Filed Under: President's Post, President's Newsletters, Featured Articles

We are working very hard every day to recruit the best and the brightest students to enroll at MTSU!

True Blue Tour

As the University welcomes students to campus for a successful Fall 2016, the admissions department is already looking forward to Fall 2017. The recruitment staff are on the road meeting with students in their communities. The annual True Blue Tour will highlight these fall recruitment activities. This year’s tour boasts 11 stops, an increase from last year, to include a visit to Louisville, Kentucky. University administrators, deans, student services staff, and student leaders, as well as area alumni, will be joining me to welcome prospective students and share information about the admissions process, financial aid, scholarships, and new academic programs. Students will have the opportunity to learn more about what it means to beTrue Blue!

Tour stops in Georgia, Alabama, and Kentucky will emphasize opportunities for out-of-state students to qualify for in-state tuition rate through participation in the Academic Common Market or the Regional Scholars program. Students who live in participating states and plan to pursue academic majors not offered in their home states, or students whose high schools are in a county within a 250-mile radius of MTSU and achieve qualifying college placement scores can be eligible to receive tuition savings.

Campus Tour Experience

As each academic year begins and we welcome our newest class of students, we also take time to review what worked well for our successful recruitment cycle. Surveys show that the most influential recruitment activity impacting a student’s enrollment decision is the campus visit. Since the start of Fall 2015, more than 15,000 students and guests have come through the admissions campus tour program. That is a remarkable increase of more than 1,000 prospective students and 2,000 additional guests visiting campus compared to the previous year. In order to make the visit more meaningful, the admissions department is enhancing its tour program to create a Tour Experience for each student visiting the University. Upgraded multimedia presentations, along with hands-on exploration, social media integration, and student-led walk-ing tours, will better enable prospective students and guests to take a closer look at MTSU.

New Director

It is my pleasure to “welcome home” Linda Olsen (’98) to serve as the undergraduate director of admissions and recruitment. She brings a background in high school counseling and college admissions and student services administration. Linda comes to MTSU from Eastern Florida State College after serving as director of admissions and advising for the past eight years. A doctoral candidate with the University of Central Florida, she has returned to Tennessee to support the enrollment and student growth of her alma mater. Leading an outstanding team of energetic recruitment staff, she stands ready to guide students through the admissions process toward successful degree completion.

Blue Bag Campaign

Students have reported feeling welcomed when visiting MTSU. In an effort to expand this sense of belonging, the admissions department is launching the True Blue Bag Campaign. Every campus visitor will be given a distinguishable blue bag upon check-in for their campus tour. With these bags, our campus visitors will be very visible, not only in tour groups, but also as they explore the campus on their own time.

Fall Preview Days are scheduled for upcoming Saturdays on Sept. 24 and Nov. 5. Each day begins at 8 a.m. in the Student Union Building.