Practicum

Senior Intern in the Office of Admissions

I have worked in the HWS Admissions Office since the spring of my first year at school. Ever since I was a junior in high school, I knew that I wanted to work in the Admissions Office at whatever school I ended up going to. When I was looking at colleges, I was quite thorough in my search. I ended up visiting 24 different schools and even visited some multiple times. One of the most important parts of each of those visits (whether I realized it or not) was the Admissions Office. This office is the first true look you get at any school. The people you speak with, the information session you sit through, and the tour you go on all contribute to your judgements of the school. I had some very positive experiences at schools I visited and had some more neutral experiences. I wanted to work in the Admissions Office to try to give other prospective families the great experiences I had at some schools. By being an intern, I was able to interact with the prospective students in a way I never had, even as a tour guide. This new opportunity was very exciting for me and I was very happy to take on this role.

Statement of Purpose:

For my practicum, I wanted to support the Office of Admissions and help recruit the best possible cohort for the class of 2024, as well as improve my own leadership skills, specifically communication.

Goals:

My goals for this project were:

To improve my communication skills
Be as helpful and insightful as possible in my write ups
Learn about the admissions process for potential future jobs

Project Description:

I was employed in the Office of Admissions and worked weekly shifts. I worked about 2-10 hours a week, depending on the workload available at the time. I was assigned to a full-time admissions counselor who would give me work to complete. My main job was reaching out to and interviewing prospective students, as well as doing the subsequent write ups about them. These write ups were crucial to the admissions process because the admissions counselors would read them and take them into consideration when looking at a student's application for the school. Interviews took place either in person or virtually over Skype. Because this work was done on my own time, it took a lot of internal motivation and drive to complete. My goal was to learn as much information as I could about a student in a 20-30 minute timeframe, while also trying to make it feel as little like an interview as possible. Interviews at HWS are supposed to feel more like a conversation and less like an interrogation. This took a lot of time and effort to perfect, but I eventually did and ended up really enjoying the work.

Reflection:

I learned a lot about the admissions process through this internship. I was able to learn about how an admissions counselors read a student's application and what things they think are most important. I also learned that every counselor is different and there is really no "right way" to write a college essay or a "right way" to interview with a counselor. It depends on the reader or interviewer and while there are some basics that are important, it is really up to human judgement.

I also gained the ability to work independently. My admissions counselor was very hands off when it came to . I often had to ask him on multiple occasions what I could do for him. Doing work independently is nice because it gives you a sense of responsibility. I liked knowing that the work I was doing was important and was helping the other counselors make informed decisions about the students they were going to accept or deny to the school.