<p>I think very highly of UR's admissions department, but I have two gripes that I wanted to share because I think that as far as little things that can be improved and have big effects on applicant numbers, yield, and general student opinions and impressions, these are them. Considering how relatively minor both these issues are in comparison to everything that an admissions department does, I would like reinforce what an excellent job they do on pretty much everything else.</p>
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<li>UR's admissions website is very outdated and poorly designed, with this stuffy and dark feel to it. My local community college has a more modern feeling site. While this may seem petty, as a student, I can tell you that this is a big deal. For many of us, a school's admissions site is our first contact with the university, and where we make many of our first impressions. There is some truly great content on the site, but it is mostly obscured by poor design. For example, Rochester 360 has some great pictures and videos, but they are all hidden in this ridiculous and outdated flash-encoded pop-up window. Some great stuff can also be found by clicking on those left-side links, but most of the labels are very ambiguous. What i'm saying is: hire some talented professional developers.</li>
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<p>Rant 2: This is a controversial subject - online decisions. I am going to argue this with the perspective of a student receiving the decision (which I was just a few months ago). I understand that parents see large value in the idea of holding something in their hand, that it makes whatever emotions they experience more real and visceral. However, most of us "young people" have grown up with computers and things don't feel less real to us just because we are seeing it on a screen. In fact, I feel much more secure about having a digital copy of something than a paper copy.
Personal Anecdote: The mail where I live is very slow, and I received my admission decision a full seven days after it was mailed. Since I knew that almost all admit letters had been mailed (the merits of being told this are the topic for another debate) I was tearing my hair out for this time, reading about others who received them days earlier. It is scientific fact that incredibly high stress reduces lifespan, and I can say without hyperbole that the amount of stress I felt for those few days has shortened my life.
Somebody will undoubtedly bring up the Vassar incident, in which they accidentally told people who were rejected that they had been admitted. The fact is, this error was a stupid human error. If UR put the same amount of effort into making sure the correct decisions are mailed to the correct addresses as they would do for online decisions, then this type of human error would be just as unlikely. To reiterate, just because stupid people did stupid things with technology, it does not mean the technology should be avoided or blamed.
Nobody is saying don't mail letters.
Almost every college mails letters in addition to giving an online decision. Some even wait a few days after mailing to post the decisions online, which is also acceptable. The bottom line is, doing things for essentially nostalgic purposes not how a University who's motto is "Always better" should operate.</p>
<p>Funny, I have spent a fair amount of time at various school websites and I don’t find UR website to be outdated at all. The home page photos change often, what is new happening at the school is always updated. I find it fairly easy to navigate. I could tell you some really bad school sites but that wouldn’t be nice :)</p>
<p>So I cannot agree with you there.</p>
<p>In terms of notifying people online, I would have liked it but it was okay for my son to wait. I havn’t checked but I believe Tyler indicated that the decision step will change a couple of weeks after the mail has gone out so if someone hasn’t gotten their mail they can still find out. But I agree, a personal email of acceptance telling a student to expect their packet would be nice.</p>
<p>It was very interesting to read your take on the admissions website-my impression is totally opposite. Since I am an old mom, I asked my son to make sure it wasn’t a generational thing, and he liked it too. We found it very easy to navigate and could find all the info we needed very easily, especially when it came to setting up a visit to campus. Believe me, there are admissions websites out there that had us tearing our hair out over scheduling a simple visit or setting up an interview, but not UR. And I don’t quite get the comment about the stuffy and dark feel. I guess that is just personal preference-I just went back and looked at it again and didn’t get that feeling at all. I am not saying it couldn’t be improved, it just didn’t hit us that it needed much improvement. Just our opinion, no right or wrong here. </p>
<p>As for the online decisions, again I asked my son and he preferred receiving the letter-he felt it was more personal, and in particular he hated an online rejection he received (that may have soured him on the online notice). From my perspective, I know when he got into Michigan (which was an online notification) I did not believe it until the follow up package was in hand, but that may again be a generational thing! And again, just a personal opinion.</p>
<p>Its interesting to hear that you guys don’t agree regarding the website. I consider myself to be a tech geek, so it is certainly possible that I am being hypercritical here. As long as normal people dont see a problem, no harm, no foul.</p>
<p>URHopeful, great feedback. I actually attend “Social Media Meeting” on a bi-weekly basis at the office, and I would be happy to bring your (and anyone’s) suggestions to the table.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you’ll see radical change anytime soon, but I’m always happy to bring up suggestions! Feel free to PM me with other admissions websites that you think are top notch in comparison to ours. We are always looking to improve. If you were to see our website on a timeline from 2009 to 2012, I think you would be shocked.</p>
<p>The MyRoc transparency issue is a never ending battle. Some people want super transparency, some people think transparency is anxiety-inducing. I think our MyRoc page has struck a good balance between the extremes - and if anything, I imagine it is more progressive than most admissions “tracking” systems… but I could be wrong, and our system certainly isn’t perfect.</p>
<p>I think #1 criticism is unfair. Of all the admission status websites that we have to deal with this year, UR is one of the better if not the best around. The names/contacts and especially the faces of the people who are reading the applications are great personal touches which no one else does. The update of info is very timely and very soon after we told our counselor to send stuff. Beyond that, I don’t see what else is needed.</p>