7 Questions for Karen Pellegrino

Karen Pellegrino joined Saint Joseph’s University as vice president for enrollment management in June after nearly 15 years in similar roles at Fairfield University. Now in the heart of recruiting season, we asked her to share her perspective on the values of Jesuit education, university admissions and what makes Saint Joseph’s unique.

How is recruiting students in Philadelphia different from recruiting students in Connecticut?

I think that there are some great benefits to our location. That was one of the things that attracted me here and one of the things that I think is a big selling point for us. We have a beautiful, spacious campus and green space, but you can hop on the train and be in Center City in 15 minutes. Not a lot of schools have that. You can be in the city or you can be outside of the city, but to have those two things — the proximity and a spacious, almost suburban campus — is really ideal.

It’s the height of college application season; what are this year’s early numbers showing?

We are about even in applications between this year and last. We’re working on ways to enhance our visibility to generate more applications — especially from out of state. We are making good connections in Maryland, Virginia and the New England area that we plan to look into a bit more carefully for the future.

What I’m really excited about is not just the size of the applicant pool, but the quality, as well. Right now I’m reading through scholarship applications, and the students have strength in both their academic performance and their community involvement.

What are your goals for the enrollment of Saint Joseph’s next class of students? Do you plan to alter the process at all?

One of the toughest challenges that most colleges have is finding the right mix of aid in order to allow students to make their education a reality. How we can enhance the financial aid model to make a Saint Joseph’s education as available to as many students as possible is something that we’re constantly working on. We’re tweaking the model and we’re doing things internally that we know are going to help make college more affordable for some students.

You’ve worked with Jesuit universities prior to your time at Saint Joseph’s. How do you apply Jesuit ideals to your career?

I also attended Boston College, which is a Jesuit university. I did not choose BC because it was Jesuit, but when I look back, so much of what I got from that experience came from the Jesuit ideals. An education based in those ideals does more than just provide students with knowledge; there’s a greater purpose. I think that students leave with a strong sense of what they believe and a value system. I think that’s something that we’re unabashed about in Jesuit education. I also think that the kind of community that Jesuit universities foster has been important to me as a working professional.

The acceptance packet was recently reimagined, how has that been received?

We admit most of our students during the early action process; they get a decision from us in early December, but they don’t have to make their commitment to us until May 1. Those four and a half months are both an opportunity and a challenge for us. The challenge is we want to stay engaged with potential Hawks but the opportunity is that we do have that time to build a relationship with them.

We tried to make the acceptance packet a comprehensive campaign that focuses on the idea of being a Hawk and the attributes that are associated with that. We wanted to be able to go back and say ‘based on you doing this in high school we think that you are tenacious, and that’s one of the things that a Hawk is.’ This time is our time to engage with them and help them see that we are a great choice for their education. So that’s what the acceptance packet is going to help us do; it’s going to provide some continuity in those four months between acceptance and decision.

How has your perception of the University changed now that you’ve been in this role for six months?

It’s only gotten stronger. This certainly was a big change for me; I really have no connection to Philadelphia. I had to believe in Saint Joseph’s to make that kind of leap. I’ve been impressed with the Hawk community. People are engaged and truly want the best for this institution. They believe in it very strongly, which has been a really great thing to find. I started here in June and I really didn’t have an opportunity to meet students, but now that I’ve had the chance, I’ve been impressed with what they’ve accomplished academically, the diversity of their interests, the things they’re accomplishing outside of the classroom and their commitment to Saint Joseph’s. Their Hawk passion comes through loud and clear.

Do you have any advice for students who are looking at applying to Saint Joseph’s? Or any advice for Saint Joseph’s students who are looking to continue their education through graduate school?

For high school students, continuing to challenge themselves is important. But also, I think that there’s so much hype about the college application process and there’s so much talk about how competitive it is to get into college. Certainly some schools are competitive, but there’s a lot of great colleges out there. I think that if students do their research and sometimes look beyond just the big names that they’ve grown up hearing, they’re going to find some great choices.

For graduate school, I think that some students are lucky and they identify their passion in an area that they want to pursue right away. I’m somebody who took about 10 years before I figured out what I wanted to do for graduate school. It ended up being what I probably would have done from the start, but I had to figure that out. I think that if you have found that passion and you have found what you want to do right away, that's great. But sometimes the chance to get some professional experience behind you can help inform your choice of what kind of graduate program you’re looking to enroll in.

At the end of the day, it’s about fit. It’s about finding the place that’s best for that student. That’s not necessarily going to be the place that was the best fit for their parents or for their older brother or their best friend; it’s got to be about what’s the best fit for them. I watch thousands of students go through this every year; I watch the panic they experience and then the relief. I see them in their programs and it’s all worked out fine. So if I could give any advice to them it would be to not get so caught up in the hype about applications. Things are going to work out; they’re going to find a great place.