How You Can Figure Out A Student’s Biggest Concern

When was the last time an admitted student or their parent didn’t express a concern or have some hesitation about your school or college in general?

You can pretty much guarantee there’s going to be something for everybody. It’s not a matter of “if,” but when (and how often). The most common concerns are cost,

proximity to home (too far or too close), location (lack of things to do), and size of the school (too big or too small).

The first thing to keep in mind is those objections and concerns are actually a good thing.

Our Top Tier Higher Ed research continues to show that most students and parents don’t express a concern unless there’s serious interest in a school. As humans, when we’re not interested we tend to ignore and avoid.

Knowing all that, I encourage you to be proactive and seek out concerns from students and parents as early as possible. Don’t avoid talking about something that’s uncomfortable or perceived as a negative.

Ask the student a simple question like, “If you had to name the biggest question mark you still have about our school, what would it be?”

If you’re speaking with a parent you could ask, “When you think about <Student’s First Name>’s options, what’s the one thing you’re most concerned or still unsure about when it comes to <College name>?”

Depending on the amount of information you receive back, you may need to probe a little, do some active listening, and ask a few follow-up questions. Do your best to get the student or parent to be specific and to clarify what they mean and/or how they came to feel that way.

In doing that, sometimes what you’ll find is their concern is actually misinformation. Other times a student’s answer will reveal a parent’s influence. 

The next step involves making the student or parent feel comfortable voicing more objections and concerns. Through your reaction, body language and/or words, let them know that it’s okay not to love everything about your school. Treat the concern as “normal” and thank them for sharing how they feel with you.

Being comfortable talking about a concern and letting the other person know that you don’t think less of them for bringing it up (and it’s not going to be held against them), will go a long way towards continuing a genuine dialogue.

Once you feel the concern is clear, repeat it back to them. “So what I hear you saying is that because we’re a smaller college you’re concerned there won’t be as many opportunities for you and there will be less fun things to do. Have I got that right?” Confirm their statement, and give the other person another chance to explain further or correct you if in fact you misheard or misunderstood.

The process of helping alleviate a concern involves mixing logic, emotion, and additional information as you re-direct their concern into a “selling point” for your school.

Continuing the same example I used earlier you might say, “No matter what school you choose you’ll have all kinds of clubs and organizations to get involved with, and you’ll end up finding fun things to do with your new friends. One of the students I worked with last year felt the same way, but now that she’s here she told me that because we’re not a large university it was easier to feel at home faster and have that strong sense of community because you see many of the same faces each day. She also likes that she isn’t competing with so many other students when she has a question about one of her classes. Getting personal attention from her professors is another layer of support that has helped her be successful.”

The key thing to remember is that the student or parent needs to hear you confidently tell them that their concern is a common one and isn’t something that has prevented other students from enrolling - or taking the next step if you happen to be speaking with an inquiry.

One final thing – There are times when taking this approach helps you discover that your school isn’t going to be a serious option or will be the “second choice” for the student at the end of the day. That’s okay. Identifying that sooner rather than later is also helpful.

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