Once a year, USHE (Utah System of Higher Education) hosts a college tour for all every high school in Utah. It is our job to attend all of the schools within our assigned areas. Since there are so many schools in such a short time there is a good chance we will have several days where we will visit 2 schools in a day. Our goal is to provide an experience that engages the students while providing information to them, on top of grabbing contact information that we can then add to our Email campaign.
The sample UHED rolls out like this:
8:00am – Intro session, students gather in auditorium and watch 10 min intro video
8:30am – First session
9:10am – Second session
9:50am – Third session
An admissions counselor from one of the universities will be in charge of hosting at the High School, it will rotate between colleges and admissions counselors, so we will not be in charge of hosting at each school, usually just two or three times. The admissions counselor in charge of hosting will be tasked of making sure:
The school has the college guide provided by USHE to give to their students.
Making sure all of the rooms necessary are reserved for each college that will be presenting.
Acquiring the schedule from the school and letting the attending Admission Counselors know.
Sending the sign up information for the College Fair barcode so we can easily access the juniors’ contact information.
Intro Session: The day of the event, the admissions counselor in charge will also be in charge of hosting the Intro session, which involves a small clip introducing each college and university in Utah as well as a presentation showing the students what they will be expecting throughout the day and to prep for college.
Presentation: After the intro, the students get to choose which of the universities they would like to learn more about over three different sessions. Typically a presentation will last anywhere from 25 minutes to 45 minutes depending on the school. This is the opportunity to get contact information from the students attending your session. We will use StriveScan (downloaded on the iPads) to scan the bar code that the students should have made to collect their information. If they do not have bar codes, we provide the prospective student survey on the iPads to gather information. We give out a Viewbook and a pen to those that attend. After that, you will give the presentation, which you will be trained on. It’s an amazing experience and probably one of the largest responsibilities that we have. It is exhausting, but worth it.
Post Presentation: Since travel is heavily involved, and we share a small amount of rentals with the team, maintaining the vehicles is a priority. Make sure the vehicle is clean, gassed up, and restocked with Viewbooks and any other marketing materials we happen to be using for UHED. All contact info gathered on StriveScan will be automatically uploaded once you connect to wifi. Make sure your equipment is charged and that you are ready to go for the next presentation.
Full website and information can be found on the UACRAO website.