One of my favorite pastimes is listening to music and digesting song lyrics. Anyone who knows me can attest to the fact I will often interject song lyrics into a conversation where applicable.
Even as a child, I was the kid who could recall lyrics and find ways to use them in everyday conversation. Thinking of ways to pair song lyrics to real life situations always kept me on my toes.
As a career enrollment management professional, there have been many times where a song lyric came in handy in situations where comedic relief was needed or to drive home a point in a somewhat unique way.
Lessons from the Road
Being a part of a full-service marketing company that partners with institutions to meet and exceed enrollment goals, I often find myself on college campuses meeting with enrollment management leaders. My most recent travels and series of conversations presented me with a unique perspective that, as enrollment leaders, we need to unpack (yes, it comes with a song lyric).
While visiting campuses across the Midwest, I had the good fortune of seeing campuses through the lens of a visitor, almost as if I was a prospective student.
In my time driving around campuses and having difficulty locating visitor or admissions reserved parking, the 1975 song “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” came to mind (a true classic—so Google it, young folks).
Having been in this industry for awhile, I tend to have a reasonable idea where admissions offices are typically located; however, on more than one occasion, I was a bit directionally confused given the lack of signage on campuses.
Along with educating the leaders of tomorrow, college campuses do lots of things well, but good signage is still an issue for many.
Not All Who Wander are Lost… But Some are.
During my visits, there were many times I encountered campus visitors looking to locate the admissions office. The enrollment manager in me jumped into action and helped where I could, even as a visitor myself.
It was almost as if I could hear Dianna Ross herself singing the line “Do You Know Where You’re Going To” when I saw a family drive around a parking lot looking for an indication of where they were supposed to be.
We are all in this to recruit and enroll a new class of students each fall and produce a new group of happy alums in the spring. Walking across your campus knowing exactly where to go is second nature to you, but what about your visitors?
Enrolling a new class of students is difficult enough, so do yourself a favor and don’t forget to take care of the small things, as those little things can sometimes make the biggest impact from the campus visit experience.
The song goes on to say, “Do you like the things that life is showing you?”. I would say a good exercise is to ask our visitors, “Do you like the things that campus is showing you?”.
Kudos to Simpson College for their great take on getting you to your destination.
