Interview with acting president Neil Kerwin

BY MIKE UNGER

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More than 800 people descended on campus Friday to learn the ins and outs of attending college at American University. If history is any indication, more than half of the prospective students came away so impressed with AU that they will decide to apply.

Photo by Jeff Watts

Prospective AU students listened Friday as faculty and staff promote the benefits of attending AU.

AU Preview Day is an all-day recruiting tool designed to educate high school seniors and their parents about everything the university has to offer. Prospective Eagles heard talks from faculty and key staff, learned about financial aid, housing and dining, studying abroad, exploring Washington, and many of the other assets that make AU a uniquely positioned university.

“Preview Day is probably one of our most successful events as far as converting inquiries into applicants,” said Sharon Alston, director of admissions. “In recent years, anywhere between 63 and 68 percent who have attended a preview day have applied to AU.”

This is the second of three fall preview days held on campus. Next month’s is traditionally the largest.

New to preview days this year are tours of the Katzen Arts Center.

“We’re certainly trying to highlight it,” Alston said. “We want people to feel that they had an opportunity to see everything on campus.”

The day began with a welcome address from Alston, followed by separate showcases on each of the six colleges. Next came concurrent sessions entitled “Life as an Eagle,” “Internships: Excelling with Experience,” “D.C. and Beyond,” “Financing Your Education,” “Housing and Meal Plans,” and “The Honors Program.”

Families could take guided tours of campus throughout the day, meet with admissions officials, and attend the Student Life Fair.

“That’s a fun opportunity for students to interact with representatives of different campus offices,” Alston said. “It’s an opportunity to go from table to table and find out about the Kay Spiritual Life Center, or multicultural affairs,” and other campus organizations.

Michael Mass led the information session about the honors program, which he directs. He has long touted the importance of preview days.

“As a faculty member, before I got involved in any of this stuff, I just wanted the students to wind up in the seats and then it was my job to teach them,” he said. “But in the last 10 years while I’ve been director of the honors program, I’ve really gotten to understand what happens before that student winds up in that seat. Presenting to the student and the student’s family what the university is all about. As a parent, I’ve attended preview days all over the country. You arrive on a campus, you’re taken through buildings and shown trees, and you have to get a feeling of whether this is the right place. A lot of it is feeling. When students come on this campus and they talk to faculty and they see passion in those remarks, they get a feel for the people and place that they can’t possibly get from looking at a guidebook. We know that if we can get students and their families to visit, they are very likely to at least apply.”