Ask Students About This Because It Builds Trust

While every student experiences the college search process differently, there is one thing that in 11 years of collecting data from students has remained the same.

The overwhelming majority – we’re talking above 90% – are scared or worried about one or more things. And in many cases if that fear isn’t alleviated, it slows down their decision-making process and confidence to take the next step.

If you’re looking for a simple way to build trust, show empathy and increase engagement with your students. I encourage you to ask them about their fears and worries – potentially even multiple times (i.e. when they’re an inquiry, and again after they’ve been admitted).

Ask a direct question like, “Jeremy, what are you worried about most when it comes to your college search?”

You can ask that question as the call to action in an email or text message, during a high school visit, a college fair, or even during a campus visit.

If you’re wondering what kind of feedback you’ll receive, the two biggest fears and worries according to my ongoing Top Tier Higher Ed survey research continue to be:

• Making the wrong decision

• Not being able to afford the college they want to attend

  
  

The fastest rising fear over the past 3 years is not being emotionally and socially ready for college.

Other common answers you can expect to hear include:

• Not knowing what they want to major in (or do for a future career)

• Their grades and test scores won’t be good enough to get admitted

• Fitting in and making new friends

• Not knowing what questions they should ask (especially during a campus visit)

  
  

For non-traditional students, in addition to some of the same fears listed above, they’re also worried about their credits not transferring, and/or not being able to fit school into their schedule.

After a student has shared their thoughts and feelings I encourage you to thank them and validate that it’s okay to feel that way (i.e. they’re not weird). In a lot of cases they need to hear that from you – especially high school students.

The final piece of this strategy is helping alleviate their fear and/or putting their mind at ease. Storytelling continues to be one of the most effective ways to do that. I want you to provide them with one or more concrete examples of people who felt the same way (namely your current students) and explain how they, or even you, overcame that fear.

When you help calm or alleviate a student’s fears and worries you’ll gain a big advantage over other admissions counselors who believe this topic isn’t important, or don’t know how to address it.

If you found this article helpful, go ahead and forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to sign up for my weekly newsletter.

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