who have expressed an interest in Norwich and getting to know a bit more about you. This is a great way for you to get your first contact with your Admissions Counselor and be able to ask any questions you may have like, what exactly is the Corps of Cadets anyway? Please remember that your Counselor is someone whom you want to build a relationship with, not someone to avoid. So answer the phone! :-) And get used to us calling on a regular basis...as I've mentioned before it's a requirement of our job to call you at least once every 30 days. So ignoring us really won't get us to go away :-P

Alright well besides having our ears glued to the phone for the next couple of months, we'll be prepping ourselves for Rook arrival day, Civilian arrival day, and the start of the new semester. Although these are our quiet months, there's still a lot to accomplish so we'll surely be busy. For you incoming freshmen, don't forget to get us your new student forms! You've got a few weeks left before they're due so no need to worry, but don't forget to send them! Also, be sure to take your math placement test. The last thing you want to do when you get here is be shoved into a computer lab to take the test, so get it done this summer. And, most importantly, if you find yourself starting to get cold feet about the Corps...CALL YOUR COUNSELOR! You'd be surprised how helpful it can be just to talk to someone about your concerns, so don't be shy.

Ok folks that's my rambling for this week. As always, please let me know if there's something specific you'd like me to write about. Input is always a good thing!

Have a great week :-)

Meaghan

P.S. I'll be at a conference in MD next week, so there won't be a posting...at last a valid excuse for not blogging!

And I Am Still A Slacker....

It's true, I am. In addition, I am the world's worst blogger...I'm just not creative enough to come up with topics all the time! So, that being said, I need your help. Email me things that you want to know about...questions you may have about the process, the school, etc. I want to make sure that you're getting the information that you want. So here's my address, mcumming@norwich.edu, don't be shy and email me!

Ok well besides me putting off my blog, things here have been pretty quiet. Summer is always a mellow time so there's not a lot of activity going on. For those of you who have deposited, make sure that you go to http://www.norwich.edu/admissions/newstudentinfo.html to print out your New Student Information Packet and get everything back to us by July 1st. Also, make sure you take the time to read through the material...yes, even the stuff you don't have to send back! There's a lot of great information in there so take advantage of it. And if you have questions about any of the forms, just call your Admissions Counselor and they'll walk you through it. Ok, now those of you who HAVEN'T deposited...time to put it into gear people! There are very, and I am not exaggerating in the hopes of scaring you into depositing, few beds left. This is  especially true for our Traditional Students. So, if you're still interested in NU for the fall, contact your Counselor ASAP so we can push through everything! And once again, I beeeeeeeeeeeeg of you, if you applied and you're just not interested any more, please call and tell us so we can take you off our list. It's painless, I promise.