Hundreds of students from across the country attended Seton Hall’s undergraduate open house event on Feb. 19, according to the senior vice president of enrollment management.
Sr. Vice President of Enrollment Management, Dr. Alyssa McCloud, said approximately 3,000 people attended the event with 991 of the attendees being students. Students and family members from 38 states attended the event, according to McCloud. She added that amongst the attending students were those who were admitted to the University and high school juniors who were in the process of searching for colleges.
“The event was very well received and prospective students really enjoyed getting to know SHU,” she said. “It always gives me such a sense of pride to see so many students from across the country considering Seton Hall and choosing to spend the day getting to know us.”
McCloud said that 51% out of the 1,929 who registered attended the event, adding that “it is very typical” for 50% of those registered to attend these events. She added that the number of attendees was approximately equal to open house events before the pandemic.
“During the pandemic many of our events were virtual,” she said, “and when we offered in-person events, they were typically smaller.”
McCloud praised faculty and staff members, especially the Blue Crew tour guides who “are wonderful representatives of our Pirate Pride.”
“This event brings the entire community together, and I always feel so lucky to have such amazing support from faculty and staff across campus who give their time to help these students and help them get to see SHU firsthand,” she said.
Rubi Shah, a Philadelphia student who was admitted to Seton Hall, said she was impressed with the campus and the opportunities it offers both in academics and extracurriculars.
“I want to go to law school and be a lawyer for international relations and diplomacy, and this school is the only school that really has that, so I think that's a really contributing factor,” Shah said. “I think that it has exactly what I'm looking for academically, and I'm also a dancer so they have a dance team and yeah I think so far from what I've seen that it's pretty good stuff.”
Ashley Benson, a high school senior from Kansas, praised the event for being “really well put together.”
“I was really surprised by the amount of thought and effort that went into all the activities that they planned today and how organized everything was,” she said. “I can't say I ever had that on a college tour before.”
She added that her favorite part of the event was attending an academic session on her field of interest, which was political science.
“It was really nice being able to hear from a professor about the classes and opportunities and especially hearing from a student at the school about what I would be able to do and what’s available to me,” Benson said.
Jadeth Joissim, a high school senior who was admitted to Seton Hall, said she liked the atmosphere of the University and how “comfortable” she felt when meeting faculty and staff members at the event.
“I really liked it, it felt really comfortable,” Joissim said. “Everybody was really nice and welcoming. They were really responsive to my questions and concerns.”
She added that she liked how informative it was to hear from professors and students about her fields of interest, which were English literature and communications.
“I think the part that called my attention was just actually being in the classroom with everybody else with the professor and some upperclassmen talking to us and them telling us about their experiences and the learning opportunities they’re getting,” she said. “Everybody was really friendly and it was really informative so I liked that.”
Joissim said that Seton Hall is “definitely higher” on her list of potential universities after attending the open house.
“Before, I didn't really think about it much,” she said. “I just applied just to have it as an option, but now it's definitely a higher ranking for me.”
Visit days were hosted Monday and Tuesday for those who could not attend the open house event on Sunday, according to McCloud. She said these visit days consisted of “a mini open house with an information session, student panel, tours and some interest tables.”
“These two days will bring an additional 350 students, each with a guest or two, to campus,” McCloud said. “Which means in these three days, the Office of Admissions has welcomed over 4,000 visitors to campus.”
Rachel Suazo can be reached at rachel.suazo@student.shu.edu.
