A Great Enrollment Year Awaits - Keep This One for Your Feel-Good File Just In Case…
Every enrollment director needs a “Feel-Good File”—a stash of notes, emails, or reminders from people who see the impact you make and want you to know it.
Mine goes back more than 30 years. On tough days, pulling out a kind word or two has been a lifesaver.
So here’s my contribution to your Feel-Good File.
This isn’t a glowing note about you (though you deserve plenty of those). Instead, it’s a story from my own career—one that proves that no matter how bad your day might be, you’re going to come out just fine.
The Day Everything Went Wrong
It was February 14—Valentine’s Day, years ago—the day before our application deadline.
This was back in the era when “snail mail” still ruled, and online applicant portals (if you had one) had to be updated through clunky daily uploads. The mail was stacked high, and our office still had hundreds of forms to process so applicants could confirm their files before the deadline.
That afternoon, my wife suddenly became gravely ill. By 3:00 p.m., I was rushing her and our 9-month-old son to the ER. (Spoiler: she’s alive and well today, thankfully.)
By 6:00 p.m., I was exhausted, still waiting for news, our baby was melting down, and hundreds of applicant papers—stuffed into an accordion file—were sitting untouched.
I called in friends for backup at the hospital, brought my son home to eat and sleep, and prepared to dive into the paperwork. But when I looked for the accordion folder…it was gone.
Panic. A desperate search through the house and car. Frantic calls to my wife at the hospital. Nothing.
Found…Sort Of
About 45 minutes later, one of my friends who had been at the hospital arrived at the house.
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” she said.
“The good news is I found your missing application pieces. The bad news is…they’re scattered along about 100 yards of Highway 68.”
Sure enough, as I was leaving the hospital, I had left the folder on the roof of the car when putting our son in his car seat.
Two hours later, I was dirty, scraped, and lucky to be alive after scrambling along the roadside in the dark, headlamp on, collecting applicant papers while cars honked as they passed. Some pages were torn, wrinkled, even muddy.
And I had no idea how many I actually managed to retrieve.
The Aftermath
That week I had to:
Confess the whole story to my head of school. (To this day, I’m grateful for his empathy and steady leadership.)
Explain to our admission committee why so many applications were wrinkled or dirt-stained.
Hold my breath hoping no applicant would call about a missing piece. (Miraculously, not one ever did.)
The Lesson
Every enrollment cycle brings stress, setbacks, and moments that feel impossible. But the truth is: you’ll find your way through.
If I can survive chasing application papers down a highway at night, you can handle whatever curveballs this season throws at you.
So when things get tough, remember—you’re going to be great this year. You’ve got this.
Have a fantastic enrollment season.
