The true root of my anxiety about starting my Admissions career off at Plymouth State rather than at my alma mater was just that – it’s Plymouth State and not my alma mater. I know how to give Admissions presentations and recalculate GPA’s, and I’ll eventually figure out how to review an application; but learning a whole new school takes years. It took me all 4 years at Fitchburg State to know as much as I do, and obviously I had the advantage of having actually been through it all. There was almost nothing about Fitchburg that a prospective student or their mom could ask me that I didn’t have an answer to.
I went from knowing everything about everything to knowing nothing about anything.
And how do you even begin to justify trying to sell a school that you didn’t go to? Why would I tell you to come here when I didn’t even do it? For a second it made me feel like a sleazy car salesman – until I realized, hey, my alma mater isn’t the only good school out there. The parallels between Plymouth State and my now alma mater, Fitchburg State, are actually surprising; if we’re going to be really literal about it, both schools have a Pearl Street on campus and a building called Russell. Both schools feature old, charming brick buildings with ivy stretching all across them. Both have a place commonly referred to as the Hub. They also share two exact statistics: average class size of 21 and student to faculty ratio of 16:1.
A really cool congruence is the history of the two universities – both have roots as state normal schools, meaning that they were teacher training schools, and became state colleges on their way to their current statuses as state universities. Both universities maintain a strong foothold in education, and offer several variations of education as one of the most popular majors.
As interesting as all of that is, I have to go even deeper to find the real connection. In talking with some student tour guides, I found it – both Plymouth and Fitchburg are hubs for an involved, student-focused atmosphere that truly sets you up to grow tremendously and, eventually, launch into your chosen career. The investment that the faculty, staff and students have here in Plymouth is as obvious to me in the three weeks I’ve been here as it was at Fitchburg. These places mean something to so many people, and it’s truly remarkable that a campus where you where you spend only 4 years could possibly have an impact on the rest of your life. But it does.
The most important similarity that my new home at Plymouth State and my roots at Fitchburg State share is that they both have the kind of power to make you cherish them for long after you’ve gone. It’s not often that the guys trimming the hedges or the university president stops and says hi to you when you walk by – and it’s even less often that they both do. I’ve taken everything that I loved and appreciated about Fitchburg State and looked for it here at Plymouth. So far, the small classes, the friendliness, the activity, the career opportunities, the good coffee and secret hiking spots have all been here.
Admissions is almost like a marketing job, and we’re particular about how we represent our university. But here’s the common misconception: what we’re “selling” you is not a grassy quad or a seat in a lecture hall; we’re offering you 4 years of unrestricted wiggle room to grow, to screw up a lot and ultimately to figure out what your purpose is in this world. The way that you connect the dots between the university that you work for and the one you graduated from is by remembering that common denominator, and looking for it in everything. For me, it's been the hilarious Plymouth State cook who loves to make balloon hats at Orientation and the handmade sign on my office door when I came in on my very first day. The connections are there - you just have to pay attention.
