Recruiting
Posted on March 13, 2002For most of us, when we see “recruiting” in a headline we assume that a blue-chip athlete has just committed to take his or her athletic talents to a particular college or university, or that a city, county or state has just brought a jobs-creating firm to town.
At Carolina, we most often associate “recruiting” with new faculty and new students, and yes, some of these new students are athletes. But in an entering freshman class of 3,500, the scholar-athletes number only 150, or roughly 4 percent of each entering class.
Among the real advantages that Carolina has in recruiting students and faculty are the beauty of our campus and of Chapel Hill, our academic reputation, the openness and friendliness of those who work, teach and learn here as well as our special relationship with the people of North Carolina.
While understandably the NCAA restricts alumni involvement in recruiting athletes, the General Alumni Association encourages and provides support for alumni to assist the University in recruiting students — who, should they be admitted and choose to attend, become Carolina alumni.
The GAA’s decades-long involvement in undergraduate admissions is motivated by our desire to help prospective students, parents, grandparents, friends and alumni better understand the complexities of Carolina admissions today.
Many alumni volunteer that they are glad they attended Carolina when they did because they doubt they would be admitted by today’s standards. That awareness is helpful because Carolina wants prospective applicants to understand how to be successful applicants, and that understanding needs to begin early — long before their senior year in high school.
Alumni can help Carolina identify bright students who should be encouraged to consider Carolina. Working with the GAA and the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, alumni can represent Carolina at local college nights and college fairs in numerous communities. You can encourage students to visit the UNC admissions Web site as well as the GAA Web site (alumni.unc.edu) to find helpful information. One of our most popular GAA programs is our Admissions Forum — a daylong opportunity in Chapel Hill for students and parents to learn about the college selection process. (These are announced on the GAA Web site and in the Review.)
I write the alumni parent of each applicant and congratulate those whose sons and daughters have been admitted to Carolina and commiserate with those whose daughters and sons were not offered the opportunity to come to Carolina. (I indicate to the disappointed parents that my own youngest brother was not admitted but transferred as a junior, graduated and later received his master’s degree from UNC. And UNC Chancellor James Moeser recently volunteered that several years ago his son applied to Carolina as an out-of-state student and was denied.)
Working with nine of our local Carolina Clubs in North Carolina, we host Admitted Student Receptions each spring. All admitted students are our special guests at a reception held in their communities, where they meet other admitted students, local alumni, current Carolina students and representatives from Carolina’s offices of housing, undergraduate admissions, scholarships and student aid, advising, the Carolina Computing Initiative, campus dining, orientation and the parents council. In this joyous environment, the many who already have decided to come to Carolina begin their Carolina experience, and the undecided but admitted students have many of their questions and concerns addressed. (We also host receptions in Atlanta, New York and Washington, D.C., but fewer representatives from the University are able to attend those events.)
For those who decide to attend Carolina, many of our local Carolina clubs host “send offs” just before these students depart for Chapel Hill, and all first-year and transfer students and their parents are invited to a reception in the Alumni Center on move-in day in August.
At the New Student Convocation, I join other University officials in officially welcoming Carolina’s newest “recruits” to UNC. I remind them that while they are likely to be Carolina students for only four years (or perhaps five for a few), they are going to be alumni for the rest of their lives. I note that whatever they may choose to do professionally and wherever they may live, some of Carolina’s 231,000 alumni will be nearby. Our alumni want each student’s Carolina experience to be a positive one. We know that today’s students are contributing to enhancing the value of our UNC diplomas by their enrollment and contributions to Carolina.
Along with current students, UNC alumni are our best Carolina ambassadors. (Visit alumni.unc.edu and click on “Get Involved.”) You can help shape these students’ first Carolina experiences. Please share your enthusiasm for Carolina with prospective students by becoming and remaining informed about admissions. Help us “recruit” future Carolina students — tomorrow’s UNC alumni.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
