iAdmissions

The newest edition of Fortune magazine lists the world’s most admired companies. The top four, in order, are Apple, Google, Berkshire Hathaway and Southwest Airlines (see a related post from 2010 here). Not particularly surprising to see them all at the top of the list. They are certainly leaders in innovation, thinking and profit-making in their respective industries.

As discussed on Morning Joe last week with Fortune’s editor-in-chief, the other attribute these companies share is founders and/or CEOs who are tremendous risk takers. They are all out-of-the-box thinkers and willing to throw caution to the wind in pursuit of their vision. They perceive the future in a way the rest of us are desperate to grasp.

Doesn’t sound like our industry, does it? Prep schools are not really risk-taking places and with few exceptions, there aren’t many schools that could literally afford to accept risky behavior from their admissions director. But our work has evolved in so many ways and there are certainly some industry leaders. I would imagine the names coming into your head right now are the names of which I’m thinking, too.

Somebody had to be the first to try having a school website, the first to see the future of Facebook and create a school page, the first to harness Skype to conduct an interview, the first to take an iPad to a fair, the first to create a school app.

And we haven’t lacked for out-of-the-box thinking either. Concepts like enrollment management, net tuition revenue, and geodemographics have all been introduced to our industry since I joined it. Remember when we had more financial aid than demand? Someone had to first think how best to maximize it and spread the wealth when we started to finally run short (due to our own fault as tuition increases outpaced cost of living increases for over a decade).

What’s next? I can assure you I haven’t a clue. But it’s inspiring to be in the game and see the big thinkers wrestle with how we make our offices and our schools more successful, more efficient, and more committed to serving students. It’s exciting to consider how we stay current, relevant, and at the front of the pack.

My guess is it’ll be somehow associated with an Apple product. iAdmissions? It beats boarding-licious!

A Case Study

Have you been following this great tale of mission, honor and integrity? In short, BYU basketball has been successful in ways never seen before at BYU. Historical success one might say. They recently reached their highest ranking in 23 years.

But its star center broke the BYU honor code by having premarital sex with his girlfriend and when he willingly confessed to the athletic director and his coach, they turned him in. The university suspended him from the team for the balance of the season while they determine if he will be allowed to even remain a student. And the team has subsequently suffered…greatly.

The response? Impressive. The player, the teammates, the coach and the athletic director are all supporting the university’s decision. More than supporting it, they are defending it. And they are all supporting the player. The honor code is clear and any student who enrolled there did so willingly agreeing to it. And when the suspension is over, coach and teammates alike have publicly stated they will welcome the player back.

Isn’t it suppose to be this way? This whole thing could be a case study. School has transparent mission and expectations. Admissions articulates them clearly and with pride. Students and parents choose to embrace them and enroll. Students, as they are want to do, make mistakes. School responds in line with who they say they are. Everyone is in agreement. Student learns a lesson.

I wish I lived in Utah. I’m inclined to buy BYU season tickets right now.

Picnic, anyone?

It’s been a tough few days. I discovered an applicant family was being dishonest and unethical in their dealings with various admissions offices, essentially trying to pit one against another. It’s always sad when this happens, particularly when seemingly decent kids become the victims of unfortunate adult behavior. It is the topic of another post for sure but at some point we have to consider what it is about the prep school admissions process that leads parents to make these poor choices.

What was affirming in the midst of all this, however, was the collegial relationship amongst the admissions directors involved. One had a suspicion and contacted another in a non-accusing way to make an inquiry. That colleague responded not the least bit offended. A third was brought into the conversation. Together we compared notes and collectively understood what had happened. Together we allowed our personal and institutional relationships to overcome and rise above the immediacy of the situation. We all knew applicants come and go, and that the bonds between colleagues had to endure beyond them.

Recently on the plane (shocking, I know) I was reading an article about the psychology of mobs, like the ones at an English football game, whose rush to the sidelines have crushed others to death. The author was comparing human behavior to that of ants, noting that people are individualistic but that ants are profoundly social. We work to our own best interest; ants employ a collective intelligence.

Thank goodness our profession is essentially one of ants, that we have the ability to work collectively and beyond our individual (or institutional) needs. We’re in it for more than that. We’re in it for the social good. It makes me proud. See you at the next picnic.

Cube-a-licious

I was visiting friends in Tampa when we drove by an office furniture store and the big poster on the side of the building said their office furniture was cube-a-licious. Okay, that nailed my funny bone. And to their credit, I have—on and off—thought of them numerous times in the last six weeks. Cube-a-licious. teehee That’s clever!

Then last week while in Africa, I was traveling with a colleague from another Canadian boarding school I hadn’t seen since we were both on tour in China back in the fall. Although she’s never been to my school she told me it stuck in her head after she overheard me tell a kid that skeet shooting was one of our 70+ activities. That simple fact has kept Ridley in the forefront of her mind.

Skeet shooting and cube-a-licious: interesting what rattles around in one’s head. When our schools share more in common than they don’t, it seems rather important to find something that’s uniquely yours. Maybe it’s a tagline/motto or an uncommon activity or something else. But whatever it might be, it seems it’s important that it’s memorable.

After all, doesn’t everyone remember “Where’s the beef?” or “Just Do It.” or “Got Milk?”?

And don’t try and beat me to it—as soon as I post this, I’m filing trademark papers for “boarding-licious™”!

35,000ft over the Atlantic

I had to be in Africa on Wednesday. I had to leave Tuesday evening to get there on time but couldn’t leave any earlier as I had a VIP visitor on campus on Monday and Tuesday. My “go to” airline, United, flies my exact route…six days a week. Yup, Tuesday is their off day. So I flew Lufthansa for the first time.

Now in 2010 I flew 149,137 miles (tracked on www.flightmemory.com). I am hardly a novice flyer. But on Lufthansa, I couldn’t figure out how to work the seat, where to plug in my Bose headset, or how everyone but me seemed to have socks and eyeshades. “This shouldn’t be rocket science,” I thought, too embarrassed to ask for help while subtly checking out the actions of fellow passengers for the clues I craved.

I found my airline seat all at once familiar but foreign and found my predicament humiliating, frustrating, depressing, maddening…memorable.

And then I thought about our prospective families and their first visit to our campuses and offices. It’s just visiting another school, right? It should be rather familiar. But I imagine it can also feel rather foreign. What do we do to make our guests’ experience go well? Go memorable, in a good way?

Surely we have the big things covered like visitor parking and good signage. Right? How about a comfortable place to sit that allows a family to be together? And after a possible long ride, is it obvious (to them, not us!) where to find a bathroom or something to drink? Are we careful not to use school-specific acronyms or lingo? What is an OR after all? At my school, it’s an Old Ridlean. To the outsider, it’s nothing more than a reminder that they’re an outsider.

I knew within two minutes of taking my seat on that A340-300 that I was out of my element and my comfort zone, even though flying is perfectly routine for me. It would have been a great help and comfort if a flight attendant had come over and subtly whispered to me, “Is this your first time flying Lufthansa? If so, let me know if you have any questions. I’m here to help.”

Thankfully United is taking me home from Africa. But when I return to campus, my staff will be discussing a, “I’m here to help” perspective with our guests.

(By the way, I found my kit with eyeshade and socks eight hours later when I packed up to deplane!)

You Asked For It!

Okay, I’m taking a break from admissions blogging and meeting the manifold demands of my friends/readers: a post about travel! So, to my fellow travelers—for business or for pleasure—here are some of my key bookmarks. These resources are the backbone of my travel planning.

www.xe.com/ucc
Basic exchange rate calculator

www.seatguru.com
Only to be used when you and I aren’t on the same flight—don’t take my seat!

http://blog.tsa.gov/
This is where I learned I don’t have to take my iPad out of my briefcase. And they’re funny, too!

www.flyertalk.com
The online Bible for maximizing your hotel, car rental, airline, credit card accounts. Warning: it’s addictive!

http://blogs.wsj.com/middleseat/
Scott’s most recent post about the best day of the week to buy a plane ticket is currently the #1 article read on the Wall Street Journal’s webpage.

https://www.americanexpressfhr.com
Use this service 2-3 times a year and it will have paid for itself in free extra nights, free meals, etc.

www.tripadvisor.com
You have to be savvy to not be taken in by someone with an axe to grind or an owner posting about their own business but there’s a lot of good stuff there.

www.zagat.com
Don’t know where to eat in the big city? These guys can help.

Favourite airline alliance: www.staralliance.com
Favourite airline: www.singaporeair.com
Favourite hotel group: www.starwoodhotels.com
Favourite hotel chain: www.peninsula.com or http://www.starwoodhotels.com/stregis/index.html

May your hotel rooms overlook the mountains and not the dumpsters, may your flights find you in the exit row if not an upgrade, may your rental cars not have been last driven by five guys going to a Dead concert, and may your journeys always bring you home safe to what’s important.

The Fat Lady

Today I went to the regional finalists auditions for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. It was rather inspiring to see these young, talented people so clearly full of hopes and dreams. It was also, honestly, a bit intimidating. How they put themselves out there for everyone else to judge is beyond me. It’s very raw, intimate and personal, even on a stage in front of an auditorium full of amateur judges—and three professional judges.

Each candidate came with a repertoire of five arias. The first one they sang was of their own choosing, presumably the one with the most difficulty while still showcasing their strongest talents. For the second number, the three judges elected what they wanted to hear of the remaining four choices, often asking for only a certain section of the piece. Although they know not what they will be asked to sing, these artists determine their own repertoire so presumably they’re comfortable with any of the judges’ choices.

Their talent, their career ambition and their dream are all focused with laser-like precision: I want to be a mezzo-soprano at the Met! It struck me as the antithesis of what we ask of our applicants. I bet a lot of those candidates on the stage today belting out Puccini or Mozart couldn’t begin to work their way through a high school chemistry lab or a textbook for advanced functions. But they don’t need to; that’s not where their laser is focused.

But we expect that. We expect our applicants to be across-the-board capable and strong. We don’t forgive a failing grade in one subject as long as they have laser-like focus and success in another subject. We want strong students across the curriculum and they better also come with a special talent or passion or skill because just being smart isn’t good enough. If you can’t make a team, cut the auditions for drama, or write for the newspaper, you may find yourself doing the doggy paddle in the wait pool. Good grades in all subjects isn’t enough for your local admissions committee. What else you got to offer?

When is it okay to pursue one thing at the expense of all the others? I don’t know. It’s not even university, is it? The first year or two of university is filled with required 101 this and 101 that. We’re still being stretched and not yet allowed to focus. I guess it really comes at graduate school when you can finally hone in on that MBA or M.Ed. or counseling degree. But why is that finally deemed the appropriate time?

All I can guess is that the talent and passion and vulnerability I saw today would most likely not have been possible if those young people were not allowed their passion and their laser-like focus. You don’t get that talented and you don’t get to be a finalist for the Met when you’re trying to be equally good at everything.

But why don’t we nurture that? Instead, we just deny admission to that.