Every university tries to put its best face forward-sometimes, however, national media scrutiny gets in the way of even the best public relations campaigns.
But with the help of a few student volunteers, the Undergraduate Office of Admissions is trying to change that, one info session at a time.
Admissions office staff hand-picked more than 50 student volunteers to travel to their home states-all expenses paid-and answer questions from prospective students, parents and guidance counselors in a series of Discover Duke evenings throughout the Fall semester.
"We were obviously aware of all of the negative publicity about Duke," says Christoph Guttentag, dean of undergraduate admissions. "So this was a combination of wanting to have people understand who Duke students are, and at the same time, we always want to do something a little different."
Although Guttentag says students have always been involved in parts of the recruitment process, this semester marks the first time the University has paid for students to travel and speak to high schoolers.
Kathy Cleaver, co-director of college counseling at Durham Academy (and a former Duke admissions officer), says Duke's inclusion of students in the off-campus portions of the recruiting process is unique. She says she was pleasantly surprised when a student showed up with an admissions officer to give an info session at Durham Academy in early October.
"I can't think of another school in 15 years that brought another student with them," Cleaver says. "I certainly know of students that will call, e-mail. It could be happening, but that was the first time I've heard of it. I think it's a great way to really reach students."
The initiative is part of the admissions office's effort to bring together all aspects of student involvement in recruitment under the auspices of the Admissions Ambassadors program.
"It has become clearer to us over time that having students participate, that having students be available, not only to visitors on campus, but to be available when we're hosting our programs off campus, that that would be a benefit to students looking at Duke and to their parents," Guttentag says. "However, to set that up, to ramp up that level of participation, is a whole other order of magnitude in terms of work required and the effort required."
Margaret Di Giulio, Trinity '06, started designing the program with admissions officer Gina Hubbard in late August. The pair wanted to bring all of the ways undergaduates participate in the recruitment process-as student tour guides, p-frosh hosts, Blue Devil Days panelists-under one umbrella. But to send students into the field, the pair had to start from scratch.
They started by sending a campus-wide e-mail seeking undergraduate volunteers. The response was highest from students Di Giulio described as having strong ties to their school, genuine interest in their studies and high participation in extracurricular activities.
"Those are the kind of students that I'm seeing that are willing to miss class and be on a plane one day to California and fly back the next day," Di Giulio said. "It's the students that feel like Duke has given them so much, and they want people to look past some of the superficial ideas of Duke. Even people that are from farther away, that may have had a specific idea of Duke before they came here and ideas have changed since they came here-they want to elaborate on that."
Over Fall Break, around 300 students became "Admissions Ambassadors" in local high schools, hotels and conference centers, answering questions and sharing stories from their Duke experience. The eight students who had not planned to go home were compensated for their travel. Everyone else? They did it out of pure Duke love.
"It's kind of I guess like getting paid for doing work, but it's a flight home," said sophomore Lauren Stival, whose flight home to New Jersey was paid for by the admissions office in October. "I know people who just kind of go and spend a night or two at home."
But another group of students volunteered to visit high school audiences outside of Fall Break-those students' forays into admissions territory were fully funded by Provost Peter Lange's discretionary funds, with accommodations and food stipends included for some participants. If the admissions office adopts the program permanently, funding will come from their budget instead.
So far, high-schoolers who attended these admissions nights say student involvement in off-campus programming has been helpful.
"It was very nice that I was able to speak to [students] about their personal experiences one-on-one," says Dan Bandong, a senior at St. Anselm's Abbey School, in Washington, D.C. who attended a Discover Duke evening program September 20th. "It was just good to get to know the students and not just have someone there to sell the school."
Even after working at the admissions office for 15 years, Guttentag can quote numbers and cite statistics but admits he can't show prospective Dukies what life as a Blue Devil is like-that's up to the students, he says.
"I tell them, 'You're not a representative of Duke. You are Duke,'" Guttentag says. "If you go home and you talk with someone, they're not saying, 'Oh, you know, she's one of many different types of students at Duke,' but you are Duke. I think that's a great opportunity and responsibility."
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