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Admissions Team Takes Extra Precautions in Hosting Prospective Students on Campus

Pilots Prevent

April 6, 2021

Big white tents have popped up in the Dundon-Berchtold, Shipstad, and Academic Quads as well as on the bluff behind Bauccio Commons. The reason for all this activity: Welcome to The Bluff events—in-person events for admitted students to help them finalize their decision to attend UP next fall. The admissions office will host the events on April 10 and April 17.

Current UP students might remember their own Weekend on The Bluff experiences complete with packed information sessions, Rock The Bluff concerts, and overnight visits in UP residence halls. This year’s events will look a little different with scaled back outdoor-only sessions and no overnight guests. “We’re severely limited in the number of people who can participate this year due to safety protocols,” says Matt Deschner, senior assistant director of admissions and the coordinator of Welcome to The Bluff. “We’re not only going to make sure we are following all OHA and Pilots Prevent policies, we’re going above and beyond what is necessary to make sure this is a safe event for our guests, our staff, and our campus community.”

There will be 16 information sessions over two weekends to reduce the number of visitors on campus at any one time and in any single location. All the sessions will be held outdoors under the tents, and each information session will be capped at 35 students with one guest.

Chairs will be set up in groups of twos theater-style with more than a 6-foot distance between them. This seating style means the University will be unable to accommodate extra guests should a prospective student or parent attempt to bring additional family members.

Guests will be required to complete COVID self-screening before they come to campus—the same questionnaire that UP students and employees complete daily.

At check-in all visitors will receive a dated Pilots Prevent sticker that identifies them as guest for the day and shows they have completed the self-screening tool.

Of course, all guests will be required to follow UP safety measures including masking up and physical distancing while they are on campus.

Deschner and the admissions team are looking out for faculty, staff, and students who are presenting at the sessions, too.  Presenters will arrive just five minutes before their presentations and leave immediately after. The session presenters will not be taking questions during the sessions—in order to keep visitors masked up—or after—in order to maintain physical distancing and to discourage visitors from lingering on campus. Instead at check-in, each student will receive a card with contact information for their counselor and be encouraged to ask questions via email after the session.

It might not look like the typical weekend for admitted students and their families, but UP is doing everything it can to make the visitors feel welcome while following all state and UP health and safety guidelines. With luck, when these weekend visitors return as enrolled students in August for Orientation, the safety protocols will be more relaxed and life on The Bluff will start to revert to its normal cadence.