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Eagle for a Day invites prospective transfers to the University of North Texas to engage with staff and their peers before applying to the institution.
University of North Texas
Starting college can be a scary transition for many students, including transfers. To help ease student anxieties and encourage transfer students to plug in to campus, the University of North Texas created Eagle for a Day.
The event invites prospective transfers to meet with campus stakeholders and incentivizes them to commit with waivers for application and orientation fees.
“I think any student today wants to know what it’s like to be on campus, whether they’re looking for pictures or videos of what it’s like to be on the campus—actually physically being here helps change a lot of students’ perspectives of what it’s like on our campus,” explains Stephanie Brown, executive director of orientation and transition programs. “If we’re able to give them that information, give them that feeling even before they go through the orientation process, I think it helps solidify their decision to transfer.”
Leaving the nest: Eagle for a Day is an all-day event, from around 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., hosted each fall and spring term. Throughout the day, students who are interested in applying to transfer interact with various campus stakeholders, including staff from the transfer center, financial aid, advising and admissions, as well as other students who have successfully transferred to UNT.
One special activity is a mock lecture in which Eagles sit in on a large lecture-style class, hosted by a transfer-supportive faculty member, and participate like typical UNT students. Transfers can also hear from the UNT transfer ambassadors firsthand during the event, providing a peer perspective on life at the university.
The event concludes with an opportunity for students to apply to UNT at an application station.
Birds of a feather: UNT also hosts a preview day and an orientation experience for students interested in a campus visit or resources in general, but Eagle for a Day is different because it’s a small cohort experience in which participants live as a UNT student for eight hours or so, Brown explains.
Prospective students are introduced to various offices around campus during Eagle for a Day.
The University of North Texas
“It helps make a big university feel small, and I think that that’s key when you’re looking at students that are on the fence about if they want to transition or transfer to your institution,” Brown says.
There can be an assumption that transfer students are nontraditional learners with their own families and jobs, but in recent years, UNT leaders have seen more transfers bringing their support systems to Eagle for a Day, showing how the demographics of transfers and their desire for support has changed.
“The [goal] of the event is getting them comfortable with the university. We want to tell them about the great things we offer here,” Brown says.
Helping transfers soar: Eagle for a Day requires the support of several campus partners, including the Office of Admissions, to ensure that this is not replicating or replacing other experiences on campus.
“Sometimes students confuse preview days … with orientation,” Brown shares. “So making sure that it’s clear to them what they’re doing and what the outcome and what their next steps are [is key].”
After the conclusion of the event, students are given information about how apply and how to redeem their orientation waiver—any student who participates for the whole day can receive an orientation fee waiver that is valid for up to a year after their event, helping cut the costs of attendance. Those who decide to apply to UNT on-site that day also receive an application fee waiver.
Eagle for a Day has been successful both in connecting with potential transfers and in encouraging enrollment.
Each event has had around 100 to 150 participants, several of whom are family members or other guests. This spring, the event had around 75 students attend. Around 75 percent of students who attend Eagle for a Day are admitted, and just over half (55 percent) of them enroll at the university.
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