Techniques for Successful Recruitment of Diverse Students

Designate one person to track applications and inquiries to better ensure that you don't miss the "water walkers." Nothing turns off prospective applicants like being ignored by departments. Make sure your responses are timely and that there is appropriate follow-up communications.

Spread your net . Don't rely on the places you've been going. Look at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), McNair Programs, women's colleges, institutions outside of the Mid-Atlantic Region, institutions with NSF and NIH pipeline programs like Louis Stokes Advancement for Minority Participation in Engineering and Science (AMP), Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP), and the Post-Baccalaureate Research and Education Program (PREP).

Know your students . Develop a tracking database system to keep records of where successful applicants are from, how they found out about your program and who their mentors and/or major professors were. A follow-up note to a professor who sends you good students helps to build a good relationship and prospective student pipeline. Students may also be interested in the success of your alumni in finding desirable positions after degree completion and if the department offers assistance in this area.

Know your numbers . Can you answer these questions: how many students get admitted, receive funding (how much and for how many years) and complete their degree programs.; what is the average time to degree completion (masters/doctorate); what is the gender and racial/ethnic composition of the department (students and faculty).

Seal the deal . Quick responses to questions and receipt of information, phone calls, campus visits, personal letters (maybe hand written) from the department chair or college dean and timely, competitive assistantship and/or fellowship offers can play a major role in helping a prospective student choose your department. Is your student traveling with a partner and/or family? Connecting him/her with appropriate community resources can also help them make the decision to accept your offer.

If you invite them, they will come . Develop a departmental visit day or weekend (if funds permit) and invite area/regional schools to send students. Invite students to campus that you have been communicating with or have identified through contact cards or colleagues. You can host an information/recruitment weekend that corresponds with the Graduate Schools' Graduate Preview Weekend. Use natural campus events to interest prospective students in coming to campus such as Graduate Education Week or the Undergraduate Research and Potential Graduate Student Day.

Use current students and alumni as recruiters . Develop a group of reliable (and trained) advanced students and alumni ambassadors to help with recruiting. Answering questions from prospective students, being available for email, personal or phone contact. Regional alumni associations, or alumni clustered in any region, can sponsor an informational event or provide names of potential students or inform you of internship possibilities for current students.

Share your good news . Make good use of your department web page and/or department newsletter to highlight student/faculty accomplishments and collaborations, faculty research interest and successful grants, professional development activities and other things that help the prospective student identify you as a department dedicated to cutting-edge research, student success, diversity and the development of graduate students as colleagues and professionals.

Know your competition . If you are not getting the top students, find out where are they going and why. If you are getting the students you want, find out why. Expand on the things you are doing well and tweak the things you can be doing better or more efficiently.

Identify top students early and cultivate talent . Use a variety of means to identify top students including your website (have a response card that collects pertinent data and can be submitted on line), advertisements, targeted mailings and/or phone calls, and receptions at professional meeting or research conferences. Contact your colleagues at other institutions, on your professional committees and ask them to help you identify prospective students. Invite undergraduates and masters students to campus events and summer workshops. A student may be a sophomore or junior when they first contact you, develop a communication plan that keeps them informed about your program and interested in applying when the time is right.

Is a recruiting fair right for you? Fairs can help you identify students. However, it might be more useful if you target the fair you want to attend, let a graduate student work the table and have a faculty member meet with a specific group of students or a faculty member, who has access to students, and is someone you can develop a pipeline relationship with for recruitment. Research conferences. Poster sessions or presentations at national conferences would be a better way to help identify students getting research experience. Don't just give a student your card, get theirs or their contact information and stay in touch.