DANVERS - Shannon Butts has been eyeing Suffolk University since the seventh grade, when she devoured several John Grisham novels and resolved to become a lawyer.
"A lot of my family went there and loved it," said the Danvers High School senior. "And they have a good undergraduate program in law."
On Wednesday, five years of anticipation was laid to rest in a matter of minutes as Butts was given a verbal acceptance to Suffolk during an "on-the-spot" interview at Danvers High School. Such interviews, which typically last 20 minutes and are conducted by visiting admissions officers, are becoming increasingly popular among area colleges and universities as a way to hook likely students.
"Part of this is to demystify what society makes into this big mystery about who gets in and what gets in," said John Hamel, director of admissions for Suffolk University. "... It's a message to students and parents that there's not a wizard behind the curtain. There is a real-life person that they can contact with questions."
Suffolk requires students to have a completed application, transcript, test scores, admissions essay and letters of reference at the start of the interview, which Hamel skims while talking with them about their interest in the Boston university.
"A lot of my family went there and loved it," said the Danvers High School senior. "And they have a good undergraduate program in law."
On Wednesday, five years of anticipation was laid to rest in a matter of minutes as Butts was given a verbal acceptance to Suffolk during an "on-the-spot" interview at Danvers High School. Such interviews, which typically last 20 minutes and are conducted by visiting admissions officers, are becoming increasingly popular among area colleges and universities as a way to hook likely students.
"Part of this is to demystify what society makes into this big mystery about who gets in and what gets in," said John Hamel, director of admissions for Suffolk University. "... It's a message to students and parents that there's not a wizard behind the curtain. There is a real-life person that they can contact with questions."
Suffolk requires students to have a completed application, transcript, test scores, admissions essay and letters of reference at the start of the interview, which Hamel skims while talking with them about their interest in the Boston university.
If they make the cut, he'll tell them to look for a conditional letter of acceptance in the mail in February. If not, he'll counsel them on what they can do to improve their chances of getting in.
To sweeten the deal, many schools waive their application fees, which can go as high as $50. That can add up to a lot of money for a high school senior applying to multiple schools.
"It really gives the kids a head start into the whole admissions process," said Cheryl Mastrogiovanni, a guidance counselor at Danvers High. In addition to Suffolk, Danvers has hosted on-the-spot interviews for Salem State College, North Shore Community College and UMass Boston.
"Typically it's schools we would send a lot of kids to anyway," Mastrogiovanni said. "I think most colleges wouldn't be able to do this, but where it benefits both the student and the college, it's to the benefit of everybody."
On-the-spot admissions are helpful for student peace of mind, said Robert Quist, director of guidance at Salem High. For those students who are the first in their family to go to college, he said, they make the process much easier to navigate.
"If they can get an acceptance early on, it takes away a lot of the stress as they go through senior year," he said. "They may apply to many other schools, as well, and many do, but ... to get an acceptance early is really a good thing."
North Shore Community College recently revamped its admissions procedures in order to engage more students. The college now hosts on-the-spot events, complete with food, financial aid presentations and counseling. It has identified 11 feeder high schools, including Beverly, Salem, Peabody and Danvers high schools, where it will host such events this year.
"We're trying to change the image of North Shore Community College," said Aaron Toleos, the college's Web administrator. "We're stepping out a bit more instead of waiting for people to come to us. We want to be first and foremost in their minds and show that we can relate to the high school students."
For guidance counselors like Mastrogiovanni, such measures are a godsend.
"Those were the students we're usually tracking down in May or June," she said. "Now they're ahead of everybody else."
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