Question about regional admissions officers

[Anonymous]

I see on here people recommending that kids get to know their regional admissions representative from schools they want to go to - how does this work? How do you meet those people?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on school, but one great way is during visits to high school. They tend to be smaller sessions and can get some good face time. Some colleges will do panel sessions at area schools where you can attend if your particular high school doesn’t get many visits. Generally selective schools don’t publicize regional officer info and are less inclined to encourage kids reaching out. Other schools track interest and encourage discourse.

[Anonymous]

There are two different people that are being labeled with the same title in this forum.

First, there are regional reps. They live in a territory and represent a university that is usually pretty far away. They will visit high schools and do events like college fairs regularly in the region. The DC Metro has a ton of regional reps.

Second, admission officers at each college have a territory. They don’t live in their territory. They may travel to the area for school visit and some events, but most of their year is spent at their college.

Regional reps tend to be very low level and easy to interact with because they are constantly present in the area. Admission officers are not in the area as much, and therefore it can be harder to create a relationship with them.

All schools have admission officers, but all schools do not have regional reps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are two different people that are being labeled with the same title in this forum.

First, there are regional reps. They live in a territory and represent a university that is usually pretty far away. They will visit high schools and do events like college fairs regularly in the region. The DC Metro has a ton of regional reps.

Second, admission officers at each college have a territory. They don’t live in their territory. They may travel to the area for school visit and some events, but most of their year is spent at their college.

Regional reps tend to be very low level and easy to interact with because they are constantly present in the area. Admission officers are not in the area as much, and therefore it can be harder to create a relationship with them.

All schools have admission officers, but all schools do not have regional reps.

Look at the title of regional reps aka AO’s living in the DC area. Admission counselor is entry level, assistant or associate director is much higher up the food chain.

[Anonymous]

My daughter's school has reps come before school starts for the day, especially in the fall/spring - she has met many during those times. She is at a private school.

We visited one school with a rep she has talked with multiple times and had a private tour (we had signed up for a regular tour), so that was a nice, unexpected bonus.

[Anonymous]

You should really attend the meeting if the AO visits your school

[Anonymous]

At my DC’s private school, sometimes only 3-4 students would show up when the rep visited so they would just chat for an hour. My DC felt comfortable reaching out by email after that as the rep knew her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I see on here people recommending that kids get to know their regional admissions representative from schools they want to go to - how does this work? How do you meet those people?

This might be a little random, but my kid met the regional admissions rep on the school tour, which was the big weekend for prospective students. This is a top 20 school. We unexpectedly sat next to the regional rep during lunch. And DC and regional rep totally hit it off. And the interesting thing was that the rep and DC had wildly divergent backgrounds. But they totally clicked. I have no idea if it mattered, but DC was sold on the school. It was an interesting lunch at the school cafeteria. Good vibes. DC goes there now.

If it did matter, it's because my kid's social skills are on point. DC can have an interesting conversation with anyone.

[Anonymous]

The college counselors at private schools are often friends with the regional reps. As such, the counselors email, the kids email, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my DC’s private school, sometimes only 3-4 students would show up when the rep visited so they would just chat for an hour. My DC felt comfortable reaching out by email after that as the rep knew her.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are two different people that are being labeled with the same title in this forum.

First, there are regional reps. They live in a territory and represent a university that is usually pretty far away. They will visit high schools and do events like college fairs regularly in the region. The DC Metro has a ton of regional reps.

Second, admission officers at each college have a territory. They don’t live in their territory. They may travel to the area for school visit and some events, but most of their year is spent at their college.

Regional reps tend to be very low level and easy to interact with because they are constantly present in the area. Admission officers are not in the area as much, and therefore it can be harder to create a relationship with them.

All schools have admission officers, but all schools do not have regional reps.

Look at the title of regional reps aka AO’s living in the DC area. Admission counselor is entry level, assistant or associate director is much higher up the food chain.

Not always. Some offices use assistant director for their full-time entry level staff. Just don't assume one office's structure is the same as another's.

[Anonymous]

My child goes to a tiny private school that doesn't host college visits. She emailed the reps of her two top schools (listed on the website) to say that she'd love to talk to them -- they both quickly and eagerly responded and she had lovely conversations with both. She was accepted to both despite have lower than average grades, and I think these conversations were part of the reason.

[Anonymous]

How do large public schools host admissions officer visits? I imagine the individual face time would be limited due to the sheer numbers of students. For this reason I feel fortunate that my daughter attends a small private school with a very good relationship with her first choice college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do large public schools host admissions officer visits? I imagine the individual face time would be limited due to the sheer numbers of students. For this reason I feel fortunate that my daughter attends a small private school with a very good relationship with her first choice college.

It's the same. The admissions officer visits and meets with however many kids show up to the session. That said, the competition at private schools is tougher with a higher number of kids gunning for Ivy plus schools and a higher number of legacies. The number of kids who showed up for one Ivy school session at my kids' suburban high school (class of 350 kids) was ~10 students, which is the same as the number of kids who showed up for my friend's kid's school visit (class of ~70).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should really attend the meeting if the AO visits your school

+1

This is also the AO pitching your DC's application to the admissions committee.