Enrollment Insights Podcast #58 – Milyon Trulove and Rethinking Admissions to Better Serve Students and Build Community

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In this episode:

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you’ll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students and families, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, you will hear from Milyon Trulove. Milyon is the Vice President and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Reed College. His work in admissions started as a student worker during his time at St. Olaf College. Diving into enrollment leadership early, he started in the profession as the director of full-time MBA admissions at the University of St. Thomas followed by a Director of Admissions position at Hamline University and culminating in the position of Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid before moving west to Reed.

Most importantly, and you’ll hear this in our discussion, Milyon always tries to consider the student’s perspective. If the college is producing information, he wants to ensure that students are able to understand it and benefit from it. He is passionate about fairness and about advocating for those who cannot do so for themselves, ideals that are invaluable in his role as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

0:00 – Introduction
1:19 – Say no to copy-paste policies
3:33 – There’s not enough true innovation in enrollment management
4:05 – How to improve brainstorming by not brainstorming
5:55 – Reframing the admission process using context
9:08 – How the consideration of application materials has changed, and why it’s building a better community
16:38 – “The ACT or SAT never stopped us from saying ‘yes’ to anyone.” – Reviewing applications looking for reasons to say yes rather than no
20:00 – Rethinking policies for the future and how math can predict success
26:44 – Standardizing a qualitative review with a national draw
31:02 – Every reader has a voice – “It’s your job to speak up.”
33:55 – Barriers for staff preventing them from doing their best work and the 3 year commitment rule
37:04 – We’re in good hands with young staff, they’re deeply empathetic
39:47 – The power of consortiums for supporting each other
42:50 – Closing thoughts