Admissions counselor Steve Ferguson lives for his job of admitting students into the University. Photo by Grace DeSanti.
Becoming an admissions officer may not be an aspiration in life for many, but University of Rhode Island Admissions Officer Stephen Ferguson comes to work every day with love for his job and a smile on his face as he looks to recruit new students.
Ferguson, raised in Narragansett, has been attending URI basketball games since the age of 10. The Narragansett native said he only applied to one college because he already knew where he wanted to attend: URI.
Ferguson said that URI is the best place in the world, thanks in part to a variety of majors, world-class academic programs with professors at the top of their fields and a great student body.
After switching majors four times throughout his collegiate career, Ferguson eventually ended up as an admissions officer at the University he had been visiting since his childhood.
During his journey through college and finding out what he was passionate about, Ferguson would switch his major from business to marine biology to history. After he became a history major, Ferguson realized that he would not be going into a career-specific major. Shortly after, he switched his major to English.
“Very apparently I was not going to be an engineer or a doctor or a pharmacist or anything like that,” said Ferguson. “So I figured I would study what I loved, which was English literature, and then I would figure out my career path from there.”
The journey to becoming an admissions officer at URI was a two-year-long process that started as a temporary recruiter position in the fall of 2012. This turned into a temporary application reviewer before he took a slight detour to work for admissions at Bryant University. In 2014, Ferguson became a full-time admissions officer at URI when the position became available.
“URI was always where my heart was, it’s where I went to school,” Ferguson said.
Ferguson said that as an admissions counselor, he likes talking to students and helping them figure out their educational goals.
“[URI] is a great place for a lot of great people,” said Ferguson. “Specifically working in admissions, I love talking to people who have either found their thing or not yet.”
Samantha Gardner, a freshman marine biology major, was one student who Ferguson spent time recruiting to URI.
The two met when Gardner was a sophomore in high school at a college admissions fair. At these types of events, Ferguson said it is uncommon for a lengthy conversation to happen between recruiters and potential students. However, despite the number of colleges at the fair, Gardner, her mother and Ferguson wound up talking for about five minutes. Ferguson said this is a relatively long amount of time for these events.
Gardner said that Ferguson was the first person she spoke with at the fair, and he made sure she had all of her questions answered. The two met again during Gardners junior year of high school at the same fair.
“He remembered me which was incredible because he must meet thousands of prospective students and to be recognized was pretty awesome,” said Gardner.
Gardner said the hospitality shown by Ferguson helped her realize that URI was a special school.
“He recognized my name, which was really special and I thought okay, he actually cares about me as a person if he recognized my name,” said Gardner. “So, I figured that this would be a pretty good school.”
During her senior year of high school, Ferguson invited Gardner to a “Like a Ram” event where she attended a senior-level shark anatomy class.
Gardner wound up attending URI as a result of these experiences. She has been involved in research as a freshman with the same professor whose class she went to when attended the “Like a Ram” event.
Ferguson has also demonstrated that he goes above and beyond the role of an ordinary admissions counselor. Ferguson met with Gardner earlier this semester to see how her freshman year was going. Gardner said this was nice because it wasn’t expected.
“It’s good to know that someone wants to keep an eye on me and wants to make sure everything is going okay and that I’m not being too overwhelmed by the panic of freshman year,” said Gardner.
Ferguson said that listening to what students are asking during recruitment is an important part of his responsibility as an admissions officer.
“I only want people to come to the University of Rhode Island if it’s the right place for them,” Ferguson said. “Luckily, working for a great school like this, it’s easy to find out that this is the right school for a lot of different people. Being there when they make that connection is a really exciting part.”
Over the course of a single year, Ferguson’s job entails going on school visits, attending college fairs, reviewing applications of prospective students, planning on-campus visits and assisting with welcome days, among other responsibilities.
“I feel so fortunate and blessed to have ended up working here,” Ferguson said.