Danielle Trueba

I personally don't work in Admissions, however, I did learn some things that I can take back to our Admissions team. 

The stand-out for me was understanding that the time spent during the admissions process and the amount of knowledge the students has about the program prior to starting can have a direct impact on retention. I have always thought this was the case, but it was just observational. For example noticing that students who were rushed in last minute did poorly in their first couple of weeks and ended up dropping out despite efforts from our faculty and staff.… >>>

I really liked the focus on positivity! It's imperative that we all embrace a culture of positivity in order to be successful as an institution. 

My biggest takeaway for this section was: Use all interactions with students as extended admissions presentations. Remind students over and over of the WHY and WIIFM (what's in it for me) of attending school. Ensuring student know their WHY and keep it at the forefront of their mind is so very important! - Danielle

This was great information. I appreciated the significance of HABES. I especially enjoyed the reminder in the area of “Beliefs” – it’s so important that not only students believe in themselves but that we believe in them – truly believe that they CAN be successful. I will be aware of identifying possible blind spots with both students and co-workers. - Danielle, PMI

The overall idea of Model, Mentor, and Monitor really is a great way to ensure student success. I think it really speaks to the importance of building trust with the student and letting them know that we truly care about their success. I especially liked the reminder that attention=retention. I plan on experimenting a little bit myself to see how much more successful students are that receive extra attention. Fortunately, the school I work for is extremely student centered already, although there is always room for improvement in this area.

- Danielle