123 ADMISSIONS RACKS UP MILES RECRUITING PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Date: Oct. 13, 2006 Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Admissions contact: Lynn Palmer, 615-898-2239

(MURFREESBORO) — MTSU Office of Admissions recruiters and personnel will log thousands of miles and meet and greet hundreds of prospective students, their parents or guardians in an ambitious effort that should help MTSU enrollment surpass 23,000 next fall.
“We always want a more qualified class to come in,” Lynn Palmer, admissions director, said recently, talking about department goals. “We want to find better students. We’ve got to compete to get them. Higher-ability students get nice scholarships (from colleges and universities). It’s always nice to get them.”
Alumni Travis Tipton (B.S. ’06), Matt Hannah (B.S. ’01) and Steven Mizell (B.S. ’06) were hired earlier this year to recruit East, Middle and West Tennessee, respectively, she said.
“We want them on the road, come back in to reload the vans and head back out (to recruit),” said Palmer, who jokingly said they will be on the road until Thanksgiving.
The recruiters and admissions personnel will “travel a predominantly college fair circuit, from September to November, all across the state, at high schools and community colleges.
“We will log a lot of miles,” she said. “We’ll know how many miles by December. This is the first time we’ve had people out on the road as much. All they’re doing is visiting high schools and traveling.”
As for the schedule of fairs across Tennessee, Palmer said, “There is a rhyme and a reason. There is a state-coordinated calendar so all colleges and universities can attend at the same time.”
Palmer added she’s “very grateful to have the recruiting positions filled. It allows us to better plan these (college and high school fairs) events. It makes this fall, from a management standpoint, more manageable. It has changed a lot of the way our office functions and operates.”
The veteran admissions leader said she considers the entire staff university recruiters.
“Our five assistant directors are responsible for Rutherford County because Rutherford County needs lots of attention,” Palmer said of the various high schools in Murfreesboro, Smyrna, La Vergne and Eagleville that all are within 20 miles of MTSU.
MTSU will have the second Fall Visit Day Saturday, Nov. 11. Prospective students can go online to mtsu.edu/~admissn or by calling 1-800-331-6878 or 615-898-5670.
MTSU admissions, academic and marketing personnel will conduct separate prospective student and guidance counselor receptions in Memphis (Oct. 17-18), Jackson (Oct. 18), Nashville (Oct. 30), Chattanooga (Nov. 14) and Knoxville (Nov. 15).
“These are not a substitute for a campus visit,” added Christopher Fleming, associate director, admissions. “If the students or parents can’t come (for a campus visit), it’s designed to take a piece of MTSU them.”
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