THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER 2ND ANNUAL ISAN HOMECOMING MEETING Saturday October 21st, 2006

Introductions ISAN LEADERSHIP TEAM Christabel Dadzie ’04 (Retention) Q Imam ’91 (Advisory Board) Sohil Parekh ’99 (Career Development) Nikita Sharma ’01 (Career Development) Anant Padmanabhan ’99 (Admissions)

Retention Initiative - Objectives Objectives -To serve as another resource to encourage students to complete their Wooster Career -To work with the College Administration in maintaining at least a 7% target of retention -To identify and support alternative financial options for students

Retention Initiative-Achievements So, what have we done so far? -Support WAB Hardship Fund Initiative -Send Alumni reminders for giving -Support retention issues in the diversity committee of the College -International Edition of Wooster Magazine

Three objectives for the initiative: –Co-ordinate international alumni outreach to supplement efforts by Jon Edwards and the admissions office –Suggest alumni-focused marketing strategies for attracting international students –Communicate profile of the incoming class to international alumni ADMISSIONS INITIATIVE – Objectives

So, what have we done so far? –In April, s to 21 admitted students –13 alumni volunteered to send s –Response of alumni was overwhelming; heartfelt letters –6 students accepted the admissions offer –Of course, we don’t know how much our s helped but we hope it was a factor in persuading students to come to Wooster ADMISSIONS INITIATIVE – Achievements

Immediate goal –Admissions brochure with alumni profiles highlighting the idea of “outcomes” i.e. career paths, graduate school, financial aid/loans Medium-term goal – s to prospective/admitted students for next year’s class Long-term goal –Help/formalize the international alumni admissions representative program, along the lines of the domestic program ADMISSIONS INITIATIVE – Next Steps

CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Objective Three main objective: Awareness: To create a heightened awareness about career planning among international students. Networking: To promote Networking between current students and alumni and within the alumni community Preparedness: To help students be better prepared to face some of the logistical, practical and emotional changes they will encounter as they move away from Wooster and enter the “working world”

CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Achievements What have we done so far? 1) LinkedIn Encouraged students to start developing their professional and personal networks via tools like LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a free professional networking website. To Join ISAN on LinkedIn: p 65 Members so far

CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Achievements 2) Career Services Encouraged students to exhaustively utilize all the tools and resources provided by Career Services. Working with the office of Career Services so that we complement their efforts

3) COSMOS Articles Monthly Articles in COSMOS covering various topics from Career Paths to Alumni Profiles Topics covered thus far: Management Consulting, How I got my First Job and Graduate School Volunteers Needed: We want to present the views and experiences of the collective body of International Alumni CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Achievements

International Student Mentorship Program: Matches current international students with international alumni mentors. GOALS: Networking: To get students to start networking with alumni and building their personal and professional network of contacts early on. Planning: To get students to start planning their job search/graduate school admission early on. Link: To offer students a direct line to the outside world. A mentor could offer personal insights on a variety of issues such as, a particular career path, life in a big city, how to buy a car and graduate school. CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Achievements

International Alumni Mentorship Continued…. As of today we have 20 alumni and 21 students signed up for the International Student Alumni Mentorship Program. We have been able to set up 19 mentor-mentee pairs. Need alumni with expertise in Psychology, Political Science, Neuroscience, Chemistry or Biology CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE - Achievements

Look Ahead…. Alumni representatives in cities around the U.S…. and the world Speakers on campus Online resume book International Publications Questions & Suggestions: