March 15, 2021

Colleagues,

This time each spring, students across the country are making a very important decision: which college or university they want to attend. As you may have read, the number of students who’ve applied and been admitted to UM for this coming fall is far higher than in previous years. That’s great news, but amidst all the uncertainty of the pandemic, we don’t yet know what that indicates for this fall. With many students unable to visit campuses far from home and families still weighing pandemic considerations, enrollment managers across the country are operating without good indicators this year.

What we do know, however, is that it’s critically important over the coming weeks that we welcome and support students and their families as they make this important decision about college. Ensuring that prospective students are aware of the tremendous benefits of a UM education and the vibrancy of the UM experience is a team effort, and we all play an important role.

Over the coming weeks, many students and families will visit campus, and if you see a tour group walking around campus, say hello and introduce yourself. If you’re asked by our admissions team to meet with a prospective student, please try to make the time. If you’re asked to send a note to a prospective student, please do so. These one-on-one interactions make a huge difference!

I received tangible evidence of that impact this past Saturday in the email below from the parent of an incoming student:

Hello Mr. Bodnar,

Our daughter, _____, will attend Um in the fall as a freshman. We wanted to communicate what a joy it's been during _____'s entire application process.

A year ago we began scouting for colleges. With help from the WUE program, we looked far and wide. In every category, UM made sense for our daughter.

Once we connected with Admissions, we were in good hands. _____ was able to Zoom 1:1 with Admissions, professors in Neuroscience (her major), the band director (she will drum in marching band), and a current and former student. She has since received phone calls from alumni and two handwritten welcome notes from an additional professor and alumnus.

UM's outreach, follow-through and personalization are beyond anything we've seen. Every question we emailed has been answered accurately and promptly - the campus tour was excellent.

Thank you for your leadership of a college that is clearly focused on welcoming new students.

Go Griz!

As you can see, many groups played a key role in this student’s decision to join the UM family – the admissions team, the neuroscience faculty, the Grizzly Marching Band, current students and alumni. 

This is how we succeed: working as a team and one student at a time!

Thank you for your help in this important work.

Seth