New Owl Days host 500 prospective students, up from previous years

By Rachel Carlson     5/15/08 7:00pm

The Rice campus played host to prospective students last month as the Student Admission Council directed three sessions of Owl Days. The new program for admitted student visitation, which replaces previous years' Owl Weekend, took place in three Monday-through-Tuesday sessions, from April 7-8, April 14-15 and April 21-22.SAC Director Claire Shorall said Rice students collectively facilitated Owl Days.

"Everybody really rallied," Shorall, Sid Richardson College president, said. "We had awesome volunteers, really good coordinators and a lot of staff support. I think our yield was greater than in past years."

During the three sessions, prospective students visited classes and engaged in activities such as panel discussions regarding academic divisions, departmental office hours and information sessions with admissions staff. In the evenings, visitors attended performances by the Rice Philharmonics and Spontaneous Combustion, club study breaks and sports games.

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"Through planned activities and seeing classes, [prospective students] could really understand what the campus was about, and at night they got to experience the residential college system," Shorall, a junior, said.

SAC On-Campus Events Coordinator Kevin Sigerman said the daytime activities were carefully structured.

"During the daytime on Monday was nuts-and-bolts stuff, what we really want them to know about Rice," Sigerman, a Lovett College sophomore, said. "We wanted to make sure that even if the student host was busy all day Monday, the Owl had something else to do. After dinner, there were the non-academic activities, which were more optional."

The Office of Enrollment instituted Owl Days last fall to address what it saw as the shortcomings of Owl Weekend. Having a visitation at the beginning of the week made it easier for prospective students to attend classes, Shorall said.

Vice President for Enrollment Chris Munoz said Owl Days were an opportunity for current students to share their enthusiasm about Rice.

"Rice students have such a passion for this place and they really are willing to share it with others," Munoz said.

Shorall said having three separate sessions of Owl Days also alleviated the logistical difficulties of accommodating over 500 total visitors on campus, which is becoming a critical issue as the student body expands. Sigerman said Owl Days also allowed prospective students to engage in activities independent of their parents.

"One major problem with Owl Weekend was that we never invited parents, but they showed up anyway," Sigerman said. "The ratio was almost one to one. This time, we had special program for parents that was very successful, and allowed us to more easily separate Owls from parents."

Shorall denied claims that Owl Days were established to reduce drinking among prospective students during the weekend visitation period. She said the level of on-campus students who volunteered to host the increasing number of prospective students, as well as the construction on campus, somewhat limited SAC's options.

"I know there have been rumors [about this year's change from Owl Weekend to Owl Days] . It was impossible for us to do it any other way because of campus accommodations," Shorall said. "That was the primary motivation."

Sigerman said SAC plans to discuss potential modifications for Owl Days in the future. He said next year's agenda may contain more opportunities to learn about student life.

"This year, we had tours that were meant to focus on residential college life," Sigerman said. "There is a possibility for a panel about student life for next year."

Sigerman said there are still a few kinks in the program that may be amended. For example, the last session of Owl Days took place during the last week of classes.

"Part of the reason we changed to Owl Days was because the admissions office eliminated interim decision . This meant that we couldn't start Owl Days until a week after April 1st," Sigerman said.

Shorall said the schedule difficulties were inevitable.

"We planned [Owl Days] to be on Mondays, so that was the way that Mondays fell," Shorall said. "As far as evaluations went, students enjoyed themselves just as much."

Munoz said the enrollment office will look at other times in the semester to host prospective students.

"Our one concern that we had is [what area] of the term the dates fall," Munoz said. "We get [Owl Days] back to back to back and how often can a host do it?"

Munoz said the university is looking to better structure the Owl Days process.

"We just weren't organized," Munoz said. "When people came, where did they stand? Where were the people to register them? What time were [prospective] students going to show?"

Munoz said Owl Days' organization got better with each session. He said the success came from students' generally positive responses on anonymous college Web sites, such as collegeconfidential.com, where prospective students post their opinions of universities. He said it allows for more honesty than does the Owl Days survey, given to prospective students upon their departure from the university, as the Web site is anonymous. He said he has used the Web site for feedback on possible improvements to the program.

"We don't manage [collegeconfidential.com], we don't control it and so the responses are pretty raw," Munoz said. "Students say what they're going to say."

Munoz said the same number of prospective students were admitted this year as were admitted last year. However, he said the yield rate - the amount of accepted students who pay the enrollment deposit - has increased from last year.

Sigerman said he is pleased with the overall Owl Days program.

"We're still kind of in the assessment phase, but I think they went very well, especially considering that it was a completely new program," Sigerman said.

Munoz said he has not heard current students complain about abandoning last year's Owl Weekend for the new Owl Days program.

"The only complaints I've heard about are the ones in the Thresher," Munoz said. "No one has ever sent me an e-mail or has called me to say, 'This is awful.' I have not heard

that directly.

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