As a double major in international relations and French and a member of Colgate University’s comedy club Charred Goosebeak, senior George Wilson keeps himself busy academically and socially. Despite his packed schedule, he has been working for the Office of Admission since the summer after his sophomore year. Starting as an admission ambassador, Wilson has worked his way up to a role as the senior intern for student management.
“Most of my day-to-day responsibilities are — if I have a desk shift — working the desk,” Wilson said. “I also make sure that every student within the ambassador program, approximately 55 of them, are handling their responsibilities as they need to.”
Wilson’s decision to work for the Office of Admission at Colgate was due in part to the positive experience he had working in admissions at his high school.
“I worked in the admission office of my high school, and I really enjoyed that work,” Wilson said. “I loved sort of connecting with prospective students who were in a very sort of vulnerable and uncertain time and offering them the same sort of guidance that I received when I was in their position.”
Working at Colgate’s admission office, Wilson has felt a similar satisfaction from connecting with potential Colgate applicants.
“I really love taking a kid out on a tour, and the kid is interested in, for example, international relations, which is what I study, and then I’m able to really talk to them about what Colgate can offer,” Wilson said. “What do they want to get out of a college experience? And then, from those pieces of information, we get to see whether Colgate is the right place for them.”
Wilson pointed out that he doesn’t have to have much — or even anything — in common with the people on his tours. He often takes his experience from performing with Charred Goosebeak to develop strong interpersonal skills as an admission ambassador.
“I’ve always viewed a similarity between performing in a sketch comedy show and looking at somebody who I’ve never met before, having to walk in with a level of positivity and extraversion to really make an effort to connect with them, and make the most out of the 45-minute tour that we have together,” Wilson said.
While Wilson now spends the majority of his time as an intern working in the office with his colleagues rather than on campus tours with prospective students, he enjoys their company just as much.
“Another big reason why I stay is, frankly, the people who I work with,” Wilson said. “I really, really love the members of the admission office. They’re not taxing, ridiculous bosses by any means. I worked there for two summers now, and they’ve always treated me with so much kindness and so much respect. Particularly, my most recent direct supervisor, Keaton Hain, who has unfortunately left as of this semester — he was not just my boss for two years but also a really big mentor figure in my life.”
The culture at the Office of Admission, according to Wilson, is one of support and respect. It is incredibly fun while still being a professional environment — perfect for building transferable skills.
“I’ve always loved the camaraderie that’s formed between the ambassadors,” Wilson said. “It’s especially during the summers when you all are just sort of spending a ton of time together. You will end up getting a lot of meals together and joining the summer volleyball league.”
As Wilson begins his final semester at Colgate, he is busy preparing for post-graduate plans and working to build connections with people in his industry. Although this period of a college student’s life can be overwhelmingly stressful, Wilson has been able to overcome some of the anxieties of interviews and networking by pulling from his experience in the admission office.
“It can feel weird reaching out to somebody you’ve never met with whom you only have a tenuous connection. Like, you went to the same school together, but you have nothing else in common,” Wilson said. “But after I’ve given well over 300 tours at this point in my life, and I just feel like I don’t have that same nervousness. It’s not as though the nervousness is gone, because the nervousness is never totally gone — what changes is your ability to act despite being nervous.”
Many Colgate students may remember how the Office of Admission impacted their experience with Colgate during their senior year of high school. However, student admission ambassadors and interns like Wilson not only recall what the admission office has done for them, but also what they have been able to contribute to the office and to the future Colgate students who are still feeling unsure of their plans after high school.
