When and How to Connect with College Admissions Officers

By
UFit College Consulting

As part of the college application process, along with visiting colleges (in-person or virtually), you may have opportunities to connect with an admissions officer or other admissions office personnel. These opportunities might present themselves when you attend an information session, need to ask a question, or want to update your application. Some colleges allow you to make appointments with someone in the admissions office, and most will allow you, or even encourage you, to email your local admissions representative.
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Regardless of the reason, it is always important to make a good impression when reaching out to an admissions officer and to realize that just because a college encourages you to contact  your admissions officer, it does not mean that you should send multiple emails or ask questions that can be easily be answered by looking at the college's website. Doing so might have a negative effect; you might end up annoying the admissions staff! 

Here are ways in which you can make a positive, lasting impression:

• Make sure you have specific questions. For example, you could ask particular questions about your major or perhaps you want to know more about certain research or internship opportunities. Make sure the questions you ask are not already addressed on the official college website. 
  
• Attend information sessions, even if they are virtual, and actively participate by asking one or two questions. When attending virtual information sessions or registering for an in-person information session, make sure you provide your full name. Also, use the same email address that you may have used for your other college correspondence. Choose or create an email address that spells out your full name so it is easier for admissions officers to identify you and to place your correspondence in the appropriate admissions file. 
• After attending an information session (in-person or virtual), you can send a thank you email to the admissions officer who conducted the session and copy your regional admissions representative.  Briefly, express your interest in the college by letting them know what, from the session, most appealed to you.
  
• After you have submitted your application, you can contact your admissions officer if you receive any new awards or accomplish something new. Make sure that the award or accomplishment is significant enough to warrant an email. 
• Check for grammatical and spelling errors in your email. Be professional in your writing and do not use slang. 
• Include a signature line at the bottom of the email with your full name, the name of your high school and, if you have already applied to the college, your application ID.
• If you are planning to visit an admissions office in person, make sure to have a well-groomed appearance and wear a smile on your face. Ask thoughtful questions and remain poised with good eye contact. This also applies to any Zoom meetings you may have scheduled with admissions office personnel. 
• Some colleges welcome contact with their admissions officers, while others do not encourage it. Be sure to respect the established protocols. Some colleges provide the names and emails of regional admissions representatives on their websites. If the school you are considering does not,  don’t let that deter you. You can send an inquiry to the general email for a college’s admissions office or ask your high school college counselor. Attending college information sessions is another way to access the name of your regional admissions officers. 
• Once you have applied, some colleges might ask you to only contact them via their portal and provide you with a naming convention to save your correspondence in a file format to upload to your portal directly.
• All communication with college admissions personnel should be conducted by the student, and not by the parents.