Associate Director of Admissions

• Job Type: Officer of Administration
• Regular/Temporary: Regular
• Hours Per Week: 35
• Salary Range: $80,000 - 85,000

Position Summary

Reporting to the Director of Graduate Admissions and Executive LL.M., the Associate Director of Admissions in the Office of Graduate Degree Programs ("OGP") supports all aspects of our Admissions and Financial Aid functions. The Associate Director is expected to be fluent in all admission-related technology and execute a smooth admissions process. The Associate Director will also provide academic advising and student support to LL.M. students.

OGP supports Executive LL.M., J.S.D. and LL.M. students throughout their Columbia journey - from applicant through alumnus. We aim to attract leading lawyers from around the world and nurture their growth during this transformative time. We remain committed to our partnership with colleagues across the University and to our core values of connection, transparency, fairness and excellence. Through their experience at Columbia Law School, our students broaden their perspectives on legal and non-legal issues that shape who they want to be in the world.

Responsibilities

Admissions

• Recruiting
  
  
  
  • Assist in executing in-person and online recruiting events for students in target geographies, including events with faculty, alumni, CLS and CU leaders, etc. as well as conferences and fairs.
  • Liaise and build connections with domestic and international law schools, multinational corporations, judicial offices, organizations (e.g., Fulbright and the International Bar Association), diplomatic missions, law firms and other relevant institutions to increase reach.
  • Assist in coordinating alumni participation in recruiting events.
  • Meet with prospective students visiting the Law School.
  • Perform an annual audit of the OGP pages on the external website and make necessary changes.
  • Create event forms for recruiting events and maintain information on the website.
  • Manage and deliver mailings to communicate with prospects (including follow-up from recruiting events), ensuring consistency of our brand across our communications.
  
  
  
  
• Application and File Review
  
  
  
  • Lead cycle prep by performing annual updates across all degree programs, including updating and maintaining applications, reconciling and resetting review bins, and updating forms for the LL.M., E.LL.M. and J.S.D. programs.
  • Implement the application reader review process (including between admissions and external offices/departments when necessary), including manual assigning of files if necessary.
  • Review applications for admission and make admissions decisions and recommendations.
  • Assist with organizing and attending committee meetings.
  • Manage and deliver mailings to applicants (including confirmation of receipt emails, admission decision letters, financial aid decisions, and correspondence related to other admissions activities) and confirmed students (deposit confirmation letters).
  
  
  
  
• Yield
  
  
  
  • Lead and manage yield management activities via online and/or in-person yield events.
  • Update web portals including the admitted student sites.
  • Lead tracking of committed students to predict enrollment.
  
  
  
  
• Systems
  
  
  
  • Maintain expertise in admissions and student information systems including Technolutions Slate, Columbia's Student Information System (SIS), LSAC's UNITE, and others as assigned.
  • Work alongside the rest of the OGP team in seeking opportunities to optimize Slate usage for our admissions and financial aid processes, which includes investigating, configuring, implementing, updating, maintaining and integrating Slate applications, forms, communications, events, interviews, portals, workflows, data imports, automations, queries, and reports.
  • Help fulfill day-to-day Slate troubleshooting requests and build and update queries and reports for enrollment data analysis as requested.
  • Assist in creating and responsible for maintaining prospect, student and alumni records in Slate or other designated systems.
  
  
  
  
• Data Reporting and Analysis
  
  
  
  • Work with OGP teammates to help develop and execute record- keeping and data management protocols.
  • Engage in data analysis for enrollment management, manage historical data and assist in the production of reports that may be requested from time to time by OGP colleagues, Law School leadership and other offices/departments.
  • Proactively ensure data integrity across all systems through diligent monitoring of reports and processes.
  
  
  
  

Academic Advising and Graduate Student Support

• Serve as an academic advisor to our current LL.M. students and assist OGP colleagues with initiatives and programs to support graduate student onboarding and overall programmatic experience.
• Participate in various programs and events for the LL.M. student population throughout the year.
• Attend weekly advisor team meetings.

Miscellaneous

• Represent OGP at internal and external meetings and undertake other special projects as requested by the Assistant Dean of OGP.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required. J.D. or M.A. degree preferred.
• Must have a minimum of 4-6 years of relevant work experience.
• Similar administrative experience at a major law school a significant plus.
• Experience in development, management, and maintenance of enrollment Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems or relational databases, preferably Technolutions Slate CRM, highly desirable.
• Must be able to work with diverse constituencies and support an inclusive work environment.

Required Competencies

• Superior oral and written communication skills, including public speaking experience.
• Experience working in or demonstrated understanding of the characteristics of antiracist institutions.
• Demonstrated experience working successfully with students of diverse races, religions, orientations, abilities, cultural backgrounds, etc.
• Experience managing resources and working with technology vendors.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment and discretion in the handling of sensitive and highly confidential information.
• Knowledge of or strong interest in understanding compliance standards related to recruiting, admissions and student engagement in the law school context.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the demonstrated capacity to advise and meaningfully interact with diverse, multi-generational constituents.
• Affinity for collaboration and ability to work well across all levels of an organization.
• Ability to multitask and be part of a collegial team, and maintain calm under pressure while balancing competing tasks and emergencies.
• Organizational and analytical skills and the ability to synthesize and meaningfully evaluate data.
• Technological and computer literacy, including familiarity with or strong interest in developing knowledge of Slate, ACES2/UNITE, and digital learning technology.
• A passion for, and commitment to, delivering exceptional customer service.
• Ability to travel occasionally and work some evenings and weekends.

Equal Opportunity Employer / Disability / Veteran

Columbia University is committed to the hiring of qualified local residents.