OpenApply Conference Inspiration: Improving the New Student Transition

Since February 2014, we’ve been creating opportunities for professional development across international school admissions offices through our conferences and our magazine. These opportunities help us to better understand the needs of school admissions offices and give us an inside look into the day-to-day concerns and challenges. We were inspired by Mary Langford’s session “How Big is Your Welcome Mat?” at our OpenApply Conference in Barcelona. Mary Langford is the Admissions Director at Dwight School London, and her session examined admissions and transitions. How do schools welcome new families, and what part does admissions play in putting out the welcome mat? In her presentation, Mary showed an example Admissions Memo that she writes to her colleagues in the school. Along with other information, the memo includes:

• student’s demographic details
• family’s history
• father’s job
• student's interests

Her memo helps other stakeholders in the school understand the new student’s background and interests.  

Our Inspiration

What if you could produce the memo in just one click on OpenApply? Because OpenApply is built using global fields, it’s actually possible to pull this information directly from OpenApply, even if the data is on different forms. Building an Office-Use Only form on OpenApply allows you to mix and match the most relevant data for the new student information form, so you can eventually export the information in just one click. See the full PDF form here. Note that the admissions director had to write only the narrative comment! All other relevant information (parent employment, nationalities, sibling information, student interests, etc.) was filled in automatically. Interested in setting up an office-use only form that automatically shows all New Student Information? Schedule a time with us here!