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Top Three Ways to Pull Off Wearing Life’s Many Hats

By Samantha Geisler
Top Three Ways to Pull Off Wearing Life’s Many Hats  By Samantha Geisler  “I don’t know how you do it!”  “Are you… okay ?”  On any given day, I get these comments based on how well I appear to be managing my various roles in life: as a mother of a one-year-old with another one the way; wife, sister, daughter, aunt, friend, in-law, cousin, niece, neighbor; and AISAP board member. Not to mention that I’m Executive Director of Admission and Enrollment (yikes—even the title sounds overwhelming) at a 6-12 independent school that is currently in process of merging with two of its PreK-6 feeder schools. I’m not going to lie, it’s a lot.  Some days I appear ...
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You Are Not Alone

By David McBride
You Are Not Alone By David McBride, Vice Principal of Enrollment Management, Upper Canada College I am very fortunate to work at a wonderful school in downtown Toronto. In our city, there is a healthy interest in independent schools and decent collaboration between our schools, so when I hear some of the stories from other regions of North America, as well as from admission professionals who are challenged to fill their schools, I count my blessings. Like many schools, my institution has not written a strategic enrollment management plan. Have we been strategic in my seven years here? I would like to think so. Have we made tough decisions or changed ...
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Admission Work Takes a Village—Engage Your School’s Faculty and Staff

By Lisa Aquino
Admission Work Takes a Village — Engage Your School’s Faculty and Staff By Lisa Lau Aquino, Director of Admission for The Hamlin School The school year is in full swing and by now, you have undoubtedly initiated the process of introducing a new crop of prospective students and parents to your school. Although I’m neither new to admission nor to my school — this is my 17 th admission season and 33 rd year at Hamlin — every fall feels fresh and exciting. One of the truths about our vocations as admission professionals is that admission is the work of everyone at our schools. Each constituency in our school communities can and should be ambassadors ...
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Is Your Admission Office Bias-Aware?

By Maryanna Phipps
Is Your Admission Office Bias-Aware? By Maryanna Phipps, Director of Admission and Enrollment Management,   The Hockaday School , AISAP Board of Director School has started and our Admission offices are in full swing. The start of the new admission cycle means we all have a lot on our to-do list and everything feels essential. I want to offer information that I feel is both necessary and important in our work—training around bias. Discussing and acknowledging bias in the admission process is challenging. We work hard to assemble a group of admission professionals who are skilled in their work and objective in their evaluation of students. Likewise, ...
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Would you like to submit an AISAP 52 Blog?

By Janice Crampton
Calling all AISAP Members! Fifty-two weeks a year AISAP seeks to deliver on content that will help, inspire, uplift - oh wait a minute - AISAP seeks to deliver content that will EDUCATE, ELEVATE, and EMPOWER you! If you have something you wish to share contact me and we can look to having your blog placed in our AISAP 52 Community Portal
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The Day You Were Hired You Were Perfect for the Job—Are You Still?

By Ray Diffley
You were perfect for the job when your school hired you, right? How about now? Are you keeping pace with the Admission and Enrollment profession? In my role at AISAP’s Leadership Center for Admission Professionals, I hear a lot.  Good, bad and everything in between. I hear— and see—so much change in the industry, yet I haven’t seen enough Admission Professionals keep pace with those changes. How have you added to your knowledge since you were hired? During the past several years, the role of admission managers as gatekeepers and judges of who gets in and who doesn’t has shifted dramatically to both enrollment management and , for many, to simply enrollment—ensuring ...
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The Importance of Taking Vacation

By Sally Benford
(Reprinted with the permission of the Costco Connection)  Are you a work martyr? Employees who feel stressed out, overworked and all-around slaves to their jobs are among a growing trend of Americans who believe that their jobs can’t do without them—and they can’t do without their jobs—even for a few days. Chances are that when you were hired on, your employer offered paid vacation day as part of your package. But if you’re like many Americans—a reported 54 percent in 2016—you leave unused vacation days on the table. For the past 15 years, employees’ use of paid time off in the United States has taken a nosedive. According to a survey from market ...
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The Power of Risk Taking

By Sally Benford
Ultra-marathon runner Dean Karnazes once said, “Any goal worth achieving involves an element of risk.” Those words apply to anyone trying to reach an objective. Yet, their meaning can be especially intimidating for those of us who shy away from taking risks.  No doubt, there have been times in your admission and enrollment career when you’ve taken a risk on a student who may not have seemed like a great fit. You enrolled them, hoping for the best but, possibly, preparing for the worst. And perhaps you were surprised when you saw that student excel—trying out for a team, running for class office or by joining a campus club. That student grew and matured in ...
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Serve on a Board - Help Your Community and Career

By Sally Benford
If there’s one way to satisfy your inner volunteer and develop your professional experience, it’s serving on a board of directors for a nonprofit organization—and it’s not as difficult as you might think. People helping people is a well-known mantra of nonprofit service organizations and there’s no better way to get involved than through board service. It’s a labor of love that can make an impact in your community, as well as a cause you care about. Board service can be both personally and professionally rewarding—it will help expand your perspective. Learning about how boards work and the ways they can shape the issues that are important to you is useful ...
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Internship - Making A Difference!

By Sally Benford
There’s a way to nix the notion that the admission and enrollment profession is an accidental career for those who fall into it. That way is through internships—a strategy that a few independent schools are trying on for size, proving that intern programs work well for the schools, the student interns—and the profession. Remember your college years? Juggling classes and assignments, learning new concepts and ideas while trying so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel—better known as graduation. The end of college signals the beginning of adulthood and many graduates really have no idea about their next steps. For many, college is a requirement for ...
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Help Your Career With These Life Habits

By Sally Benford
Now that the admission decision letters have gone out, it’s time to take a deep breath and regroup. Whether you’re just starting out in your career, or you’re a seasoned veteran, healthy life habits can make a big difference in how you progress in the years ahead. Just like regular diet and exercise habits make for a healthy body, there are ways to improve your mind that can have a positive impact on your career. Sometimes it feels like we spend our entire careers caught between two ideas: thinking big and mired down in the day-to-day duties that seem inconsequential. It’s a common phenomenon, and one that plagues the best of us, whether it’s our first year ...
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Ignite Your Career

By Sally Benford
It’s that time of year—all hearts, flowers and candy. It’s a holiday for love: between couples, between families, between friends. And it can also be a time to remember why you fell in love with your job.  Think back to your first day on the job in admission and enrollment. What was it like? Did you fall in love with it—head over heels or, like most anyone starting in a new profession, did you scratch your head and wonder what the heck you were thinking? Chances are, it was somewhere in between. You love helping students and their families, but you don’t love the crazy days and nights—particularly at this time of year when you’re buried in applications. ...
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Annual Career Resolutions For You

By Sally Benford
So, it’s that time of year again—you know, resolution time. With that in mind, do you realize that 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail? However, with the right planning, you just might be able to crack the code and become a member of the 20 percent group, and improve your professional—and personal—life for a bright and optimistic new year. Here are a few ways that you can achieve career resolutions in the upcoming year.  Make a Plan You can’t just think about professional growth to make it happen. You need to plan for upcoming opportunities. Do you want to attend a webinar? Travel to a conference? Take online classes? Make whatever it is you want ...
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Volunteer - Boost Your Career!

By Sally Benford
According to the most recent Bureau of Labor statistics, in 2015, more than 62 million Americans volunteered 7.8 billion hours worth an estimated $184 billion. And while this army of volunteers helps their communities and fellow citizens, they’re doing a lot more—they’re making connections, learning new skills and adding to their resumes.  ‘Tis the season for volunteering. You lead a busy life, especially at this time of year. With families to care for and full-time jobs, it can be difficult to find time in your holiday—or everyday—schedule to help others. Yet, experts believe the benefits of volunteerism reach far beyond feelings of goodwill and kindness. ...
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It's Not Time That Needs to be Managed

By Sally Benford
We all get the same 24 hours each day. Time can be a blessing or a curse—either too fast or too slow. Einstein didn’t believe time was real, yet another wise man once said time heals all wounds. So what is it that makes time so confounding? And better yet, what is the best way to manage it? Especially during the holidays when extra tasks seem to suck time—not to mention enthusiasm—from our lives. Our waking hours are limited and at the end of the year packed with daily to-do lists, many people find themselves checking off only one or two things—making them stressed, panicked and irritable. Time-management expert Peter Turla explains that it’s not time ...
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It's About Time

By Sally Benford
We all get the same 24 hours each day. Time can be a blessing or a curse—either too fast or too slow. Einstein didn’t believe time was real, yet another wise man once said time heals all wounds. So what is it that makes time so confounding? And better yet, what is the best way to manage it? Especially during the holidays when extra tasks seem to suck time—not to mention enthusiasm—from our lives. By Sally Benford Our waking hours are limited and at the end of the year packed with daily to-do lists, many people find themselves checking off only one or two things—making them stressed, panicked and irritable. Time-management expert Peter Turla ...
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Boost Your Career-Volunteer

By Sally Benford
According to the most recent Bureau of Labor statistics, in 2015, more than 62 million Americans volunteered 7.8 billion hours worth an estimated $184 billion. And while this army of volunteers helps their communities and fellow citizens, they’re doing a lot more—they’re making connections, learning new skills and adding to their resumes.  By Sally Benford ‘Tis the season for volunteering. You lead a busy life, especially at this time of year. With families to care for and full-time jobs, it can be difficult to find time in your holiday—or everyday—schedule to help others. Yet, experts believe the benefits of volunteerism reach far beyond feelings ...
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Annual Career Resolutions

By Sally Benford
So, it’s that time of year again—you know, resolution time. With that in mind, do you realize that 80 percent of New Year’s resolutions fail? However, with the right planning, you just might be able to crack the code and become a member of the 20 percent group, and improve your professional—and personal—life for a bright and optimistic new year. Here are a few ways that you can achieve career resolutions in the upcoming year.  By Sally Benford Make a Plan You can’t just think about professional growth to make it happen. You need to plan for upcoming opportunities. Do you want to attend a webinar? Travel to a conference? Take online classes? ...
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Growing Your Network

By Sally Benford
Whether you’re just starting out in your first admission and enrollment management job or you’re an old pro, your professional network is one of the most important elements to boost your career.  By Sally Benford Personal and professional connections can mean the difference between success and advancement or serious burnout. Your professional network is most likely made up of people who can offer you referrals, information and connect you to others in similar or higher positions and vice versa. Networks have evolved over the past decade and, unlike networking of the early 2000s, today it’s all about building solid relationships over time, in which ...
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Life Habits to Help Your Career

By Sally Benford
Now that the admission decision letters have gone out, it’s time to take a deep breath and regroup. Whether you’re just starting out in your career, or you’re a seasoned veteran, healthy life habits can make a big difference in how you progress in the years ahead. Just like regular diet and exercise habits make for a healthy body, there are ways to improve your mind that can have a positive impact on your career. By Sally Benford Sometimes it feels like we spend our entire careers caught between two ideas: thinking big and mired down in the day-to-day duties that seem inconsequential. It’s a common phenomenon, and one that plagues the best of ...
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