Yolanda Brown knows the power of a conversational pivot. 

It was on display at what’s become a ritual for Cleveland State University’s admissions department: Instant Decision Day. College officials estimate 5 to 10% of new first-year students who enroll — a number coming in at 1,455 this fall — received a decision at an event like this. 

Over the course of four hours on a recent Thursday at Cleveland’s James F. Rhodes High School, about two dozen high school seniors stream into the school’s auditorium and make their way to the stage. 

After completing an application, they stroll over to where Brown, CSU’s senior counselor for undergraduates, sits. She greets each student with a big smile, starting the conversation with some small talk before getting down to business. 

Do you know your GPA? It’s OK if not, your counselor will email it to me. Pivot. 

Oh, no, the WiFi’s not working! Let’s ask the counselor to come over here with her computer. Pivot, pivot. 

Congratulations, you’re accepted to Cleveland State University! Pivot. 

Okay, let’s take a look to see what scholarships are available for you based on your grades and standardized test scores. Pivot. 

Any questions? 

The whole thing takes about 10 minutes, far less than the weeks of waiting a normal decision may take, though acceptance is preliminary. Think of it like getting pre-approved for a mortgage. 

Applications submitted on this day still go through the official channels, including grade verification and a review by the university’s admissions director. Those admitted get an official letter in an online portal, and, later, a box of Cleveland State-branded swag delivered to their home. 

Cleveland State, and other less selective colleges like it nationwide, are fighting to attract and keep students. These events are designed to help.

“[Students] are able to get that instant gratification and say, ‘You know what, I’ll definitely commit to Cleveland State because they cared enough to come and see me, they cared enough to say, ‘I want to talk to you face-to-face,’” said Brown. 

Demystifying the admissions process

These types of events aren’t new for non-selective colleges. CSU’s been doing them for about five years. 

“They are not the totality of the way that, as an institution, we think about encouraging students to apply,” said Jonathan Wehner, the university’s vice president and dean of admissions. “But they’re pretty important.” 

He said the university schedules these events by looking at districts where graduates have historically gone on to CSU as well as where there may be a need. Other locations for this fall’s events include schools in Cleveland Heights-University Heights and North Royalton as well as the private Saint Martin de Porres in Cleveland’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood. 

The “shroud” surrounding the admissions process, Wehner added, may defeat an institutional purpose of being more accessible for more students. Events like this can demystify the process, he said.

“Culturally, we have built up [the admissions process] so much,” said Wehner. “Even on the higher ed side, we’re guilty of participating and building it up. It doesn’t have to be that way.”  

The city’s “best kept secret” 

The event at Rhodes High School was the first there.

The building technically houses two high schools. About 350 students attend one focusing on environmental studies, with a four-year graduation rate of 58%. Its college and career academy enrolls about 550 students and has a four-year graduation rate of 88%. Close to three out of every 10 children in Ward 13, the neighborhood where the building sits, live in poverty. 

At the Decision Day event, CSU’s Brown asked if students have visited the university’s downtown campus. Despite being only about six miles from the school’s home in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood, many haven’t. 

Brown refers to CSU as the city’s “best kept secret.” Each of her pitches seem to include hitting the institution’s highlights, pointing out how the campus sits on 85 acres downtown, has an honors college that admits students using a more holistic approach, and offers connections to advisors and tutors.

“Cleveland State today is not the Cleveland State of yesterday,” said Brown. 

Why instant decision days matter 

Brandi DuVall, a senior college access advisor with College Now Greater Cleveland, worked with Brown to bring this event to Rhodes, where she’s been working for about five years. She said it was important to do this for her students.

“It humanizes the institution,” she said. “It makes them more personal. It makes them more approachable to our students.”  

Two College Now staffers were on hand to guide students as they completed applications. Coupling that with face-to-face conversations with real college counselors and the appeal of an acceptance on the spot can be motivating for students, according to DuVall. 

It can give “a little self confidence in themselves like, ‘Oh, maybe I can do this,’” she said. 

Does an instant decision sway students? 

Decision days, though, are kind of the ultimate long game for admissions departments. It’ll be a while until CSU knows if the 20 Rhodes students accepted that day eventually put a deposit down, let alone enroll in classes.  

On that Thursday, one of them was Rhodes College and Career Academy student Emonie Martin. It was good to have an admissions person sit down and talk directly with her, she said. 

“Instead of us having to wait, or to email, and not physically being able to see them or understand,” she said. “Seeing them smile [in-person], it kind of helps take a little bit of the pressure off.” 

Kent State University is her top choice, but she’s now slotting Cleveland State in at number two. She’s been accepted at Cuyahoga Community College, too, she said. 

As Martin holds a green folder with a “Congratulations, you’re accepted!” letter already tucked inside, she said she’s planning on making a college decision sometime in January. 

In the meantime, the first person she’s planning to tell about today’s latest acceptance is her mom, who she said will probably then try to “encourage me to apply to other ones.”

It’s a thought, Martin said, that doesn’t seem so overwhelming now. 

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