8/3/2019 Ironside Curry Open House

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By Nick Ironside and Andrew Blom

The work never stops for the Curry admissions staff.

Year in and year out, the college faces tremendous

competitive challenges. Curry is a small, non-selective

liberal arts college located in New England, making it the

most common type of school in the area. Moreover, the

vast majority of traditional undergraduates here (about

67 percent) are from high schools in Massachusetts,

meaning the admissions staff is often working to recruit

from a limited pool of students.

If all that wasn’t hard enough, approximately 35

 percent of Curry freshmen don’t return to the college for 

and money from housing and fees. Plus, transfer students

don’t come close to making up the difference, according

to the college.

As a result, “we recruit 12 months out of the year,”

said Dean of Admissions Jane Fidler.

Part of the recruitment effort

includes two open houses each

fall, in October and November.

Thousands of mostly high

school students and their 

families come to campus to see

what the college has to offer.

“We have found that once

we are able to get prospective

students on campus, those

students enroll at a much higher 

rate than students who never 

visit the campus,” said Fidler.This fall, 934 students visited

Curry during the two open

houses; 514 in October and

420 in November. But those

numbers tell only a small part

of the story. In a typical year,

approximately 5,500 students

apply to the college, and about

69 percent are accepted, according to Fidler. Of those,

around 700 students enroll.

Curry goes all-out to impress during its open houses.

Faculty were required to attend at least one of the events,

to talk with prospective students; the student-run radio

station, WMLN, broadcasted live outside of the Student

Center; the college brought in Fenway Park tour buses

to transport students and their family across campus;

free food and iced frappuccinos were widely available;

 beauty of Curry’s wooded campus.

“This feels real,” said Omolara Oshodi, a senior 

at Mount St. Joseph Academy in Boston, during the

 November open house.

Senior communication major Mark Alexander said his

experience touring Curry more or less mirrored what the

college actually provides. “We’re the real deal,” he said,

adding that he also looked at Wheaton and Johnson and

Wales. “We give our best.”

When Alexander was a high school senior touring

Curry, he was talking to a communication professor when President Ken Quigley came up and joined the

conversation. “The last colleges didn’t have that,” he

adds. “That’s what sold me!”

For open houses, Curry’s Student Center gymnasium

is transformed into an academic fair, with each

generally smiling professors. However, the academic

fair atmosphere had a downside. Fidler said a few

students were unhappy with the crowded gym because

they were unable to have meaningful one-on-one

conversations with faculty. “It’s virtually impossible

to have a conversation with every family and student,

which is what I’d like to do,” said Fidler.

To reach out to each student on an individual level,Curry began offering “breakout sessions,” where

 

group sessions during the open houses. In November,

there were breakout sessions for individual majors as

study abroad and career services sessions, too.

Caitlin Connall, a senior at the Baltimore (Md.) Lab

School, visited Curry with her dad, Desmond. She said

she was impressed with the college and preferred Curry’s

small class sizes, particularly compared to some of the

other schools she’s looking at, such as Boston College and

Boston University. “I don’t want to be the 32nd person in

Although the Curry admissions staff attends

college fairs throughout the year to reach potentially

interested students, an increasing number of students

are discovering Curry on their own. Fidler said the

majority of students at this year’s open houses found

out about the events by visiting Curry’s Web site, asopposed to being recruited at their high schools or 

hearing from friends.

Ultimately, however, the success of the open houses

will be determined by the number of students who apply

for admissions to the college. In the spring semester,

Curry holds special open house events for students who

were accepted, with the goal of closing the deal. That’s

not easy for a variety of reasons, including the highnumber of colleges Curry competes with. Among public

colleges, the list includes UMass-Dartmouth, UMass-

Amherst and Bridgewater State. Among private schools,

Endicott College (Beverly, Mass.), Regis College

(Waltham, Mass.) and Lasell College (Newton, Mass.)

are among Curry’s many competitors.

“If a student wants to be in a city, we’re not a city,”

said Fidler. “There’s nothing we can really do about

that.”

Similarly, there’s little the admissions department can

do about the cost of a Curry education: $46,005 for a

campus resident, including fees. If a student chooses

to be in PAL, it’s an additional $6,550. Although

approximately 70 percent of Curry students receive

students look at the quality of academic programs instead

of focusing on the price.

 Not everyone at the November open house was sold.

The college “didn’t have that wow factor, and the

tuition is a lot more than other schools,” said David

Thibodeau, who visited Curry in November with his

daughter, Kaitlin, and wife, Susan. “For that much

money, we wanted more. When I walked into the library,

I wasn’t sure it was even a library!”

For now, Fidler and her staff are eagerly awaiting

admissions applications. According to a survey Curry

conducted following the October open house, 95 percent

of respondents said they were now more likely to apply

for admission.Fidler beamed while talking about that survey. “Those

are some good numbers!”

DECEMBER 2011 THE CURRIER TIMES 5

as they gathered information and talked to faculty about Curry’s various programs.

In Search of StudentsCurry’s admissions staff works year-round to recuitapplicants; 934 students attend fall open houses

“It didn’t have that ‘wow’ factor, and the

tuition is a lot more than other schools....

When I walked into the library, I wasn’t

sure it was even a library!” — Davidibodeau

 

Kaitlin Thibodeau, of Hartford, Conn., with parents

David and Susan.

John Belcher, left, of Belmont, Mass., and Connor Trulli, of

North Reading, Mass.

On wishing that Curry had fraternities:

“Studying is good, but you want to mix it up.”

— Connor Trulli 

Christopher Perkins, of Mattapan, Mass.

“My mom said it was a good school, but I

didn’t believe her until now. Ten out of ten!”— Christopher Perkins

Caitlin Connall, of Columbia, Md., with father Desmond.

On liking the low student-to-faculty ratio at Curry,compared to other schools, such as BC and BU:

“I don’t want to be the 32nd person in the

back row waving, ‘help me!’ ”— Caitlin Connall

 

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