The Three Rs of Admission
By Jake Chapline

Thousands of teenage voices merge in a low roar that rolls across the halls of the Bayside Exposition Center. In a booth near the back—one of about 380 booths staffed by admission representatives from colleges and universities across the country—Dan Monahan ignores the chaos surging around him. His attention is focused on several high schoolers pausing to leaf through a Saint Anselm viewbook and ask a few questions.

The Boston National College Fair will be attended by more than 10,000 students, mostly juniors, from high schools throughout Greater Boston. Monahan, associate director of admission at Saint Anselm, wants to talk to as many as he can in nine intense hours. A former Holy Cross football lineman, he looms over the table like an amiable grizzly bear—if you can picture a grizzly with a neat goatee and a dapper blue suit—patiently responding to questions he’ll hear dozens of times: "How big is Saint Anselm?" "Does it offer the major I want?" "What SAT scores do I need to get in?" "Do I have to be Catholic to go there?"

Saint Anselm occupies a booth next to James Madison University and across from the New England Culinary Institute. Smiling admission reps are handing out brochures, trying to engage students in conversation while collecting names and contact information.

"National fairs aren’t very personal," Monahan observes as he sips from a water bottle during a lull in the rush. "For many students, this is the very first step in their college search. There isn’t time to really answer questions in depth, but we encourage every student who stops at our table to visit the campus and to fill out an information card."

Before the Boston fair ends, Monahan and two Saint Anselm colleagues will talk to almost 700 students and collect more than 400 cards. Names and addresses will be added to the admission data base, triggering a stream of correspondence, all designed to persuade the students to apply to Saint Anselm and, if accepted, to enroll.

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