Post COVID-19: Part 2 - What will College Admissions look like?
Even though we have gotten used to having COVID19 as part of daily life, we are still uncertain on how next school year will unfold. To forecast and get ready for news school year, we are talking to industry experts to get the industry insights. In our continued series, we recently had an opportunity to sit with Mr. Jonathan Lindsay, Vice President of enrollment at Goucher College. Our Head of Sales, Jeff Harrison conducted the interview over a video call and by maintaining the social distancing. Jonathan Lindsay, a longtime educator who specializes in recruiting and retaining millennial students, is the Vice President of enrollment at Goucher College.
Watch the full interview with Mr. Lindsay to hear insightful information about the impacts of this global pandemic on the college recruitment process. Obviously, this unexpected shift to remote learning was abrupt for everyone and all colleges are experimenting with different solutions to accommodate for this drastic shift.
Mr. Lindsay details how faculty at Goucher College are rethinking off and on-campus offerings by providing opportunities like virtual arenas to serve as campus visits.
Moreover, he addresses the long-term effects of this abrupt change and recognizes a hopeful prospect of better understanding the technology available to society. Listen to this interview to hear how a better usage of technology can lead to improved convenience and customer service for all of the higher ed industries.
Another interesting topic Mr. Lindsay covers is international recruitment and what remote learning means for students studying abroad. His insights are in line with the findings of a survey conducted with college admissions officer by Cirkled In where admission officers project a big decline in international student enrollment over next 2 years. In addition to this, Mr. Lindsay converses about how Goucher College is continuing their recruitment efforts for the next class of students through virtual events.
Most insightful of all, Mr. Lindsay shares his beliefs on moving past the traditional admissions process of accepting applicants by assessing their GPA and test scores.
He hopes the global pandemic will prompt admissions officers around the world to instead look more deeply within their applicant pools to find those with curious and resilient minds, instead of just a test score.
Goucher College is already “test-optional” and now looking at more holistic review of the candidates.
To hear more about Mr. Lindsay's fascinating insight and thoughts, watch the full video here. Also read our report on survey of 1,100 high school students with insights on impact on COVID-19 on their higher education plans.
Jonathan Lindsay Bio:
Jonathan Lindsay has spent his entire career in higher education, a career that he never imagined! Jonathan came to the United States as a high school exchange student and then stayed on to go to college here. As a student worker, he was assigned to the Financial Aid Office and accepted a position as a Financial Aid Counselor upon graduation. That has led to a 35 year career at small, private colleges with stints focused on recruitment, retention, marketing, communications, finance, administration and planning or a combination thereof! He is currently Vice President for Enrollment Management at Goucher College which seems apropos as it was the first college in the nation to require a study abroad experience for all its students. He has held positions with a number of professional organizations but remains happiest when meeting prospective students and their families.
