#170
The Admissions Office is always a busy place where a mind-boggling range of activities are always in play.
These activities include, but are not limited to, ongoing communication with prospective families, meeting (virtually and/or on campus) with visitors, scheduling and executing admissions appointments, reviewing assessment results, communicating admissions decision with families and communicating with a wide range of individuals on campus to ensure a smooth onboarding process for students and their family (as highlighted in my August 2018 blog post, Observations of a Typical Day in the Admissions Office).
Aside from the above, this year and last has - with the Covid-19 pandemic - seen us adjusting our practice (as noted in my December 2020 blog post, Admissions in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic [part III]) and dealing with a whole plethora of additional tasks, all of which are subject to change in line with immigration, Covid-19 SOPs and other factors. Like most schools around the world, our enrollment has been somewhat impacted as some families have chosen to temporarily withdraw their children and engage in either home-schooling or have returned home and have enrolled their children in a local school with the view to re-enrolling in August 2021. For those families who went back “home”, we have the additional step of guiding them through the process of returning to Malaysia since at present all citizens and non-citizens returning to Malaysia need a Permission to Enter to Malaysia letter which is issued by Malaysian immigration. Of those families who are still in Malaysia and chose to temporarily withdraw in November/December, some are - with the cases of Covid-19 decreasing - starting to have their children return to campus. For those returning from overseas, we also must have the quarantine release letter from the Malaysian Ministry of Health on file for the student (and those with whom they live) prior to confirming their first day back on campus. As and when students temporarily withdraw and re-enroll, there are various behind the scenes and time consuming steps to take to ensure a smooth re-entry. Facilitating a seamless return is but one example of the agility needed in our admissions office. Covid-19 aside, other examples of agility include continuing to stay aware of immigration requirement changes at short notice, jiggling schedules to accommodate last minute appointments by families whose schedules change, not to mention Zoom meetings with families out of office hours to accommodate time difference.
In what ways do you demonstrate agility in the Admissions Office?
References:
Brady, A. (2018) Observations of a Typical Day in the Admissions Office
Brady, A. (2020) Admissions in the time of the Covid-19 pandemic [part III]
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