<p>I am sure they do at places like DeVry or technical schools, so to speak, but my husband thinks that perhaps admission officers at liberal arts schools or “regular” colleges may, too? He is a little fearful they are all just salespeople. Of course, they are in some sense, and will focus on the positive, but any insights on this?</p>
<p>No. They are paid salaries. But of course, they will be evaluated based on the number of applicants, the percentage admitted, and the yield, to see if they’re doing their jobs.</p>
<p>It’s like the difference between a marketer or advertiser (salaried) versus a sales person (commission).</p>
<p>No, that’s why actual colleges are not “for profit”. Their goal is not their own profit but to educate (of course, like all non-profits, they must have enough to make the school function and can’t run the school into the ground, but admission officers get paid their salary regardless).
At for-profits, “admission” staff admits <em>everyone</em> and are paid per number of students they admit. For profit colleges exist to make profit for themselves and get money off the students, who contract loans (and then they don’t really care if the students complete their programs, since they’ve made their profit… hence the abysmal graduation rates at for profit schools.)
At actual universities and colleges, the process looks at students’ qualifications and admission officers aren’t rewarded on a weekly basis per students signed up (as an insurance agent would be!) but for the students’ quality, ie., how many are unique individuals that meet the college’s standards, raise the profile of the freshman class, and are likely to enroll. Of course, if an admission officer, after going to a high school to present the school, caused a majority of the class to reject that school, the admission officer would have some 'splaining to do. They’re supposed to present the strong point of their school but they’re not supposed to lie and they are not allowed, by law, to make a profit off of you.</p>