You may notice a few people pulling out a campus map today as BJU welcomes students for Preview Day — a day the University gears toward local prospective students in the Greenville area.
Students who attend Preview Day can visit classes, tour the campus, meet faculty and meet with an admission counselor. The goal for Preview Day is to help students in and around the Greenville area prepare for college. While it’s geared toward locals, Preview Day is open to all students from any geographic location.
David Orr, manager of the Welcome Center, said prospective students can shape their day’s schedule based on their desired major. “We will craft a schedule for [the students] that is based on what they tell us they’re interested in,” Orr said. Sporting events and fine arts events can be implemented into the schedule as well, Orr said.
Orr said the goal of Preview Day is to show off the wonderful campus, students, faculty and staff that God has blessed the University with this year. “The key thing is we want people to come and visit BJU and see what God is doing here,” Orr said. “We want them to meet our awesome faculty and our incredible students. We want them to have the opportunity to hear from Dr. Pettit.”
Orr said that experiencing BJU campus life will help the prospective students move forward in their decision-making process. “Getting people here, to see what actually is happening, is so crucial in helping them take that next step in their college choice,” Orr said. “We know that it makes a huge difference at the end of the day.”
According to Orr, prospective students are often highly impressed with the University and the friendly students and faculty, which leads them to choose BJU as their place of higher education.
When prospective students visit BJU they’re asked to be part of a survey to help the University know what the prospective students liked and didn’t like about their visit.
A prospective student who recently took the survey said, “The highlight of my visit was learning how college worked. I enjoyed getting to know my way around campus. I loved the chapel services and classes I got to go to. I enjoyed it so much and can’t wait to come to BJU in a couple of years.”
Orr encourages the student body to make the students feel welcome on campus today. “Be friendly; go out of your way to help prospective students,” Orr said.