Award Date

8-1-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Public Policy and Leadership

First Committee Member

Christopher Stream

Second Committee Member

Harriet Barlow

Third Committee Member

Kendall Hartley

Fourth Committee Member

Tiberio Garza

Number of Pages

129

Abstract

The role of admissions counselors has become pivotal to the mission of enrollment management in higher education. Admissions Counselors have evolved from serving as personnel that provides counseling to students to one that expands to include marketing to concurrent high school classes and students. As a result, the discipline has seen an increase in the number of counselors entering the workforce and has experienced a steady progression of career opportunities and advancement in the field of admissions (Phair, 2014). Nonetheless, college graduates are more likely to apply for these positions though limited support for career advancement exists due to these roles' convenience. This study's scope focused on admissions counselors and recruiters' job competencies from the 2018 job market. Fifty-nine institutions were randomly selected to participate in this study. These institutions represented four-year public and private institutions within the four major regions in the United States: “Midwest,” “Northeast,” “South,” and “West. Eight hundred forty qualifications (both required and preferred) listed within the job postings of these institutions were analyzed, and a comparison was made to determine the similarities with those posting and to those competencies prescribed by NACAC in 2000. These listings for admissions counseling/recruiting job descriptions were found online on the following sites: Higheredjobs, LinkedIn, NACAC, and the AACRAO website. A content analysis was used to transcribe the qualitative data to quantitative figures. This study draws from Hoffman and Bresciani (2012) 's work, who conducted a mixed-methods analysis to investigate job competencies and how they were listed within the job descriptions for student affairs practitioners. Though the work of Hoffman and Bresciani (2012) provided a comprehensive review of job postings and accounted for approximately 1,800 job listings, only 2.6%, or 45 postings, were in the area of admissions and enrollment management, further proving that this area has been limitedly investigated. The results of this study suggest that the ability to “effectively communicate with students” and “assist with transitioning from the application stage to the point of enrollment” are still top competencies; however, new competencies should be considered to be effective in the role of an admissions counselor in the 21st century.

Keywords

Admissions Counselor; College Recruitment; Competencies; NACAC; Training and Development

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership | Work, Economy and Organizations

File Format

pdf

File Size

1274 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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