Admissions Counselor

UMass Amherst; Town of Amherst (NY); Hybrid; USD 55,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

UMass Amherst is seeking an Admissions Counselor in the School of Public Policy in Amherst, MA. The role supports the multi-deadline graduate application process and pre-enrollment activities, aiming to convert applicants into enrolled students.

Responsibilities include advising on admissions and financial aid, maintaining tracking data, coordinating with university offices, and guiding international visa documents.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree with 1 year administrative experience.
• Strong interpersonal communication with diverse stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and in a team under pressure.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Strong writing skills for student messaging and reporting.
• Ability to collect data from multiple sources and generate reports.

Responsibilities

• Supports the student application completion process and serves as the admission and financial aid advisor for prospective and newly accepted students.
• Maintains admission process tracking data and collaborates with partners to provide student services during the pre-enrollment lifecycle.
• Acts as an interface between university offices to facilitate services and enrollment.
• Reviews documents for completeness and follows up on required items.
• Manages admissions decisions with established criteria and coordinates with committees.
• Tracks offers and deposits to optimize enrollment yield and communicates status to applicants.
• Facilitates visa document issuance for international students.
• Trains and supervises student staff and supports yield events.
• Supports special projects and back-up coverage as needed.

Skills

Interpersonal communication

Written communication

Project coordination

Team collaboration

Time management

Education

Bachelor's Degree and 1 year of administrative experience

Tools

CRM software

Databases/Spreadsheets

Job description

Title

Admissions Counselor

Executive Area

Academic Affairs

College/School/MBU

Social & Behavioral Sciences

Department

School of Public Policy

Work Location

Amherst

Schedule

Full Time

Work Arrangement

Hybrid

Job Summary

The School of Public Policy's (SPP) Admissions Counselor supports all aspects of the multi-deadline application and pre-enrollment processes for the School's graduate programs, supporting the conversion of domestic and international applicants to enrolled students.

Essential Functions

Supports the student application completion process and serves as the admission and financial aid advisor for prospective and newly accepted students. Maintains admission process tracking data and works with partners to provide student services and communications during the pre-enrollment lifecycle of a student.

Serves as an interface between multiple university offices to provide student services that leads to a high rate of application completion and enrollment conversion.

Creates and maintains admissions procedures for the graduate programs. Evaluates domestic and international students' academic records including foreign transcript review. Reviews admission documents for completeness. Follows up regularly with the applicants on required documents for timely completion of the application.

Manages application triage and renders admissions decisions when appropriate based on established criteria or coordinates with admission committees for review and decisions about admissions and financial aid support to applicants.

Tracks and manages admissions offers and deposits to optimize established enrollment yield goals. Facilitates student record creation and communicates application status and decisions.

Facilitates visa document issuance to international students.

Trains and supervises student staff. Supports and participates in admissions and yield related events as required.

Other Functions

Supports special projects based on the needs of the School and other duties as assigned by supervisors.

Serves in a back-up role for other School staff as appropriate and needed.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree and 1 year of administrative experience.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills with the ability to create and maintain harmonious relationships with a diverse population of staff, faculty, students and off-campus constituents and work both independently and to be part of an effective team.
• Flexibility to work with initiative and willingness to take on a variety of tasks related to the successful operation and administration of the unit. Ability to work effectively under pressure and varying situations with independence, competent judgment and discretion.
• Extensive organizational skills and attention to detail with the ability to complete assignments in a timely manner, balancing the demands of concurrent and potentially competing projects.
• Excellent writing skills with the ability to effectively communicate critical messaging to a student audience.
• Ability to collect data from multiple sources and create new reports that add value to program goals. Excellent computer usage skills including email, spreadsheets (including formulas), word processing, and databases.
• Ability to investigate a situation, seek out additional information, and resolve discrepancies. Ability to think through problems, organize information, identify key factors and underlying causes to generate solutions.
• Ability to read, understand, apply and explain rules, regulations and policies/procedures related to duties. Ability to understand and follow complex oral and written instructions and create effective and efficient work processes. Ability to exercise sound judgment and maintain confidentiality.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in higher education.
• Experience in admissions and application processing.
• Familiarity with international academic documents.
• Customer service experience.
• Experience working CRM application management process.

Working Conditions

Work is performed in a standard office or indoor university environment and involves minimal physical exertion.

Work Schedule and Work Arrangement

Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Required to work some nights and weekends.

This position has the opportunity for a hybrid work schedule, which is defined by the University as an arrangement where an employee's work is regularly performed at a location other than the campus workspace for a portion of the week. As this position falls within the Professional Staff Union, it is subject to the terms and conditions of the Professional Staff Union collective bargaining agreement.

Salary Information

Pay Grade: PSSAP Grade 25

This position will remain open for the time period required by any applicable collective bargaining agreement and will continue until a suitable candidate pool is identified. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to apply early.