This fall, 10 ESP’s, 8 Student Recruiter-Advisors, and 2 Admissions Advisors braved fog and dark highways for UBC, hosting a grand total of (drum roll, please):
- 156 school visits in BC
- 86 school visits out-of-province
- 14 fairs
- 20 community events
- 13 counsellor events
- 33 days of Strengthening Connections
Whew! If you’re wondering what kept everyone going, Starbucks was the fuel of choice (for Kathryn McTavish, specifically: Hazelnut Hot Chocolate – if you’d ever like to buy her a treat). Darran Fernandez drew energy from less conventional means, such as throwing in a Ke$ha joke during a presentation.
For Drew Senay, being a recruiter gave him the chance to test out his alter ego: “My motivation was that I looked so cool strolling into schools, rolling the travel buggy. I felt like a pilot in the 60’s.”
UBC reps fielded all the usual questions, from “how do I get into med school to “do I really need 95% to get in?” though explanations of the Personal Profile dominated many conversations.
With the recruitment cycle wrapping up and the application deadline nearing, folks are gathering their favorite travel stories. Many of these included meaningful moments with small circles of students – it’s good to remember why we do what we do:
My very last visit of the year was my favorite. The counsellor had set up 17 chairs in a circle, so abandoning the presentation, the group of us just had a wonderful conversation about their options at UBC. I learned all of their names, what they might want to study, and what makes them tick. The counselor walked me to my car afterwards and told me that I had no idea what I had just done; that I had just blown open their perception that UBC was elite and inaccessible to them. (Kirsten Graham)