Forget Lily Tomlin’s "Ernestine," the snork-laughing phone operator ("one ringie-dingie…two ringie-dingies"). WSU students who work in the Office of Admission’s Telecounseling Center are personable and "in touch" with the prospective students on the other end of the line.

Their job is to call and encourage people who have already expressed interest in enrolling at Washington State University to continue the WSU quest. They are ambassadors for the university, serving as information counselors to those whom they call. Three-ring binders of information are at their fingertips, posters of the latest events and notices are pinned to their cubicle walls and an online database is in front of them as they chat with potential students over the phone. And their friendly, peer-level approach has proven successful in persuading students to follow through with enrollment.

"We have a database that holds all enrollment prospects, anyone who has received information from the Office of Admissions," she says. "Of those who come to WSU, we compare the number who received at least one call from the center with those who did not.

"Of the 17,317 students that were in the communication plan for fall 2001, 11,056 had at least one phone conversation with a current student or someone from WSU after recruitment mailings or visitation events," Mueller elaborates. "For any number of reasons, 6,261 did not. Of the 11,056, 1,915 (17.32 percent) were enrolled by the 10th day of classes. Of the 6,261, only 368 (5.88 percent) were in class."

So it looks like the center is having an impact on those record enrollment numbers.

The Telecounseling Center, begun just five years ago in February 1997, is a room tucked away in the labyrinth of the Student Advanced Learning Center on the second floor of Lighty.

Since the center’s debut, 200 students, known as "Cougar Connectors," have made 564,647 phone calls. That number includes follow-up calls. Their single-day record came on Feb. 2, 1998, when they made 3,744 contacts.

The database Mueller mentioned currently holds 45,000 prospects, which is up 5,000 from last year at this time. WSU colleges can also access this database for their recruiting efforts.

Mueller has identified 265 "themes" or approaches to the calls, representing nuances of purpose — initial contact, congratulations for being accepted, information confirmation or update, getting acquainted, "how’s it goin’," question response, university program update and so on. She says the average conversation lasts eight minutes, and that the calling priority is high-ability students within Washington. Only three percent of the calls go out of state.

"The idea is to catch prospective students when they’re at home," explains Mueller.

The center holds 21 workstations, each consisting of a telephone, a computer terminal and reference information. Currently there are 30 workers on staff — down from the typical 50 — supervised by one of four team leaders who runs an hourly report on the center’s progress.

"One student insisted he did not apply to WSU," she remembers. "I told him he had been accepted, but he continued to deny it. I ended the call to figure out what was going on. When I called him back, he asked if we were WSU. We said yes and then he got excited. He said he had planned on coming to WSU. Maybe he got the college name letters turned around in his head the first time we phoned.

"We talk to a lot of alumni parents who like to reminisce about their time at WSU," she said. "Parents usually have more questions and concerns than the students. But prospective students are intrigued to talk to current students. Peers can be influential. We get lots of questions about housing, dining, recreational activities and classes."

And some calls get intense.

"We called one girl who hadn’t received her offer letter yet," said Vandolah. "When we told her she was accepted, she started screaming and crying she was so excited."

Now there’s a statistic that should bring a tear of joy to any admissions administrator’s eye.