Last year I wrote this blog criticizing February, and man did the Feb fans have some words. Wow. Well, now I’m taking the other side of that coin to say that I’m a big fan of May. First, the weather. Now, maybe you live somewhere I’m not thinking of or unfamiliar with and you have some terrible May situation, but in the South, the pollen is gone, the flowers are out, the bugs and humidity haven’t arrived, and most mornings and evenings are cool. Also, it’s graduation month (though from this seemingly comprehensive list that is not official). Admittedly, between working at a college, speaking a ..read more

This week we welcome Enrollment Management’s Communications Officer, Amanda Budd, to the blog. Welcome, Amanda! When I was an undergraduate student, pursuing degrees in journalism and ecology (my journey from ecology to working with college admission is a different story for another day), my ecology degree program had a Family Day to talk about career prospects. They invited our parents for tours of labs, presentations, and lunch, with the goal of affirming to both students and parents that they would get a return on their investment in an ecological education.  Some parents had questions ..read more

Warning: The subtitle of this blog is “That you may not like to hear.” And unlike most of my intros, we’re not going to waste time or words on analogies, personal anecdotes, or admittedly stretched parallels. Instead, after watching this cycle repeat itself, here are the three direct messages/ primary hopes I have for juniors entering the college admission experience. Don’t apply to a college you would not actually attend. Seniors did this. I know, right? They basically walked into a store looking for jeans and went to the section three sizes up from theirs and were like- “Yea, I’ll put those ..read more

  This week we welcome Transfer Program Manager, LaSean Price, to the blog. Welcome, LaSean! Most journeys in life are not linear.  Although linear is the most direct path from one point to the next, life is full of twists, turns and roundabouts.  If you don’t get into your first choice college, don’t be discouraged — there’s more than one way to a destination!    Venturing into the transfer admission process can feel daunting, and is a significant choice that requires careful consideration.  With over 15 years of experience working with and supporting transfer st ..read more

Thursday, February 22  Atlanta, GA : 5 a.m.  My vibrating watch alarm went off. After 20 years of marriage, I’ve learned the hard way not to set an audible alarm before 6 a.m. (actually, that one only took me about two weeks). Groggily, I drug myself downstairs and fed the cat — which is better than feeding myself and drugging the cat, I suppose. (My daughter wanted to name her using a feline pun and my son wanted a “tough sounding” name. Ultimately, we arrived at Pawly. Technically, it is Muhammad “Pawly” Clark.)   As I’m putting on my running shoes, Pawly rolled over to be pet ..read more

This week we welcome Associate Director for Guest Experience, Andrew Cohen, to the blog. Welcome, Andrew! Since there is no majoring in “admission” in college, I often get asked how I ended up in a career working in college admission — more specifically, managing campus visits and events. Like many of my colleagues in this profession, I started out as a college tour guide. (A story for another time is how I was not selected as a tour guide the first time I applied.) During my time as an undergraduate student, I had the opportunity to welcome thousands of students and families to my alma m ..read more

A few weeks ago, a friend told me about the concept of “Value Capture” – a phrase coined by Dr. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor at the University of Utah. Essentially, value capture occurs when a metric becomes the motivation for a certain behavior (Abstract and paper here.)  For example, instead of posting pictures on social media to simply share with family and friends, we become focused on and consumed by the number of likes or impressions we receive. I appreciate Dr. Nguyen providing well- researched phrasing to what I tried to articulate with fewer citations (but more puns) in my ..read more

(Warning: There are a lot of hyperlinks in this blog. If you have an aversion to URLs or words being underlined, proceed with caution. Otherwise, I hope they’ll give you a small sense of what we’ve covered over the last eight years.)  For the last 15 years, I have had the privilege of leading Georgia Tech’s admission team and our undergraduate recruitment and review efforts (dual enrollment, transfer, first-year). During this time, we have been fiercely committed to continuous improvement, and as a result have overhauled our approach to recruitment, review, communication, policy, and prac ..read more

My son is 15 and learning to drive. Sitting (squirming/ praying) in the car with a new driver has brought back some incredibly vivid 30-year-old memories from my driver’s education experience.  Our county offered this class at the district level. So, as sophomores we’d load the bus and head off to a joint facility shared by multiple high schools. After a month or two in rudimentary simulators, we finally hit the roads. Each car went out with three students (one driving and two in the back) and an instructor. My understanding is that this model is extremely rare now, and trust me, I see al ..read more

With a 15-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter, we have many things in our house. Family consensus, however, is rarely one. The variety of opinions between the four of us is comical at times. At times. Mostly it’s maddening. From seemingly simple decisions of what/where to eat to the conservatorship of Britney Spears, on nearly a daily basis, there are adamant divergent perspectives about music, sports, and what constitutes important or urgent. The subject that garners the most consternation, however, is movies. Typically, two of us agree, and we can coerce one other to concede. But getting ..read more