Closing Enrollments
- By Ashley McGlothren
- •
- 24 Sep, 2018
- •
Why we stop accepting new enrollments so early in the year.
And that's a wrap...
Music and art fall enrollment has been closed for a few weeks. Tumbling is full. We just completed dance registration for this year. Some caring moms recently asked me why I would stop enrolling for dance so early in the year when many other studios will accept students way later. To them, it didn't seem to make much business sense. More students is better, right? WRONG!
QUALITY is always better. Our fall music recitals are in early December. If we were to take on a new music student now, my instructors would have to have them ready to play a piece in approximately 8 lessons. What do you think that would come out as? A hot mess! We currently have 80 music students. Our number one priority is to provide quality lessons to each of them and to make sure our three music recitals (in which we serve 600 guests) are excellent. We get calls daily from those asking to still enroll. We kindly say that we will resume registration in November for classes that run from January-June.
In art, the lessons build upon each other. If a student were to join us now, they would be six weeks behind. They would have less pieces to present at the art gala. By stopping enrollment, we also ensure more time the instructors get to know those students individually. I never want to be where a student is just another number. It is taking us longer to know each student by name because there are so many more of them, but we will get there!
Another thing we do at Soar is offer small class sizes. In art, we only accept 10. In dance and tumbling, we only accept 12 per class. My reason is that smaller numbers result in more personalized instruction. When class sizes are huge, students feel lost in the shuffle and have no connections. My theory is when they feel known, cared for, and see the growth in their abilities, they stay with us for years!
We close dance earlier than most studios because of one of my personality traits - I admit it! I'm a planner. I like all my ducks in a row. This is why each group class with over six students has an assistant in it. Our staff has already picked all recital music. It has been edited and costumes have even been picked out. When ordering close to 300 costumes, I need to be this detailed. I couldn't image taking on a student in February and praying that the costume that has been selected is not on back order so I could get one more. That's too much stress for me!
In our growth, I'm making one more decision I never thought I would make. We often get calls to offer private lessons in one of our departments from someone that is not a Soar student. Even though I appreciate that they thought of us, I would rather devote time we have for privates to our own students. Summer camps and weekend trainings will still be open to the public.
It's crazy to me to watch our growth. At our first registration, 35 people showed up! Now, we stand with 240 enrollments and 16 on staff! If that is not a God thing - I don't know what is! We are still the same studio. We are founded on God first, quality instruction, and a love for our students. Thanks for being with us!
Music and art fall enrollment has been closed for a few weeks. Tumbling is full. We just completed dance registration for this year. Some caring moms recently asked me why I would stop enrolling for dance so early in the year when many other studios will accept students way later. To them, it didn't seem to make much business sense. More students is better, right? WRONG!
QUALITY is always better. Our fall music recitals are in early December. If we were to take on a new music student now, my instructors would have to have them ready to play a piece in approximately 8 lessons. What do you think that would come out as? A hot mess! We currently have 80 music students. Our number one priority is to provide quality lessons to each of them and to make sure our three music recitals (in which we serve 600 guests) are excellent. We get calls daily from those asking to still enroll. We kindly say that we will resume registration in November for classes that run from January-June.
In art, the lessons build upon each other. If a student were to join us now, they would be six weeks behind. They would have less pieces to present at the art gala. By stopping enrollment, we also ensure more time the instructors get to know those students individually. I never want to be where a student is just another number. It is taking us longer to know each student by name because there are so many more of them, but we will get there!
Another thing we do at Soar is offer small class sizes. In art, we only accept 10. In dance and tumbling, we only accept 12 per class. My reason is that smaller numbers result in more personalized instruction. When class sizes are huge, students feel lost in the shuffle and have no connections. My theory is when they feel known, cared for, and see the growth in their abilities, they stay with us for years!
We close dance earlier than most studios because of one of my personality traits - I admit it! I'm a planner. I like all my ducks in a row. This is why each group class with over six students has an assistant in it. Our staff has already picked all recital music. It has been edited and costumes have even been picked out. When ordering close to 300 costumes, I need to be this detailed. I couldn't image taking on a student in February and praying that the costume that has been selected is not on back order so I could get one more. That's too much stress for me!
In our growth, I'm making one more decision I never thought I would make. We often get calls to offer private lessons in one of our departments from someone that is not a Soar student. Even though I appreciate that they thought of us, I would rather devote time we have for privates to our own students. Summer camps and weekend trainings will still be open to the public.
It's crazy to me to watch our growth. At our first registration, 35 people showed up! Now, we stand with 240 enrollments and 16 on staff! If that is not a God thing - I don't know what is! We are still the same studio. We are founded on God first, quality instruction, and a love for our students. Thanks for being with us!
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