Insider Lingo

Finally back in the office! Even the dog was sick of me being at home, yesterday she went back into the basement and put herself into her kennel to sleep of her own accord rather than her bed in the living room. (She normally never goes there without prompting unless she has done something bad.)

Anyway- I just read a summary of the new Noel Levitz Class of 2009 E Expectations that they do each year to determine how internet marketing is affecting current high school seniors in their search for a college. (This is one of those really nerdy publications I look forward to reading and comparing to the previous year...)

One of their suggestions was not to use "Inside Lingo" when talking to students. I was reminded of this when at the college I previously worked for I would often hear admissions representatives refer to various programs/segements of the school by initials... "Oh, you're interested in CJ but you're not sure about your FA?" (CJ= Criminal Justice, FA=Financial Aid). The best one though was when I heard one of the receptionists answer the phone right after I started working there- when she was asked to speak with an admissions rep, she asked "An inside rep?" to which she got the response "Well, yes one that is inside would be preferable... do you have admissions reps outside?" Inside Admissions was anyone dealing with students in the immediate locale of the school who could come in to talk about the school rather than via phone... but she didn't really know how to explain this so she told him "We have inside, national or high school admissions, which do you want"... which really ticked the person off because they had no clue what the definitions of each were.

Occasionally I notice there is a difference between schools as well as to how they refer to prospective students... and when I cross lingo between schools they get confused too.

So moral of the story... know who you're talking to and speak their language. It's not fun to be on the receiving end of someone not making a whole lot of sense. Students, any experience with having no clue what your admissions person is talking about?