Admissions Staff Winter Retreat: Full Spring Ahead!

On January 9, Admissions staff took a half-day retreat to reflect on the past few months and look ahead to the flurry of Spring activity! To open the retreat, we created an entertaining Admissions Mad Libs which prompted quite a bit of laughter. Then we took some time to get to know one another (structured networking!) before highlighting the details of the work ahead. With nearly 60 full-time professional staff, this event provided time to connect with colleagues that we do not see day-to-day. Thankfully, there was a brief pause from application reading to engage in this all team activity. In our timeline activity, we identified all of our upcoming deadlines/tasks/events on a clothesline that spanned the width of our meeting room (the small picture below does not well represent all the work that needs to be done!) Hung near the months labeled on orange paper, blue index cards are internal office deadlines/tasks/events and green index cards are external deadlines/events. Highlighted below are some key dates and upcoming events. Application Deadlines
  • Friday, February 1 – Freshman Regular Decision and Transfer Priority Decision
  • Friday, March 1 – Transfer Regular Decision
We’re in the midst of processing thousands and thousands of application documents, ‘check listing’ for missing materials, sending applicants notifications about application statuses and missing materials and handling all of the inbound communications (calls AND emails) that happen as a result of this work.  Thank goodness for our great front line team (a good majority are student workers) that keep us organized and responsive to our prospective students during this time. Admitted Student Call Outs
  • Starting now through April, 100 excited (and motivated by pizza) student volunteers and a smaller group of engaged alumni volunteers call admitted students to congratulate them on their admissions, notify them of admitted student events, and increase excitement about UW–Madison.
Upcoming Admitted Student Events
  • Celebrating Admitted Students ‘Your UW Day’ features a faculty keynote speaker and a selection of information sessions that cover an array of topics, such as housing, financial aid, resources for first-year students, research opportunities, current student perspectives, and the UW classroom experience. The day will open with a campus resource fair, including representatives from the Center for the First-Year Experience, Office of Student Financial Aid, Cross-College Advising Service, Undergraduate Schools and Colleges, University Housing, and Madison’s Central Business Improvement District.
    • Feb 15, Mar 8, Apr 5, Apr 15 for Freshman Students
    • May 17 for Transfer Students
  • Admitted Student Regional Receptions around the U.S. (April)
  • Admitted Arts Event (Apr 6)
  • Celebration of Admitted Students of Color (Apr 13)
Counselors Observing Wisconsin Students (COWS) Events
  • In April, we will host high school counselors from outside the state of Wisconsin. The events include visits to UW–Madison, Ripon, Lawrence, Marquette and Beloit. The objective is for counselors to learn more about campus opportunities and respective admissions processes.
‘Setting Sights’ Events
  • In May, we will take part in full day workshop for high school juniors who are underrepresented students of color from Dane County and the city of Milwaukee. The aim is to prepare these students for the college application process at competitive and selective institutions, as well as educate families and participants on how to best support students in this process.
Our dedicated events team is planning all the logistics for these multifaceted events. They pull it off seamlessly while creating a lot of fun moments for our prospective students along the way. Needless to say, everyone in our office plays a part in planning and executing on all of these upcoming deadlines, tasks and events. And in addition to all of this, our admissions counselors and representatives are reviewing more and more applications this year (the reading queues are full!). We’re ready for a full Spring ahead!