Episode 44: Jeff Mavros, executive director of ISU Admissions
John Twork 0:09
Welcome to Redbird buzz. I'm John Twork from University Marketing and Communications. Our guest today is executive director of admissions and recruitment marketing at Illinois State University, Jeff Mavros. A 2006 graduate of Illinois State himself, where he earned a Master of Arts Degree, Mavros has managed the ISU admissions team since 2014 which consists of 30 staff members who helped meet the university's enrollment goals. He's a two time Redbird buzz guest, and Mavros joins us today to discuss fall enrollment at Illinois State and the newest class of Redbirds. Spoiler alert, it's another record setting year,
and it's my pleasure to welcome Director of Admissions Jeff Mavros, back to Redbird buzz. What's the word. Redbird? Campus has come to life over the past several weeks as new and returning students moved in and started the fall semester. So Jeff, can you tell us about this year's incoming class, which I hear it's another potentially historic one.
Jeff Mavros 1:18
Yeah. First of all, thanks so much for having me back, John, I thought maybe the first time I might have worn out my welcome, but I'm happy to be back and, [Oh, not at all] happy to talk enrollment again. So yeah, as you said, it's a little early, because we're a little shy of census for the fall, but at the time of this recording, I can tell you that it does look historic. I think this freshman class is almost undoubtedly going to be the largest freshman class we've had since 1986 which is kind of that high watermark for the institution, but more than likely, it's also probably going to be the largest freshman class in our history as an institution. So keeping our fingers crossed for the next little bit here, until the dust settles, but it looks like a really big class, and we tack on about 1800 transfers to that. You know, among the freshman class, about 44% of those students are racially diverse. A good percentage, about four out of 10 are first generation students. And so the exciting part for us is also that we're enrolling a class that's starting to really shape the the overall enrollment in a way that we're representing the residents of our home state really well, and so as a state institution, that's kind of a cool thing. And so yeah, there's a lot to be excited about, and we're just proud to be back and talking again about enrollment success.
John Twork 2:34
And with the addition of this year's class, where does overall enrollment stand and where does that rank historically?
Jeff Mavros 2:41
Yeah, so with the large number of new students that I talked about, and with with retention being strong, we're going to be right around that 21,400 maybe 21,500 mark. Again, just a little bit early to know that as we sit and talk, but historically, then it's the largest class or largest enrollment we've had since 2011 in 2011 that census put us at 21,310 students. So we're definitely going to be above that. And you've got to go all the way back to 1992 to find enrollment larger than what we expect it to be for this fall. And so, you know, again, really exciting, both in in the ways of what that means for the institution, and the health, financially of the institution and and the interest, you know, we remain a first choice school for so many students and and really, in more direct terms, what it means for hundreds of more students who are going to go through Illinois State and have an incredible educational experience, and what that means for their their future and their families. And so it's been a long time since we've been this size. But I would be remiss if I if I didn't mention that we've been here before, so so people don't worry that we can't manage it, or that we're in unprecedented times, because we have been here before. Sure,
John Twork 3:53
sure. And this, this is a good amount of students, right? Like this is, this is a good place for this university to be. You mentioned we've we've been there before. So, so can you talk about this number and this being a good fit for the university?
Jeff Mavros 3:59
I think the university is well suited to a number around 21,400-21,500. I mean, I think, as we mentioned, financially, that's a great place for the institution, from a service perspective and experience perspective, for students, you know, we want to be mindful that they're getting everything out of their experience that they would with with 500 fewer students. And so I think we're very mindful of what it means for our students and the experience in class outside of class. And yeah, I think we're at a really sweet spot. I think if you were to talk to President Tarhule, he'd be pleased with the number where it is. And so far, the semester is off to a great start. We're hearing nothing but but great returns, and students are happy, and it's going to be a great semester.
John Twork 4:48
I mentioned that this is your second time on the show, and we had a similar conversation the first time that we had you on two years ago. We talked with with Jana Albrecht last semester or. Last year about another strong class. So by my count, this is about three consecutive historically large classes. So Jeff, is this happening everywhere? Or is this unique to ISU? And why does Illinois State continue to bring in these historically large classes?
Jeff Mavros 5:17
Yeah, so is it happening everywhere? It is not. I can say that it is not happening everywhere. It's also not completely unique to Illinois State. And so we find ourselves in a time where there are winners and losers in enrollment right now and and things are really gravitating kind of to poles and and as you look at the last few years of uncertainty, I'm going to say out there in terms of just external factors in the world that that influence consumer behavior. I think when there's uncertainty, people gravitate to comfort and familiarity, brands that they trust. And so I think Illinois State, having the strong name recognition that we do, and a brand as strong as ours, really helps us weather some of these storms, and in the way that flagship institutions are right now, some of the elite institutions across the country are seeing kind of record enrollment, and then we're seeing a lot of schools that are regional, smaller, less well known, less household names, on the other end of the spectrum. And so that's what's really happening, is this big division between the haves and have nots. And fortunately for us, we've been on the right side of that. And why is that? I think there are myriad reasons for our continued success, and very few of them have anything to do with me, but a lot of what we offer is appealing to students. And you know, these big classes, I always say, beget the next big class. And so word of mouth happens. We just mentioned that students are starting off on the right foot and having a great experience already this fall, and understanding what it means to be a Redbird, and feeling the community support. And I think that's what helps build, you know, the next group that wants to be Redbirds. And so there are a lot of reasons for it. I don't know that we have time to go into all of that, but I'm pleased that I can work at a place that has that much going forward. Sure,
John Twork 7:00
what are some of the big reasons, though, that come to top of mind? Obviously, you know, you create a viewbook every year. You create programming preview days. And so there, there are some, some top reasons that that you continue to push and what are some of those reasons?
Jeff Mavros 7:15
we ask students and parents after every recruitment cycle what worked, what didn't, what they were looking for, how we delivered on those those things, what we hear is availability of major and quality of academic programs, huge. Affordability is top of mind for both students and parents anymore. Safety is a real big issue. You know, there are these big items that I think you either you're able to check those boxes, or do you quickly fall out of contention? And luckily for us, we check a lot of the big boxes, but then we do so many of these extras. And I think people get on campus and they get a real feel for again, the community and and for a school of 21,000 plus, we feel a lot smaller than that, and a lot of schools like to talk in those terms, but we live it every day, and people feel it, and they tell us that. And so you again, put yourself in contention by being able to meet students in terms of what they need, meeting those needs. And then you really win in the margins by just being more human, being warmer, making people feel as though they belong and as though they matter. And I think we do that not just in the Office of Admissions, but across campus. So well, you know, we're emotional decision makers as human beings, and so we play to those things. And we certainly want people to feel wanted, and then they come and they live that out over there, 2-3-4, years with us as well. So those are some of the biggies. And then I think there are a lot of things that we're constantly trying to perfect in the way of our messaging and how we come across and how we're perceived.
John Twork 8:46
When I talked with you two years ago, that was sort of fresh off of that experience where, you know, during covid 19, some of the visit experience has shifted to online, and we're getting back in that in that time period to more of the on campus experiences. And of course, now we're, we're fully back into that this, this campus seems to really present itself well in person. You did well online and when you had to as well. But can you talk about getting students on campus and experiencing what normal Illinois is like, and what Illinois State University is really like, and how powerful that can be. Yeah,
Jeff Mavros 9:24
you said it. I would tell you that most people in a position like mine at their respective institutions would want students and families to visit. It just makes everything real for them, and you want them to feel something. I would tell you, we more than most, benefit from students physically being on our campus and meeting our campus community. And we are in an incredible hometown, and so you mentioned Normal, Illinois, that's a that's a huge part of the brand and our our value proposition and how we sell the experience, because certainly, it's about the quality of our faculty and our. Academic Programs. It's about our extracurricular programming. It's about, you know, our concern over the entire student's well being. It's all the things programmatically that we'll do. But it's also about, what are the amenities that we offer, both on campus and off, and what are students looking for when they're going to select a place to live for two, three or four years of their life, and they really have to feel comfortable to say, Okay, I'm leaving home. This is a little bit scary, but I'm going off to a place that's exciting, that makes me feel comfortable, that has everything that I'm looking for. So, yeah, I mean, we our campus is beautiful, our facilities are well kept. We're very walkable. I mean, I think people come here and find it a very manageable campus for a school hour size. So you got 150 plus majors. Got Division One athletics. You got all the things that you would expect for a large, comprehensive state institution. And you can walk from class to class to class in, you know, two minutes between each one, and it's a 10 minute walk all the way fully across the footprint of the campus. And so it's those kinds of things that I think people don't expect and where we exceed their expectations. So yeah, campus visit is everything for us. It really is.
John Twork 11:11
recruitment is certainly one big part of the enrollment puzzle. Retention is another important part of that. So let's talk a little bit about retention. And Jeff, can you talk about the university's retention stats, along with the programs behind those stats that are designed to help students succeed and stay at ISU from arrival on campus all the way through graduation.
Jeff Mavros 11:31
as we talk about enrollment, you know, I so often talk about recruitment, because it's, it's what my primary focus is. But as I often say, we all recruit, whether we're actively attempting to do so or not, we're also all in the retention game. And we just talked about our community and the feel and the support that we provide students that aids this. You know you asked me about retention rates. We're just over 81% 81.3% year to year, freshman to sophomore retention, which is great, and at the same time, you'll hear the President, talk about our focus then, needs to be on two out of every 10 students that are doing something else, that they're leaving us for one reason or another. Be that personal, be that academic, be that financial, whatever those reasons are, life got in the way. We're losing two students out of every 10. What can we be doing in big ways and small, to retain those students and to see them graduate with an Illinois State degree and go on and do those great things that we know our grads do. So that's the focus. There are so many people involved in programs that are that are influential in students' lives, you know, University College, I get to work with Brody Broshears, the Director of University College, pretty closely, and we talk often, and even bringing in this large class of freshmen, you know, it's as simple as you bring in 1000s of students who submit an enrollment, deposit, register for a preview orientation, and then a number of them don't show we can let that go and have fewer in seats on 10th day or University College picks up the phone and does personal outreach to say, Hey, are you still planning to attend? Can we find you a day to reschedule? It's high touch stuff that works. You know, they're doing outreach to more than 100 students with 120 hours or more completed who have stepped out and and in this last year, as they were working with that group, about 40% of those students, they were able to bring back in either fully to graduation or to have a plan to graduate and to finalize that plan. Peer success advocates, working with third semester students who are at the highest risk of not being retained. They're working to improve first to third year retention, and they're finding success there. We're increasing advising support for our Hope Chicago students, which is a cohort working with a group out of Chicago Public Schools and and the organization handles a lot of their financial burden, but then it's on us to provide supports and so ramping up some of the high touch advising, and they've seen an increase in 30% of retention among Hope Chicago students year one to two. So these are just some of the examples. Are trio SSS programs, phenomenal. I mean, university, college and so many folks from around campus are involved in not just getting students here, but keeping them here. And we're seeing a lot of success in multiple ways. So I expect that 81% number to keep creeping up. And I know that's what the President wants. Yeah.
John Twork 14:14
Can you also talk about affinity groups and the importance of those, and also just the presence of them, you know, festival ISU was just last week. There were two days really showcasing registered student organizations, and all the many opportunities that students have, from club sports to outdoor groups to, you know, maybe some, some, some kind of niche groups within their majors or their personal interests, but there are so many opportunities for students, and they're fun, but they're also really important, aren't they? Can you? Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Jeff Mavros 14:49
Yeah, you know, you got a lot of time in college. I think students come from high school, if they've been in community college, then your days are structured in a different way, and you get to an institution like Illinois State, and you've got so much time on your hands that if you worried strictly about your academic pursuits, I think you'd quickly run out of time. I mean, you just, you've got so much more to do and and so I think it's absolutely important research will, will, you know, show that it's just incredibly, incredibly important to find a place of belonging, and I think students do that through affinity groups, through shared interests, through some of the things that they have done for years that make them who they are, that in which they find identity, and then some of the opportunities that they'll find at a place like Illinois State, when you've got more than 400 student organizations that they never even considered, and so they find themselves joining something like circus, which they never considered in the past, but now you've got this group 100 and, you know, 20 built in friends and a community and a place to be, and it's harder to get lost. And so absolutely affinity groups matter, and it doesn't matter how you identify or or what that talent is or what you're looking for, but we offer so much, and students just need to ask, and they'll be connected very quickly with others that that do share interests, that want to bring them in, that want to see them to be successful and happy, and so Absolutely, it's just critical to success is finding a place to be and something to belong to.
John Twork 16:18
Now, talking about the admissions process. Last year's rollout of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, more commonly known as FAFSA, was a was significantly delayed, and certainly any students who were applying for admission experience that can you elaborate a little bit on on the impact that that FAFSA delay had on the admissions process, specifically at Illinois State. And are there students and families who are still feeling the effects of those FAFSA delays?
Jeff Mavros 16:49
So honestly, John, this is the first time hearing of any kind of a delay in the FAFSA. Yeah. No, this last year was an interesting one. It seems like we run into something like this every couple of years, where it just turns our world upside down a little bit. And credit to to my staff and to so many around campus who are nimble and are willing to be flexible and maybe bend on policy and find ways to serve students. And so I have to say, you know, we may get some credit this year in the admission office for bringing this class in, but if anybody deserves a gold star, the financial aid office just knocked it out of the park this year in terms of customer service and what it required to get students all the way to the finish line. And you can imagine some of the trepidation and some of the anxiety, and some of you know what was happening in families' lives as they were thinking, gosh, we have to make this decision, and they were still waiting on some very important information on which to make that decision. So their patience and their ability to walk families through the process was just critical to our success this year. And so it was an issue. It did delay things. You know, typically, the FAFSA opens on october 1. This year, They told us it was this past cycle. They told us it was going to be a December 1 launch. It was mid January by the time things got rolling and people started to submit, and it just moved the whole process backward. And so if you think you play this out for a freshman and they're trying to make a decision by May 1, most students didn't have information that they needed by that time, and so then I've also got a lot our University Housing Services group housing was incredible to work with us and be flexible, because again, their timeframe is much more built into what our standard process looks like. They had to abandon that and work with us this year to accommodate students, and it really put them under a crunch over the summer, but they did a wonderful job, and so it was--it was less than ideal for several of us on campus, but I think we made the best of a bad situation, and I think families could at least see that we were doing our very best to try to accommodate, trying to communicate clearly, trying to be transparent with them about what we had access to, and not what a timeline might look like for us to be able to realistically turn something around to them. And so it's just all about that communication piece. And are there people that are still struggling a little bit? Yep, unfortunately, there's a small group that ultimately had to ditch the online piece to this altogether and submit paper FAFSAs, and they're still working through some of the processing at this time. But again, I go back to they're really fortunate to have financial aid counselors who are here, willing, ready, excited, to help them. And we'll get everybody where they need to be. And we're not going to lose students over it. They're going to, we're going to get them the aid that they need, and they're going to qualify for, you know, the funding that that they have coming to them. And so it's it was less than perfect, sure, but we're kind of used to less than perfect. Now, I don't know what I would do with perfect. And so, yeah, it's still kind of lingering out there, but I think that worst is behind us. Hopefully.
John Twork 19:50
Are you anticipating delays for the next admission cycle related to FAFSA?
Jeff Mavros 19:56
Yeah. So again, we talked about October one is the traditional launch. They're saying. In December, again for us this year, and they saying, they're saying it with a little bit more conviction than a year ago. We've gone through this once, so I think they've learned a number of things. But, you know, there is no certainty in this, so we'll see. But it will again delay things slightly, hopefully, on the back end, processing those FAFSAs, getting us the data we need so we can do it we need to be doing to package offers on our end, will all be expedited compared to a year ago. So even if the start of things is a bit delayed, I have a little bit more optimism around that may one date and keeping to a slightly more standard timeline for our students going through the process this year.
John Twork 20:34
That's good to hear. Well, in addition to the FAFSA delays being prominently mentioned in the news, our listeners probably have also heard related to college and higher ed, this term called the enrollment cliff. And what that is is an impending decline in the college age population as simply fewer families had kids during the Great Recession that started in 2008 and ran through about 2011. Can you talk about this so called enrollment cliff, which sounds terrifying, especially if you work in higher ed, and how Illinois State is preparing for it?
Jeff Mavros 21:12
Yeah. So this is a great reminder of all the things that keep me up at night. I started off on such a high note, you seem to be going to ask, that's right, but yeah, the enrollment cliff. I mean, here's the upside to it. We've known about it for some time. Yeah, I mean, it's around census data. It's around birth rates. You reference that, you know, it's 18 years in the making. So it's not like this is coming overnight and surprising the heck out of any of us. And so, yeah, we've been talking about it for a long time. I don't know that there's a silver bullet here to making us whole. And you lose 20,000 30,000 college bound students out of your main primary recruitment market. There's no way to really replace those students. But I would tell you, we are positioned well to weather this storm. We've done so already in years of a budget impasse in the state, we've talked about covid, we just talked about the FAFSA delays, and the institution continues to weather those storms in ways that I think some others aren't equipped to do, and I don't see that changing greatly for us. I think again, we have such great name recognition. We're having large numbers of students go through the university, have an incredible experience, go on to gainful employment, do great things in their in their home communities, and continue to spread the word about what it is to be a Redbird. And so all of that helps us when these challenges come up, I think you got we have to continue to be great where we're great. We need to continue to be who we are, and it's helped us take even more market share from, you know, our primary recruitment markets. And so we're always keeping an eye out for other avenues, ways to innovate other markets where we can be potentially effective in bringing students to Illinois State. But I think before we go and do that at the expense of what's made us good to this point, I think we double down where we're good. We know who we are. We have an identity. We lean into that, and we continue to take more market share by virtue of just being better than maybe some of our competitors. And that's, I think, the short term goal, long term, you know, it's new academic programs to meet student demand. And those are, those things are all are ever changing. It's maybe beefing up international enrollment with new, new initiatives grad school enrollment, where we can looking at adult learners and populations that have had some education, but not a full degree. I think there are some things that we can be doing and areas that we can delve into maybe a little fuller but I would tell you, I think the short term answer is be Illinois State, be the best version of Illinois State, and continue to refine our process year in year out, so that we're a better experience for students every year than we were the year prior.
John Twork 24:01
Yeah, you mentioned the developing new academic programs is something that certainly helps in this situation, and is something that continues to be done regardless of the enrollment cliff. Can you talk about some of those new academic programs that that are here and also not in the Not, not so distant future, College of Engineering being being one of those examples that's been in the works for a few years and and now, I believe this fall is the first fall that we'll be admitting students into the College of Engineering. So can you talk about that and some of the other new and exciting programs that prospective students can look forward to,
Jeff Mavros 24:41
sure, yeah, engineering is a big one for us. You know, there's been demand for engineering, if you just look at our website traffic and the organic searches on our majors page, for example, people have been been yearning for engineering from Illinois State for some time. So we're really, really excited about being able to get that off the ground. And we're already seeing applications to it, you know, mechanical, electrical and general engineering. So those applications are coming in. We've got some exciting things in the way of launching that program to come and I think it's going to have great success for a very long time. And so we're really pleased about that. There's a program in data science that is exciting and new, I think, you know, an interdisciplinary program where people think of data science, and I think they often think of computational mathematics, and, you know, it is, it is big data, it's analysis, it's crunching numbers, but, but this interdisciplinary flavor of it is, you know, students can do those kinds of analytics and do them in political science and sociology or marketing or health sciences in addition to math. And so that's an exciting one, just because there's such demand for, you know, the world we live in is data, and so for graduates to understand how to use it and and to predict consumer behavior, or to follow trend lines and then to determine what is an organization's next move based on the data they're seeing before them. And AI, I mean, a data scientist is going to be really influential in the way of developing AI further in the future. So data science is another one that we think is going to be really exciting and well received. Sports Communication, another one that, you know, you see a lot of interest in the way of web searches, and we've not for years had a Sports Communication program. And I think those two words just put back to back are going to be of appeal to incoming students. So we're excited about that. You know, in the not so distant past, things like the Springfield cohort for nursing just finding new ways to to meet students where they are and to maybe make the experience with Illinois State even more convenient, things like STEM MBA at the grad level, you know, finding a niche program there where you're adding stem into an already important program that's got a lot of demand. Now you have a STEM program where tech entrepreneurs can come and learn their craft, or you got engineers that want to get into the business world and monetize what they're doing. So, you know, that's just a smattering, but, but, yeah, we're always as an institution, looking for new programs to meet demand, looking for future trends, what the workforce is going to require of us and our grads. And so there's a lot I think that's that's around the pike that is going to excite new students.
John Twork 27:23
Yeah, funny, you mentioned sport communication. Heard just today that an Illinois State alum was hired as the play by play voice of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Joe Brand, who's been doing pre and post game shows for the Chicago Blackhawks for WGN radio. So even though that program didn't exist. He was a broadcast journalism major. So there are a lot of alumni, even for these new programs, who have Illinois State degrees. And you know, I'm sure that someone like you know Joe would be happy to come back and talk with you know, some of those sport communication students. So from an alumni, alumni perspective, it seems like these new programs could already lean into a strong alumni base, right?
Jeff Mavros 28:03
I think that's absolutely right. And students are going to find a way, ultimately, to end up where they want to end up. And I read something recently that said something on the order of 73% of people in the workforce are working in something that's that's not directly related to their undergraduate degree, right? And so, and that's probably not a surprise to any of us, but the skills you learn, and tangentially, some of the principles that you get within an area, even if it doesn't lead to licensure or a certification in a specific area, those are the things that are transferable. And so, yeah, we've got alums that are out there doing incredible things in some of these areas, but now to be able to offer a program with that you know on your diploma is going to be a real appeal. And then, as you said, there's going to be a natural conversation to be had between alums who are out in the field and students who want to be just like them in the future. So
John Twork 28:53
it's great, yeah, yeah. Well, for students who are prospective students who think any of those programs, or the myriad of other programs that Illinois state has to offer. Sound interesting and for their families? Can you walk us through Jeff the admissions process? So from that initial communication to being admitted and arriving on campus, just walk us through that process and what a prospective student and their families can expect from Illinois State, sure. So
Jeff Mavros 29:21
I'll try to do this succinctly. Students get on our radar in lots of ways. And again, I'll go back to our reputation, kind of preceding us, and the strong brand that we have and recognition in Illinois, but the Midwest and even across the country, especially as you talk about programs like education and people are very familiar with the brand people get to us. Well, we'll license names in any number of ways, so we'll get students based on their academic profile or their standardized test scores and ways that we proactively looking for what we would consider a good fit academically for Illinois State, but students should. Up at open houses or a daily campus visit of their own accord. They'll email us, they'll, they'll call us, they'll, they'll apply, frankly, without us having ever heard of them prior. So there's a lot of that stealth interest that happens, and we're just kind of the fortunate beneficiaries of our alumni and our campus community and everybody affiliated with the university carrying the brand and being great brand ambassadors once we have them, though, in our database, we've got a communication flow that is pretty robust, pretty comprehensive. We try to engage both the student and the parent, whether we're talking about first time in college freshmen, or we're talking about transfers. We really want the family to be involved in this and to be informed. And you know, if they haven't visited yet, we're trying to get them to visit. We talked earlier, about 10 minutes ago, about how important that is. We really try to get them to come and visit and experience what it's what it's like on campus. If they visited. We try to get them to apply, and that really gets the process rolling. Then we try to turn an admissions decision around as quickly as we can. We know that matters to families. We live in a world of immediate, instant gratification, and that's what they want, is give me my status I want to know. And so we try to turn that around as quickly as we can, and then we're off to trying to help them with all the next steps it takes to ultimately become a red bird. Be that, picking a housing plan, a meal plan, signing up for orientation, to things like their math placement exam, and all of the steps that it takes to ultimately, ultimately be enrolled and be here in class. So that's a simplified kind of timeline for you, but there are a lot of touch points, and that's as we were talking earlier about trying to be the best version of ourselves. We try every year to unpack what worked, what didn't, and then refine, refine, refine. Because we think we do a nice job in the way of communication. We think we do a nice job in the way of our visitor experience. We think we turn around decisions in a timely manner our scholarship and strategic financial awarding. You know, we think we do well, but we want to hear from families. Did we meet your expectations? Did we do well? How do we do compared to our peers? And then where's our room for growth? And it's a constant assessment and then reworking, and that's what makes my job fun, quite honestly, is picking it apart every year.
John Twork 32:11
Sure, yeah, we produce a series that you're aware of "Our Newest Redbirds", which is a great introduction of both incoming freshmen and also transfer students who are new Redbirds. It's one of my favorite stories to write, because you get to meet these, these really bright students from all different backgrounds and different personal interests who find their way to Illinois State. There was a great one this this year that Elena Roth wrote, who happens to be a social media coordinator, and as luck would have at, the student who she interviewed from Oklahoma, found out about Illinois State from a Tiktok video that looked looked like fun. You know, Illinois State looked like a fun place to go in, and her interest went from there. It was great that Elena interviewed her, because she's on the social media team, yeah, so we're happy to hear that in UMC, but, but truly, the the interest comes from all different perspectives, even a Tiktok video. And so ultimately, from an admissions perspective, you know, I assume you're, you're looking at all these different channels as really good opportunities to get them in that system, right?
Jeff Mavros 33:16
Yeah, absolutely right. And that's where I say people find us in any number of ways. And frankly, if I if I knew how randomized that process really was, I might have less hair than I even do. And so I try not to think about that, and we try to make the process as scientific as we can, and try to figure out all the places we need to be and how to do that. But yeah, it's frankly, kind of fun to hear students stories and find out what it was that connected them to Illinois State, and what it was that ultimately was that ultimately got them to enroll. And again, we try to find learnings from that, but also it's just kind of fun to hear people's personal stories. Yeah,
John Twork 33:50
yeah. Well, speaking of fun, I want to finish the interview here on a fun note. No more talk about the enrollment cliff. We're going to celebrate this year's really strong incoming class with with some tidbits so, so I understand that your team, you know, as you admit students, you find out some more information about them. Of course, you know, you know their high school activities and their GPA and all of that, which, which, all of that's really strong for this incoming class. But you also find out some interesting, fun tidbits about these students. So Jeff, can you share some sort of behind the scenes, if you will, in depth information about the incoming class of freshman and transfer students? Yeah,
Jeff Mavros 34:35
I'm happy to I thought you might ask me this question, so I actually pulled a few of some of the my favorites from this last group. And you know, we've got things like one in four this incoming class had a 4.0 GPA or better in high school, right? And about one in every three is connected with a family legacy to Illinois State in some way. So those are the things that are that you kind of expect, and they're great to know, yeah, but then we try it as. Certain point in the process to turn this around and talk less about ourselves and more about them, and impress upon incoming students that of all the things that will influence them, their faculty, the staff on campus, I mean, all the ways that we try to program for them, they as peers, are going to have a huge impact on one another as well. And so we try to turn around and go, Okay, we've asked you for information about you, because we really want to get to know you, but we also want to now reflect this back at you and say, back at you and say, here's who you're coming in with and and we get fun things all the time. So here's some favorites. Their most streamed artist, I'm going to guess that that you know this answer, John, well, it's been Taylor Swift for three straight years, and there's no reason to go away from it. Taylor Swift. Swifties. A bunch of Swifties. They are. They continue to be Swifties. That's right. Favorite candy, anything Reese's dream vacation, it was Italy, and favorite food was pasta. So those things track,
we've got great study abroad experiences for those students
and not bad pasta in the dining center. I thinkwe ask on the application, among a list of fairly well known alumni who they might most like to dine with. And this year's answer was Craig Robinson, of course. And so I think The Office is still streaming on Netflix and all this. So Craig Robinson got took the high mark there.
John Twork 36:17
He just sang Take Me Out to the Ball game for us at ISUNight at Wrigley Field, that's right, proud, proud ISU alum, that's
Jeff Mavros 36:23
right, yep, he's good to us, for sure. Yeah, so, and then this one was a surprise to me, but the most streamed show, would youtake a guess at that?
John Twork 36:31
Oh, no, okay, well, you know Ted lasso would be great. Yeah, there's an ISU connection there, but, but no, go, go ahead.
Jeff Mavros 36:40
So Brendan hunt, not, not the top earner here on the most stream show, Grey's Anatomy, really, which I think is in its 824th season or something, but [older than Illinois State University].
I would not have expected that one, but that is the most streamed show. So there's some favorites, wow. You know, skills, things like Rubik's Cube in 30 seconds, in 20, you know, backflips, saying the alphabet backwards. Somebody said it at one of our events. They can, they can fold laundry super quick. And I thought now that you might get popular on on the residence hall floor, yeah, make some extra money. Yeah, assuming anybody's doing laundry, somebody's folding it, yeah, that's right, we're folding it now. I'm really setting the bar. Yeah, somebody said they can fall asleep anywhere again. I thought for college, that's that's a great can ride a unicycle. I thought that is very relevant here, yeah,
John Twork 37:29
probably more so here than any anywhere else, just about anywhere to stay. That's right, one of a couple of collegiate circuses out there. That's right, you might have some more jugglers and unicycle riders here. That's right, your average college campus, yeah, that's
Jeff Mavros 37:43
a fun one. And somebody memorized pi to 100 digits. And so it's those fun little quirky things that, you know, make it, make it kind of neat to learn more about these students. And you know, we've got, I'll share a couple fun facts, and then I'll digress. Here, a student told us: at work, an elderly woman mistook me for Prince Harry. Wow, I like that. Another student said I can only eat ice cream with tiny spoons. The shame here is that we don't do a whole lot of follow up, because I'd like to know the stories behind a few of these. But, and somebody said I was on the Today Show behind Will Ferrell, and that's that's kind of hard to beat,
John Twork 38:20
like in the in the window, I assume?
Jeff Mavros 38:22
I think, I think maybe they were a guest, but I am directly so again, hard to know without the follow up, yeah? Some pretty cool stuff out there. And this is what makes our job fun, is learning a little bit about these students.
John Twork 38:34
The tiny spoon would probably help with the ice cream headaches. Reduce those. You know,
Jeff Mavros 38:38
yeah, it's portion control,
John Twork 38:39
I think too. Yeah, yeah. Smart, smart students, as is indicative of that of that list. Jeff, thank you so much for coming in. Congratulations on another really successful year of admissions work, and we look forward to talking to you again. This was the second time, so we'll make it three in a row, hopefully next year with with more good news,
Jeff Mavros 38:58
I look forward to it. John, thanks so much.
John Twork 39:09
That was Illinois State University executive director of admissions and recruitment marketing, Jeff Mavros. if you or someone you know would like to apply to schedule a visit or apply to ISU visit, illinoisstate.edu/admissions, I'm John Twork. Thanks for listening to Redbird Buzz and be sure to tune in next time for more stories from beyond the quad.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai