Admissions Department

[dchi72]

Gotta just vent on this...

My oldest son is a Junior in Frisco. Took his SAT in the fall (nice score - better than mine 25 years ago) and has a 3.4 unweighted GPA (over a 4.0 on a 5.0 weighted scale).

His email inbox, USPS mail, and voice mail are being bombarded with recruiters from all across the country! University of Iowa, Iowa State, OU, Texas A&M, SMU, ACU, just to name a few. Starting to lose track of them all. The only communication from Tech's admission office? A postcard and phone call telling him that it not too late to enroll for the fall of 2012....How is it that Tech is the ONLY university that has him listed as a Senior?

If it was not for the aviation department, he would never hear from Tech. Gary Odom has done all his own recruiting. Everyone in our family is a Tech alum. You would think they would make an effort to recruit these kids. I turned in a list of 21 kids in my scout troop who are attaining thier Eagle Scout this year and will graduate in the next 12 months. I turned this list in back in October. Several of these kids are REALLY interested in Tech. Not one has been contacted - by letter, email, phone call, nothing.

It is about time that someone in the admissions department learn some marketing/sales skills.

Thank you for listening. I am done bitching.

[NTXDawg]

I agree. I teach at Coppell High School which puts out some of the best students in the metroplex. 10 to 15 times a year there are tables set up in the commons with Universities represented. Of course all the Texas schools are here. Out of state schools I've seen on multiple occasions OU, OSU, LSU, ISU, KU, KSU, Ark, Alabama, Auburn and the list goes on and on. I've never seen La Tech represented. I'm always touting Tech to the students as a high quality affordable eduction. I hear of a few kids each year heading to Ruston, but we should be actively recruiting in the best schools of the metroplex.

[PawDawg]

We get one of these threads about this time every year. I think I started one about 5 years ago when my first child was about to graduate high school.

All I can say is that we don't spend as much money on marketing as some other schools, but we are maintaining above grade in that area. I'm not sure we can stand to grow much faster with all the ridiculous cuts we have faced.

[Cool Hand Clyde]

Our admissions department works very hard in recruiting Texas. I'm not sure why Frisco is not wrapped up, but I do know they focus on events in the metro areas.
However, this is another department at TECH that is understaffed. I know they welcome input and hours from alumni.

http://www.latech.edu/admissions/meet_our_staff.shtml

[solo1001]

I agree. I teach at Coppell High School which puts out some of the best students in the metroplex. 10 to 15 times a year there are tables set up in the commons with Universities represented. Of course all the Texas schools are here. Out of state schools I've seen on multiple occasions OU, OSU, LSU, ISU, KU, KSU, Ark, Alabama, Auburn and the list goes on and on. I've never seen La Tech represented. I'm always touting Tech to the students as a high quality affordable eduction. I hear of a few kids each year heading to Ruston, but we should be actively recruiting in the best schools of the metroplex.

I can't speak for how things work at Tech Admissions currently but 8-9 years ago, I personally visited Coppell several times. Otherwise, Tech has to go where they get the most bang for their buck because the staff is so small. Typically that means hitting the metro fairs but I personally recruited Coppell, Plano, Allen pretty hard and then hit big fairs in Richardson, Mesquite, Forth Worth and Arlington. We tried Highland Park several times but there was little to no interest there. I even took along two engineering school representatives with me. More often than not, people look at our name and think tech school rather than engineering school and pass by.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Gotta just vent on this...

My oldest son is a Junior in Frisco. Took his SAT in the fall (nice score - better than mine 25 years ago) and has a 3.4 unweighted GPA (over a 4.0 on a 5.0 weighted scale).

His email inbox, USPS mail, and voice mail are being bombarded with recruiters from all across the country! University of Iowa, Iowa State, OU, Texas A&M, SMU, ACU, just to name a few. Starting to lose track of them all. The only communication from Tech's admission office? A postcard and phone call telling him that it not too late to enroll for the fall of 2012....How is it that Tech is the ONLY university that has him listed as a Senior?

If it was not for the aviation department, he would never hear from Tech. Gary Odom has done all his own recruiting. Everyone in our family is a Tech alum. You would think they would make an effort to recruit these kids. I turned in a list of 21 kids in my scout troop who are attaining their Eagle Scout this year and will graduate in the next 12 months. I turned this list in back in October. Several of these kids are REALLY interested in Tech. Not one has been contacted - by letter, email, phone call, nothing.

It is about time that someone in the admissions department learn some marketing/sales skills.

Thank you for listening. I am done bitching.

Now that is impressive!!

[GermDawg]

It's actually the Recruiting department, which is slightly different than admissions, but yes they do a horrible job, I've ranted on this before and the only thing I can see is that Tech purposefully does not recruit to keep enrollment down so to help control budget... Seems a little crazy to me...

[dchi72]

Tech did show up to the Frisco ISD college night. All 6 high schools attend the same event.

The kid was just sitting there. Not engaging the students. Not working the crowd. I felt like I was selling him instead of him selling me.

He had no talking points, no pitch, just fill out this card and we will send you information.

[shreveportdawg]

Link to recruiting facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/#!/LaTechRecruiting

[GermDawg]

Link to recruiting facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/#!/LaTechRecruiting

Yeah I've blasted them twice on Facebook, even sent emails to the heads of the department...

[JuBru]

Tech is looking into ways to improve this.

[GermDawg]

Tech is looking into ways to improve this.

$$$

I think the department is way underfunded, operates mostly with student recruiters going out to HS, no packets/media to distribute to counselers/high schools.

[hoppinmad]

I can't speak for how things work at Tech Admissions currently but 8-9 years ago, I personally visited Coppell several times. Otherwise, Tech has to go where they get the most bang for their buck because the staff is so small. Typically that means hitting the metro fairs but I personally recruited Coppell, Plano, Allen pretty hard and then hit big fairs in Richardson, Mesquite, Forth Worth and Arlington. We tried Highland Park several times but there was little to no interest there. I even took along two engineering school representatives with me. More often than not, people look at our name and think tech school rather than engineering school and pass by.

I would guess Duke and the status/pricey universities recruit the hell out of Highland Park plus the SMUs, UTs.

[solo1001]

I would guess Duke and the status/pricey universities recruit the hell out of Highland Park plus the SMUs, UTs.

Most definitely but even at the Fort Worth fair and some of the schools in the New Orleans area, we were set up with several of the technical schools. Highland Park as well as some of the private schools around Dallas and Houston were sites to behold. Packets and media being sent to high schools are a thing of the past. With social media and the digital age, departments save a ton on printing costs so don't look for that anymore.

[PawDawg]

With social media and the digital age, departments save a ton on printing costs so don't look for that anymore.

I know Aubrey is thankful for that. Good way to save money.