Determining which high schools to visit is somewhat your decision.  We visit all high schools in Montana. With out-of-state high schools you have more freedom to decide which schools to visit.  We historically visit certain high schools but there are other resources to use to help you decide where to visit:

• For in state high school information, use the MPSEOC high school counselor directory.  The counselor directory can be found at www.montanacolleges.com. You can also look at previous trips and utilize contact information from the last year if this is more up to date. 

• Anders and the Admissions Counselors create a tally sheet which shows the prospective student tallies and historical data for apps and enrolled students by high school and state (Example 1).  He will give this info to you before you plan your travel. This is an excellent way to determine out of state travel and which high schools have shown the most interest in our institution. 

• The filing cabinet in Anders’ office has the file folders for every trip taken in the past few year. The files contain information on the success of the visits and the travel itinerary. 

When setting up HSVs, plan on visiting 4 – 5 a day, if possible. This is dependent upon locations and accessibility of schools.

• Contact the counseling office or the career center (for out of state travel, many high schools utilize RepVisits to schedule visits). Be sure to get the following information from the counselors when setting up the visits.

  1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Day and time of visit

                       2. Does the school need anything from MSU?

                       3. Current mailing and physical address of high school

                       4. Directions to the school

                       5. Name and title of contact person for you

• Be sure you determine how much time it will take for you to get to the next high school so that you can plan your visits accordingly.  Use maps, ask high schools, and use the Internet.  A helpful web site to use to get a map or directions to the school is: http://maps.google.com/maps.  

• Make sure to pack appropriately for your high school visits. (Ski posters, facts and stats sheets, scholarship flyers, pens and interest cards are crucial at all visits. Be sure to bring enough just in case, typically the most well attended visits will have a max of 25 students.)

• Code the interest cards for your trip.  The upper right hand corner has a spot to fill in a three letter code.  Each state has its own code for HSVs. The Contact Type Code Validation Form is a list of all the codes you will need for fairs, HSVs, and receptions. This can be found in the S: Drive. The codes are used to track the number of students we contact at each particular event.

• Special Note: Some high schools may only allow lunch time visits. This typically means that you will be asked to stand in a common area in a college fair type set-up. In this case bring your table banner and displays with you, similar to how you would set up for a college fair. 

• The interest cards need to be sorted by high school. Paper clip or rubber band each high school together. Cards need to be coded in Banner as soon as possible upon return from travel or during your trip if you have time when you are back at the hotel.  All cards (regardless of code) from the same trip need to be put into stacks and marked “1 of ___, 2 of ___, 3 of ____, etc.”  Also, if you have many cards from one event, break up the pile into smaller piles and mark them the same way.

• Keep a tally of the number of students you saw in each high school (i.e., how many ski posters/interest cards used as well, this allows for future reps to pack adequately before a trip).  Also take other notes on the visits.  Put these notes in the file folder for future rep use.

• If you collect business cards from counselors throughout travel season, please turn these into the Communications and Promotions Coordinator (Stephen Johnson) so they can update our counselor lists.

• Students and counselors may request specific information from you.  By filling out an interest card, they are automatically sent a viewbook. If a student or counselor requests any other information (separate from the interest card), you need to send out the information to them.  The staff that completes the data entry of the cards into banner does not do this.

• In December or early January write a letter to each one of the high school counselors. Anders will update you with the letter used and tools necessary to make this process efficient using a mail merge on Excel.

Throughout 2020 and 2021, many high schools hosted virtual high school visits due to the inability to travel because of COVID-19. Below is an overview of processes/procedures in scheduling virtual high school visits, and a pre/post checklist for Admissions Counselors to follow.

1. Determining HSVs:

• Used past schedules

• Used tallies to see what new high schools to add

• Utilize Enrollment IQ data to track traditional yield/application trends for schools, ensuring we are visiting schools with a history with MSU, and/or those who’s trends we see either rising or falling.

2. Reached out to schools/Booked via RepVisits

• If not on RepVisits, sent email to High School Counselor:

Hello (Counselor), 

My name is Molly Scherner, and I am an Admissions Counselor at Montana State University. I am reaching out today in hopes that I might be able to schedule a time to host a virtual high school visit for you and your students from (school name). If you would, please take a moment to follow up with me with answers to the quick list of questions that I have provided just below, and I will move forward in scheduling accordingly. 

• Best way to schedule visits: RepVisits, directly through you, another contact, other?

• What platform does your school plan to utilize? (ie. Zoom, Webex, Microsoft Teams, etc.)

• Fall date and time availability?

I appreciate your time and look forward to working with you to confirm a time for Montana State University to host a virtual visit at (school name). 

Please let me know if you have any questions that I can answer in the meantime, and I will be sure to follow up with you just as soon as I can.

3. Once determined date/time, send Counselor/input in Repvisits the meeting link (Zoom, Webex, Google meets, etc.).

4. Note in your Rep Schedule the date/time/meeting link. 

(Similar to how you would give the date, time, and address for a physical visit, but include that it is a virtual visit and the necessary link).

5. Once officially scheduled and marked in your Rep Schedule, complete the following checklist items:

• Mark yourself out on the Outlook Calendar (ensures you don’t get scheduled for other visits during this time)

• Create a Radius Target for each individual high school that you will be visiting. For these instructions, visit nss > radius > Counselors – Radius Protocols.

• Schedule a text in Mongoose as a reminder for students for this virtual visit

  • • Specific instructions for Mongoose instructions can also be found at nss > radius > Counselors – Radius Protocols

    • Schedule it 30 min – 1 hour prior to the virtual visit

    • Keep in mind time zones

    • For best practice and consistency, schedule all texts for your visits the Monday of that week, including the following Monday 

    • Update website to note this virtual visit

AFTER A VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL VISIT:

1. Note how many people were in a visit by listing the number on your schedule

2. Follow-up with counselor with more information if no students showed

3. If no one showed at all, follow up with high school to see if they would like to reschedule/if they would like more information

Pre-Post Travel Checklists:

Pre-Travel:

1. Create QR code to embed in your MSU Basics presentation that will lead students to or information form online

   • There should be one QR code for every state in which you are doing virtual high school visits

2. Identify schools

3. Make a Radius target for high school 

4. Email Counselor/Check RepVisits to book

5. Make meeting link (Zoom, WebEx, etc.)

6. Adding to rep schedule in Word doc

7. Mark self out in Outlook calendar

8. Add to the website travel page

9. Schedule text an hour out

Post-Travel:

1. Note how many attendees

2. If students, parents, or counselors attended

3. How many texts went out for each school

4. Send recorded visit with link to students – text

5. Send recorded visit with link to counselors - email