[civsa] Overnight Visitors -- communications prior to event

[Berg, Mary Alice]

Happy Friday everyone,

I'm hoping that anyone who coordinates an overnight program can reply back to me to let me know how your communication process works between your hosts and prospective student guests.  Do you have your hosts email/call the students before the visit or are they meeting for the first time at check in?

At Loyola we offer group overnights with between 50-100 prospective students visiting for each event.  An admission rep is on campus to check everyone in at a set location.  Currently we ask our hosts to email or call their guest a few days before the visit to introduce themselves and touch base.  This year we have had trouble with our hosts successfully connecting with their overnight even after they have called their cell phone, left messages and emailed.  It makes the days leading up to an overnight quite chaotic.  Not to mention when closer to the event a host becomes sick or cancels then we are scrambling to find a new host and have to call the family to explain what happened since they already heard from one hosts but now are being switched out with another.  I'm feeling like it might be easier to have the guests and hosts meet for the first time at check in instead of ahead of time over phone/email.  I know overnights can be a cumbersome and sort of imperfect process but after today's event I have this feeling like, "There must be someone out there who does this more effectively!"

If you have time to let me know about your process for communication with your overnight guests (specifically communication between guests and hosts) I will be so grateful!

Thanks in advance!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Mary Alice

Mary Alice Berg
Assistant Director
Undergraduate Admission
Loyola University Chicago
Sullivan Center 150
1032 W Sheridan Road
Chicago, IL 60657
773.508.7441
mberg1 at luc.edu

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