Monday at TCU gets alternative
By Jessica Sanders
Staff Reporter

The large number of high school students interested in Monday at TCU has led the admissions office to offer a Wednesday program as an alternative, said Carrie Wright-Brown, coordinator of Monday at TCU.

Ray Brown, dean of admissions, said the idea for the program, called Spring Preview, was developed by members of the admissions staff in order to accommodate the growing number of students who want to visit TCU.

“Our Monday at TCU programs essentially all year have been bursting at the seams,” Brown said. “The final Monday at TCU program of the year on April 7 was so heavily requested that we knew we had to do something else even this year.”

Brown said Spring Preview will be very similar to Monday at TCU, but just on a different day.

“It is, indeed, on Wednesday,” Brown said. “Other than that, the most substantive difference is that the academic sessions in the afternoon will be supplanted by brief speeches by selected faculty members.”

The only Spring Preview for this year is scheduled for today and, because of its late date, is aimed at high school juniors, Wright-Brown said.

Wright-Brown said 176 students are signed up for Spring Preview, as compared to an average of 340 to 350 students for each Monday at TCU.

“We’ve had such a high demand for students to visit campus,” Wright-Brown said. “So we just wanted to give them another opportunity.”

Wright-Brown said 1,300 students and 1,350 parents attended Monday at TCU during the 2002 to 2003 academic year.

The number of Monday at TCU programs increased from eight last year to 10 this year because so many students were interested in visiting campus, Wright-Brown said.

Ryan Mitsuhashi, a member of TCU Ambassadors, said groups like Student Foundation and the ambassador program try to provide personal attention to students at Monday at TCU, even if there are large groups.

“I think some people would like it smaller, especially for one-on-one interaction,” said Mitsuhashi, a freshman mechanical engineering major. “We try to make it as personal as possible.”

Mitsuhashi said he doesn’t mind the size of Monday at TCU but thinks Spring Preview is another good opportunity for students to visit.

“I think it has become a need because the school is getting an increased number of applications,” Mitsuhashi said.

Brown said the admissions office may have to come up with other ways to accommodate potential students if the number of student visitors continues to increase.

“We’re going to have to rethink our entire visitation program for coming years,” Brown said. “Particularly if the interest in TCU continues on the trajectory it’s been for the recent past.”

j.d.sanders@tcu.edu