As part of an on-going series introducing campus departments and the people who work there, News@Wilkes looks at members of the Admissions Department. Meet associate director of admissions and Wilkes alumnus, Ian Schreffler ’17.
What territories do you cover?: Pennsylvania counties of Carbon, Lackawanna and Wayne and all other states except New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and Delaware
Why Wilkes?: We are truly a school that combines the smaller-school personalized and individualized attention in and out of the classroom with the big-school atmosphere of research opportunities and sports.
Favorite place on campus: The top of the Cohen Science Center because you can see all of Wilkes University and a good amount of the city from every angle.
Favorite experience at Wilkes as a student: Studying abroad in Spain, France and Italy
Best college advice for prospective students: Plan a visit and a shadow or overnight visit! This is the best way to get an inside look of what it’s like to be a student for an entire day because you attend classes, meet professors, hang out with students, and see the night life.
Fun fact: I’ve watched every season of “The Office” over five times and still watch it regularly.
What do you do as an admissions counselor? Admissions counselors’ days typically are never the same! The fall is busy for our department as we have hit the road for our fall travel, which typically spans over 3 months. We will schedule and conduct off-campus visits with prospective students and families, schedule and attend individual high school visits and college fairs. It’s imperative that we stay connected with our students via phone calls, texts and emails after meeting with them, as well as connecting with new ones that aren’t able to meet with us. An exciting piece of our contact with students is notifying them of their acceptance to Wilkes University via a phone call, which always brings a smile to my face!
When we are not on the road traveling, we are meeting with families here on campus for their personalized visits or during open houses. We meet with students and families from all over the world which is something that really makes our jobs great!
All of the connections we make throughout a given school year allow for us to be part of a giant decision these students have to make for the next four-six years of their life. Our hopes are that we hope they were able to make the transition from their high school to Wilkes University as seamless as possible.
