Undergrad Admissions – The Basics

My name is Aleks, and I have spent the past few weeks interning for Temple’s Undergraduate Admissions department. My main task is to design and create email messages that are sent to students looking to enroll at Temple University, a total audience of roughly 6,000 people per message. Since these messages are heavily viewed, they undergo a LOT of scrutiny from my supervisor as well as her bosses. Despite the pressure, I really enjoyed the work I’ve done throughout the summer. My next post will go a bit further into that.

My typical day consists of a large coffee and sitting down behind a computer for a few hours. During this time, I research information about Temple to use in informational pieces (and to double check what we already have is correct). After this internship, I can say in full confidence that I know the Temple website like the back of my hand.

I also looked into what other universities were sending – both via email and in direct mail pieces. This gave me an idea of what other local colleges are doing, letting me better target our audience. I also looked into email marketing as a whole – the good and the bad – pulling ideas, mixing and matching, and trying new layouts myself. The majority of the technical work in the Adobe Creative Suite was self-taught, allowing me to continue to refine the basics while experimenting with new ideas.

As a whole, the experience was overwhelmingly positive. While the criticisms of my work was irksome (I know, I know – don’t take it so personally…), I have definitely grown from the experience, both in technical skills and in my ability to communicate with those whose instructions were often sketchy. It was an excellent opportunity to learn at my own pace, and I consider having my work seen my so many a great privilege. Next post, I will discuss more about my work assignments and (if I can get permission to post them) post a couple of my favorites.