At a time when Northeastern University is receiving more applications for admission than ever, it is important to look at how the university is presenting itself to prospective students.
The News ran an article this week about Husky Ambassadors, the tour guides who show interested students and their families around campus. The article explains that on a typical tour, the group sees a classroom, the Marino Center, Stetson East, Centennial Common, the Cabral Center and the Egan Research Center. Among other things, tour guides said tour groups are often impressed by how pretty the campus is.
These are all important sites for any prospective Husky to see, as these are places they will be spending a lot of time if they become a student here. Of course, not every classroom is as new as the West Village classrooms, people aren’t always able to see what the food looks like in the cafeteria, and the tour guides don’t mention how annoyingly crowded Marino can get.
Regardless, student tour guides have a difficult job, and are just trying to sell Northeastern like any other school. But perhaps there are things they’re neglecting to tell prospective students that could give them a better idea of what life is like on our campus.
The admissions office closes at 5 p.m., meaning parents and their kids never really get the chance to see what nightlife is like here. It would be helpful for high school students to see the type of people who go to afterHOURS for a show, or just how popular hockey is at our school based on the mass exodus of people heading to Matthews Arena. It would show them just a little bit more of Northeastern’s personality.
It may also be helpful for students to see the different clubs on campus in action. It may very well be that the club they intend on joining really isn’t very active, or just the opposite – maybe a very active student government, or dance club, or cultural club is just what they want. Maybe meeting some members of the club will help them decide whether or not they will actually fit in there.
Finally, maybe students should be given more information about surrounding communities. A large amount of students end up living on the Hill, and in the Fenway area, and it would be helpful for students to understand the culture and of those neighborhoods to help them decide if it is something they want to deal with.
The admissions office does a good job of presenting Northeastern to prospective students with many different options to see the university. But there are other things that could be mentioned. While its nice that our campus is pretty, there are other things that will have a much larger effect on students during their time here.
