My First Response!
Post by Taylor Cashdan
In my last blog I tried to prompt you readers for input and topics. For a while, no one sent anything in, until Joe Payne! Here’s his letter, and my response.
“Hey Taylor,
Thanks for the post and opening up the floor to others. In my job, I work as a consultant for strategic enrollment management with admissions offices and would love to hear some feedback from you and others regarding what it was that attracted you to NC State. How did you find the whole admissions process? What did you like/dislike? How would you recommend schools like NC State do things differently to market to young people?
Cheers,
Joe”
Dear Joe,
First off, thanks for responding! That’s awesome that you work with admissions offices. Do you stick to one area? Or do you work with offices around the country?
To address your first question, being “what attracted you to NC State,” I get that question a lot. I always start off saying that not like many of my classmates, I wanted to be close to home. My parents live in North Raleigh, so we’re just far enough where I can be independent but we’re close enough to be able to get lunch every once and a while. As far as being drawn to NC State specifically, I really just like the variety of courses and majors that State offers. There’s a place for everyone here, even though we’re most commonly labeled an engineering school. Plus, I liked that it was in the heart of downtown Raleigh and the Triangle Area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill). There’s always new businesses popping up, new opportunities, and new people. Its all the benefits of a big city, without the need-to-be-rushed attitude and honking horns.
The admissions process, I’d imagine, was the same as many of the other schools I applied to. I will say one thing though, I have a ton of questions for each school and NC State was the one that responded the fasted and with the most in-depth of answers. Aside from that, I just waited for the big red envelope just like anyone else.
There really isn’t much that I don’t like about NC State. I think most of the minor problems that I’ve encountered are just typical of being a college student, not necessarily at the fault of NC State. I will say one thing though, tripping over the occasional uneven brick is a miserable experience. Now for things I like…I’d probably have to write a whole other blog. Just to highlight a few main ones: no matter where you’re from, when you attend NC State you become part of the Wolfpack, both during and after your studies. The student body is such a tight knit group here and the alumni support is among the best in the nation. We have promising football and basketball programs (known as the “Cardiac Pack” because of how we seem to be a sleeper team until the last few minutes of the game, causing any true fan’s heart to race).
For your last part I’m kind of confused. I’m going to assume that by “young people” you mean high schoolers, and if so, I don’t think we need to do anything different. We hit a record high this year of applicants to NC State. We also host many events at our own university, high schools, and other venues for promotion and information that students can take advantage of. We also fly in counselors for conferences and give them a chance to interact directly with our student panel so that they can bring questions and concerns directly from their student body.
Well, I hope I was able to answer all of your questions! And thanks again for writing in.
Yours,
Taylor
As always, your moment of zen:
