The 13th annual Presidents’ Day Open House brought a record 2,132 prospective students to campus on Monday, according to Admissions Director Gary Swegan.
Although this year saw the best ever turn out, the numbers are consistently above the 2,000 mark, even when the weather is not as favorable as it was two days ago.
“I don’t know that [weather] has that much impact on our actual attendance, what I think it impacts is the attitude while people are on campus,” Swegan said. “We certainly see that in years that are like [Monday] where we lucked out and it’s sunny, the sunshine makes a big difference in the appearance of campus, we definitely see people taking more formal tours.”
No exact numbers were recorded as far as how many visitors went out on campus with tour guides, but more families seemed to be lining up than in the past.
The open house was a breath of fresh air for the University compared to the two preview days in the fall, which attracted 1,125 students, the smallest turnout since 2001.
Jacob Simmons, a high school junior from Bedford, Ohio, is considering attending the University in the fall of 2010.
“We came here a few years ago with my [older] brother, but just walked around campus on our own time,” Simmons said. “We just wanted to go from building to building as quickly as possible, but I think we realized that we could see more with a tour guide helping us along this time.”
Volunteers like Mary Beth Zachary played a big role in the open house running smoothly, and she knows that tours can benefit prospective students.
“It’s an extensive tour that gives [students] a great opportunity to look at all the different pieces of the University all in one day,” Zachary said.
A key part of the success of the open house is that classes are in session and possible future students get a feel for what a typical school day at the University feels like. Over 200 professors opened up their classes so students could sit in and see what might be in store for them.
Each academic department hosted their own open house that attracted students to their building. The College of Business Administration had a printed sheet of activities for students to do and prizes were given out to those who completed the entire list.
Promoting the Presidents’ Day Open House wasn’t affected by any of the current budget cuts the University is experiencing, with radio and television advertisements airing regularly around Ohio and the surrounding area as usual. Younger high school students are being targeted to visit the University earlier in their decision process.
“This year, we have gone out to more students that will be here in the fall of 2010,” Swegan said. “We had 1,390 high school seniors and 647 juniors, which is a good ratio.”
Tomorrow, the admissions department will be sending out thank you letters to all the students that visited the University, and they will also be asked their thoughts on the event. Each year, about 15 percent of those who visited for Presidents’ Day send back evaluations, most of which are “overwhelmingly positive.”
