For many students at Colgate University, an admissions tour is their first taste of the University that will one day become their alma mater. That’s why if you ask anyone — from the Class of 2027 to the incoming Class of 2029 — if they know junior Jebbie Bauer, people across the entire range of academic departments and social groups will likely have fond memories of him. Bauer, a double major in Russian and Eurasian studies and international relations, has been working with the Office of Admission almost year-round since the summer following his first year at Colgate. There, he has given countless tours to prospective students — some of whom are now enrolled.
“Right now, I’m doing three tours a week, but over the summer you would do eleven,” Bauer said. “Outside of tours, if you’re just an admission ambassador, you’re probably going to be doing student outreach. So I’ve done Colgate interviews before with prospective students, and I’ve been on a Contact a Current Student Page, so I would get emails from prospective students.”
Whether it’s in-person or over email, Bauer and his colleagues are often the first point of contact for prospective and incoming students. He explained that although many questions about admissions have simple answers, the range of people that apply to Colgate means that every day on the job brings interesting new connections and experiences.
“It ends up that a lot of people who email are international students who might be having trouble with the website, so you’ll be looking at transcripts from all over the world. I’ve seen Russian transcripts and Ghanaian transcripts before,” Bauer said.
In fact, many of the experiences Bauer has had with admissions fit perfectly in the wheelhouse of someone interested in international relations. He explained that even beyond interacting with individual students from all over the world, this job has been instrumental in his understanding of and engagement with the world on an international scale.
“They’ve had an international counselor day both summers when I’ve been up here, where 60 or so counselors are on a trip in a region just going to a bunch of schools. So people from Kazakhstan, China, Japan — all over the place — will come and sit down with you and ask a bunch of questions,” Bauer said.
Bauer explained that working in the Office of Admission has broadened his view of opportunities available at Colgate.
“You also get very educated on what Colgate has to offer, which has allowed me to take advantage of a lot of more niche opportunities,” Bauer said. “I’ve gone on a lot of trips that I’ve found out how to get the resources for just by being in admissions.”
In addition to these wide ranging experiences, Bauer explained that working in admissions has also been engaging on a local level.
“What sets Colgate tours apart from most other places, especially big schools like Cornell University and other state schools, is that we do much smaller groups, and we tend to pair them geographically,” Bauer said. “So, if you’re from New Jersey, you’ll tend to take New Jersey people around; if you’re from Texas, you’ll take Texans around. And you usually take one family, maybe two families,” Bauer said. “The smaller group setting means it’s much more of a conversation than me just taking a massive group around and speaking into a void.”
Bauer’s passion and ability to make personal connections have given him the chance to see firsthand the effect that his work with admissions has on prospective students.
“I really believe in this school, and I like to think it hopefully has a positive effect on them,” Bauer said. “I’ve literally been eating breakfast in my hometown, and someone will come up to me and say, ‘You were my tour guide, and I just got into Colgate.’ That’s really, really fun.”
