Almost every day, a representative from one college visits Uni. Their goal is to give students information about their school so they can make an informed decision, hopefully to enroll there.

Kirby Stockwell, a representative from Monmouth College, said that sometimes students think of the college rep as a “gatekeeper” who screens out the unworthy, which isn’t accurate. Stockwell said that college reps just want to introduce interested students to the college, which needs students just as much as students need colleges.

Like most college reps, Stockwell is responsible for a particular area of the country. Within that area, reps typically visit most of the schools there. Besides Uni, this year Stockwell visited Central, Centennial, STM, UHS, Fisher, Bloomington, and GCMS High School.

Stockwell said that it would take a lot to have her not visit a school, because at every school there are “always students who are achieving things.”

Monmouth College visits attract one to four people at each school. That’s typical for small colleges and consistent with its applicant pool of 2,657 people. For comparison, Vanderbilt had 32,442 applicants, and their visit to Uni had 21 in attendance.

Director of College Counseling Lisa Micele said that, especially at Uni, fewer people tend to come to college rep visits. One major reason is that college reps come during what would otherwise be free time, while at other schools students are excused from class to go.

Micele said going to college rep visits is a good idea, even though it would cut into free time. Micele said that juniors should go to many visits to get a sense of what they want in a school, and seniors should go to meetings for schools they plan to apply to or might be interested in. After all, the representative is often someone who will be involved in reading your application.

Stockwell said that showing maturity to college reps is important. Her advice for students is to “always be very kind, always be present, and always check your email.” But the first step to showing a college that you’re interested is to go to the visit.