“We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.” – Blake, Glengarry Glen Ross

If there’s anything I hate in a school (or anything else for that matter), it’s pushy salespeople.  The admissions person is the first impression that the school gets to make, and I always take it as a serious red flag when their choice in that is someone who doesn’t treat me with respect.

Don’t get me wrong – I understand that many schools, and not just the for-profit ones, live or die by the tuition they collect and that recruiting new students has to be a priority.  That’s fine.  It’s when admissions people don’t give me straight answers, or keep contacting me when I’ve made it clear that I don’t want them to do so that I get vexed.

Since I’ve seen that negative behavior in quite a few schools, I have to admit that I was pretty apprehensive when I first contacted A.T. Still University.  I only wanted to ask a few questions, and see whether their program would be able to accommodate someone with my interests, and I thought to myself, “Here we go, I bet I find something that’s a deal breaker, and then they won’t leave me alone.”  

I couldn’t have been more wrong.  I actually both called them and emailed them on the same day, and from that somehow ended up on two different admission counselors’ lists, José Sandoval and Kevin Glenn, and both of them were helpful, straightforward, and laid back.  It took me a few weeks from the time that I first contacted them to the time that I really made the decision to apply, and not once were they intrusive or out of their place.  There was a time when I hadn’t moved forward on my application, and one gave me a call to ask whether there was anything more I needed.  I said no, adding that I was still just thinking.  He said that was fine and that I was welcome to give him a call if I needed any more information to help me decide.

And that was it.  No pressure, no fake deadline, no sales pitch, just a genuine-sounding interest in providing me the information I needed to help me make up my mind whether this school and this program would meet my needs.  And this was a big part of what won me over – other schools take note!

Next, how do you get textbooks when you hate to spend money?