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With Help from Alumni, Admission Accomplished
By Dane Petersen, hoyasonline Staff Writer
In recent years, the annual number of applicants for undergraduate admission to Georgetown University has averaged around 15,000. That number is more than double the current undergraduate enrollment and even exceeds the total enrollment at Georgetown.
Only about 20 percent of those that apply can gain admission. To help evaluate such an immense pool of potential students, the office of undergraduate admissions relies heavily on participants in the Alumni Admissions Program (AAP).
What started in 1963 with about 200 alumni taking part in a regional effort has now spread to 50 countries around the world, with more than 4,000 Hoyas donating their time to meet with prospective future fellow alumni.
Charles Deacon, dean of admissions, has seen the AAP grow from its very beginnings, as he started at Georgetown the same time the program was beginning. He says two developments at the time led to the genesis of the program.
"Alumni in some areas had been doing some random interviews, to recruit new students, so that was part of it," Deacon says. "Also, Father Joseph Sweeney, who was dean of admissions at the time, decided there needed to be more outreach, so it became more expansive operation by getting alumni involved."
The admissions office worked with the alumni association to create the program. Deacon said unlike similar programs at other schools, which were managed out of clubs, having the admissions office manage the AAP was an advantage. "It was fortuitous for us that it happened that way, as alumni become sort of adjunct staff in the admissions office, working with us," he says. "So it's more coordinated than if there were several groups working independently.
The AAP began with a presence in 30-40 large cities, and began to expand in the early 1970's when Robert Henle, S.J, then-president of Georgetown, sought to reach across the country for incoming students. A short time later, interviews began internationally as well, dramatically expanding in the early 1980's.
John Nagle, senior assistant director of undergraduate admissions, says the interviews give applicants a better feeling about the admissions process. "It allows students the opportunity to have a personal connection to Georgetown, and to present themselves in a personal way to the university," Nagle says. The applicant interview is now a required part of the admissions process, a standard shared only with Harvard.
Nagle adds the interview provides the admissions staff with a clearer picture of applicants that doesn't come through on paper. "It helps confirm things we know, and with the context of things we don't," he says. "It aids in showing if a student is the kind of person we'd like here as a roommate or a classmate."
Laura Pendleton-Miller (C'73) is the chair of the AAP advisory committee, which oversees the volunteers, and has been an AAP interviewer for more than 25 years. She says interviewing candidates allows her to stay connected.
"It helps keep me current with what goes on at Georgetown, I think even more connected than reunions as time goes on," Pendleton-Miller says. She adds "It forces you to keep up to date, and see what that age group is thinking, what their aspirations are."
Pendleton-Miller says applicants are often nervous, and she tries to put them at ease, and keep the process "fresh, so it's not boring, to the applicant or myself. The student's style sort of helps me determine how to conduct the interview."
Each AAP volunteer is a member of one of more than 200 committees worldwide, with each committee serving a specific geographic area. The committees have about 20 members each, who conduct about five interviews per year as assigned by the committee chairs. Alumni interested in volunteering can submit their contact information to learn more about being assigned to a committee. The program is open to all alumni, graduate or undergraduate.
Applicant interviews typically take place from September to February. There are guidelines to the interviews, Nagle says, "but each conversation will be unique based on the interviewers and the applicants."
Deacon says they look for alumni interviewers come from two main areas -current graduating senior class members that want to stay involved with Georgetown, and people in geographic areas where there is a need. "We're always happy to have new people join us," he says.
Volunteers in the program have stepped forward to help the admissions process in past years. "In the late 1980's, there was a dip in the number of applications," Nagle says. "And the alumni came through in a big way by going to college fairs, and reaching out in other ways to potential students."
AAP members also were leaders in establishing the John Carroll scholarships in the 1980's, financial support Nagle says is more and more vital. "Almost all of the students that apply here are strong, so it's important that we work to get as much money as we can for them."
Nagle says the program illustrates to applicants the impact that Georgetown had on those that are interviewing them, and how the university shaped the lives of alumni.
"Students want to know what alumni got out of their Georgetown experience," he says. "They won't ask about things they can find in a guidebook. And they want to know how alumni stay connected and why it's a good place to be."
Dane Petersen is the editor of hoyasonline and feels a kinship with AAP in that they interview potential Hoyas, and he interviews Hoya alumni that more than met their potential. |