Alumni Relations
I am interested in involving past graduates or successful senior students in our orientation process. Have any of you tried this approach to reducing students' fears and building excitement? If so, how do you track the graduates or students that might be a fit for this role?
We have had graduates come to orientation and be in the step with career services. They discuss their success and also how they felt when first coming to the school and how they overcame their fears. We also use current students as tour guides for orientation.
Lisa--
Having graduates come to orientation is an excellent practice. After all, that is the whole point of enrolling--to prepare for a career! The use of current students to help 'show them the ropes' is also a great idea. Students are more apt to ask each other questions than staff members. It also helps it to feel more like a family atmosphere which is helpful for retention purposes. Kudos!
Susan
If your school provides a placement service, ask the placement director to assist with finding superstar graduates who have positive job experiences to represent the school. If the experience is positive, the graduate should be able to explain how a positive school experience led to his/her positive job experience. We even do this for our current students to keep their drive and excitement level up.
Andrew--
Excellent use of effective strategy to increase retention. Too often we forget entirely about our current students and focus on new only. Keeping them excited about coming to class everyday is extremely important.
Susan
Hello,
Our students have a mandatory externship component at the end of the program. So we would call in an extern to speak at orientation. They would talk about how they felt when they began and their experiences throughout the program and it gave the new students a chance to ask the extern questions about the program and their experience thus far in their externship.
Christine--
Greetings!
Bringing in a 'soon to be' graduate to give personal testimony is awesome. Obviously, the students are upbeat at this point in their program and it's nice for them to be able to reflect on their total experience.
And, of course, hearing those types of stories from 'real' people (those who aren't employed at the school) adds major credibility.
Susan
Hello Susan:
There is nothing better than a personal testimony! Inviting a former student with a success story will keep focused the current students on preparing for a career and finding that needed job.
But what happend after one or two years, when they graduate...Will they remember that alumni and the success story?
Probably no, so a good idea would be inviting them again to the graduation ceremony, where those finishing the school are ancious to hear what is going on outside, in the real life. This contact could be useful for starting new relations with prospective employers.
Maria--
Outstanding! Graduations are usually filled with current graduates talking about their experience (also helpful)...but inviting an alumni back is a great idea.
Having graduates or active students come to speak in the orientation its a wonderful idea. We recently open our school, for that reason we don't have graduates, but we use actives students that I know are really happy with the program and services that we offer to organize and orient new students in the process. A good idea to invite graduates students to the orientation process is to create a tracking file that collect the data of all those students (telephone numbers, adress, etc) that finished their carrer making easily to contact them for special ocassions or activities.
Digna--
Welcome! Utilizing your current students is also a wonderful idea, especially since you are a brand new school. Involving current students will not only be a good orientation practice for new students, but an excellent retention effort for current ones. The more students are involved, the more likely they are to stay and graduate.
Susan
I use successful graduates and employers as guest speakers during their first quarter at different times. This allows you to keep the students motivated at different points of their first term.
Excellent point. Spreading out the encouragement of time, especially their first quarter/semester makes a huge difference.
My current employer is an online education company that offers continuing education courses for many schools around the world. We are currently building a way for alumni to voice their opinions to potential students. We have many many potential students that request information or even contact with alumni before making their final decisions.
That's a great idea. Obviously, you will want to screen and provide your alumni with some training prior to 'turning them loose' with your prospective students. Alumni can be an awesome asset to recruitin and retention with the right format.
Susan
We have recent graduates come and speak at our graduation ceremonies and the students do like to hear about their experiences so far, but we've never had a current student speak at orientation. I think it's a great idea and one worth mentioning to our Director of Education. Students sometimes listen and believe each other more than they do the instructors.
Barbara--
Absolutely. I think it is especially effective to have a soon-to-be graduate speak who has overcome some difficulties. It's encouraging for new students to hear there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Susan
Hi John,
I'm currently working on launching an Alumni website that can also serve as a portal for students to have access to the services that are currently only available by visiting the campus and filling out a physical form. Given that you are an online education institution, i'm curious to hear about some of the ways you intend to build an avenue for alumni to voice opinions to potential students. I would like to do something similar that includes a method of providing real time feedback for the college on areas that are of concern and can be addressed immediately and/or review for future changes - in addition to possible 'advertising' from the student as a result of their own positive learning experience.
I usually have the last class before graduation so I really don,t want retention.( get them out is my job at this point!) I do get to hear about the instructors that have helped students, made a difference in their learning experience and the students excitement about going into the workplace and apply what the have learned.
Robert--
You have a great 'place' in the learning sequence...to see the students at the end of one journey and excited about the next! You also have a great opportunity to encourage them to stay involved and make referrals.
Susan
