Before we start, I just want to let you know that February is the last month of the Alumni Interview Program. If you're a prospective masters student and are interested in an alumni interview, fill out the request form and submit your application and we'll try to match you with an alum for an interview. All your materials must be in by the end of the month to be considered. The alumni interview component of the application is optional, not all interview requests can be accommodated and applicants will not be disadvantaged for not requesting or receiving an interview.
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Enrollment!
Enrollment management is my favorite class! Last week, we read an article about small private colleges in Iowa and how their enrollment professionals are managing the declining number of high school students in the Midwest. Some of the colleges have under 1,000 students now, when ideally, they would like to have more than twice that. The article is here if you are interested in taking a look.
Declining numbers of students in the Midwest present a serious challenge to small, religiously affiliated colleges in rural environments with small endowments. A few bad years could run them into the ground. In class, we talked about some possible enrollment management strategies for a college in this precarious position and people in class came up with some pretty interesting solutions. Some said the colleges should perhaps look at merging with other college(s) that share a common value system or mission. Another student said that the colleges should develop exchange programs where students at other colleges in the country could study the re for a semester or vice versa. I thought that the colleges might want to penetrate a new geographic area with more population growth potential. It is tricky business to develop an enrollment strategy when resources are scace and the future is less certain then it has been for some of these colleges. A lot of people would not enjoy working under the pressure and anxiety of these circumstances. but, during the discussion, I realized that I would like to work in a place where there were real challenges like there are at these colleges in Iowa.
Out on the Town
I did not have a lot of time this weekend because I opted to do one of my courses in a weekend format - it is only three weekends a semester, but it takes up 16 hours of my weekend on the weekends in which classes are held. This weekend, we focused on negotiation and persuasion. We learned a lot about our own most comfortable styles for both negotiating and persuading. Some of what I learned was not surprising, but other parts were quite a shock and will be pretty useful moving forward. There are 5 negotiation styles and 6 persuasion channels!
My negotiation style is collaborating with compromising coming in as a close second. The other styles are competing, avoiding and accommodating. My persuasion style relies heavily on data and rational reasoning, with vision and relationships coming in a tie for second place. I do not rely on authority, politics or incentives as much as some other people do. In learning these things about myself, and perhaps more importantly learning that everyone varies in their dominant style of negotiation and persuasion helped me to see what approaches might be more effective in specific contexts. All in all, the class was really useful and fun!
My negotiation style is collaborating with compromising coming in as a close second. The other styles are competing, avoiding and accommodating. My persuasion style relies heavily on data and rational reasoning, with vision and relationships coming in a tie for second place. I do not rely on authority, politics or incentives as much as some other people do. In learning these things about myself, and perhaps more importantly learning that everyone varies in their dominant style of negotiation and persuasion helped me to see what approaches might be more effective in specific contexts. All in all, the class was really useful and fun!
On Saturday night the cohort met up for dinner at La Chacala Feliz in the Fairmount neighborhood. I skipped the dinner part as I wanted to relax after class, but I met up with the cohort for the after dinner festivities part. We started at Chirsta's house, where we socialized for a bit. Then, we walked out to the Urban Spoon! Then, we got to dancing. I don't know if you know this about me, but you probably should: I am one of the first to get on the dance floor, and before you judge, it has nothing to do with inebriated. Dancing is something I enjoy thoroughly. It was a great time!
This week, I am swamped, so I don’t think I will go out even though I have a pretty open weekend. What I will do instead is study for comprehensive exams, which are coming up the last weekend in February!
Assistantship profile number 2 is filmed! I just need to edit!
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