I've been thinking all weekend about the Atlantic article "The Best Class Money Can Buy" I referenced in my last entry. The underlying theme running through the article is simple: colleges are using sophisticated marketing research techniques to identify the students most likely to give them what they need or want, be it higher test scores, a better revenue flow, or any one of a million other priorities.
Offer a particular college what it's looking for, and your chances of admissions - and perhaps even financial aid/merit money - are greater. Offer something they can get elsewhere for less, and your chances go down. The question, of course, is how do you determine if something you have to offer is a match with what a particular school is looking for?
The answer is simple: think like a marketer yourself. Marketers don't just send out mass mailings or place ads blindly; they make it a point to figure out who their target market is most likely to be, what motivates those customers to buy, and where they are most likely to be found. Then, they target their marketing materials and plans for greatest effect.
College shoppers have to do the same. First step: make a list of what you - or your child - has to offer. And, don't fall into the trap of thinking that means ONLY stratospheric test scores or grades. Think more broadly. And don't think that just because you need financial aid, you don't still have something to sell (if the amount of aid you need is less than the typical aid package at a particular school, you may actually be more attractive than an even lower income family).
Next - and this is critical - you have to be willing to consider the schools that need what you are selling. That may mean Harvard, Yale and Stanford...or it may mean a few excellent schools with names you haven't yet heard of. In nearly all cases, it probably means a combination of both.
Cast a wide net, consider many different options - but don't expect to find what you need to know in those glossy brochures and admissions websites. Dig deeper.
Get a hold of the school's strategic plan (see
my September 22 entry for tips on how to do this) - read it carefully and you'll get a sense of the school's priorities. Is the school planning to boost enrollment? Reduce enrollment? Does the plan mention a need for increased revenues? Boosting graduation rates? Building new buildings in a particular area (i.e., science or art)? etc.
Read the school's own internal memos on its priorities and plans. Often these can be found just by searching on the school's website using a few key words. Search the archives of the student newspaper, local media and educational professional journals like the Chronicle of Higher Education as well --- often you can dig up a lot that way.
Pay attention to other clues as well --- have applications been going up, staying the same, or going down? How has the school's endowment been doing - and the return on it? Has their been a change in the way the school is recruiting (i.e., are they making more visits to a particular part of the country than they have in the past)? Has the school's yield been going up, going down, or staying the same? (The NACAC list of schools that haven't filled their classes by May is very telling). Are they marketing differently? Are certain majors over subscribed or under subscribed? Are their noticeable differences in grad rates among different racial groups? Are they short on men? Women? (All of this information is very easy to come by if you know where to look - use the many resources I've discussed here on College Hunter).
If you have something very specific to offer, pay attention particularly to the signs that signal if the school needs that. If you play a particular instrument, find out how many they already have in the orchestra --- and whether the orchestra is well-funded and a source of pride to the administration or just kind of languishes on its own. If you play a certain sport, same thing.
When you're visiting, keep your eyes and ears open. What about yourself really seems to peak the admissions officer's interest? IS there anything about yourself that seems to peak the admissions officer's interest? Ask questions that go beyond "so, do you like going to school here" --- instead ask students, faculty and administrators (admissions) you come in contact with "what's the biggest issue facing XYZ college these days? What are the plans to deal with that issue?" or "What's the most exciting change planned for XYZ college in the next few years?" Ask about diversity - racial and economic but also about geographic diversity and economic diversity. How many Pell grant recipients does the school have (this you can find out on your own)? How many kids that AREN'T receiving any form of financial aid? Are financial aid packages heavy on loans or heavy on grants? What's the average merit scholarship and just what percentage of accepted students are offered them?
Next, go back to the original starting point. What is it you - or your child - have to offer that a particular college seems to need or want? Are there other colleges and universities that are worth considering that might be stronger targets? As any good marketing pro will tell you, this isn't an exact science. You will have to make some educated guesses and you'll probably never know with absolute certainty what is going to motivate a college's particular admissions decisions this year. But, don't be foolish enough to let colleges be the only ones using sophisticated marketing tools to drive the process - think like a marketer yourself and you'll be more likely to find a college willing to buy what you have to offer, and perhaps get paid handsomely for it in the process.
By the way, if you're interested in learning more about how colleges and universities are using sophisticated marketing and marketing research in enrollment management, I'd suggest you pay a visit to the website of
Noel-Levitz, one of the largest enrollment management consulting firms in the field.
I found two papers particularly interesting and well worth reading at the Noel-Levitz site. The first,
How to use pertinent decision data in your admissions office, which highlights the types of research and information many schools track in order to not only decide who gets in, but how to leverage their financial aid and merit money. The second,
The Proper Mix discusses how colleges and universities manage tuition, admission and financial aid strategies to maximize revenue and meet specific goals. To me, these insights into the admissions process only reaffirm the reason I started College Hunter in the first place: to put better college research into the hands of applicants and their parents.
of essays penned by college admissions officers and high school guidance counselors on what needs to be done to reduce the anxiety and stress caused by the admissions feeding frenzy. It's a very interesting book, with many inside views of college admissions offices across the country. However, even though I felt I learned a lot from the book, the cynical side couldn't help looking at the names of the colleges where the essay writers worked - Harvard, Pomona, Dickinson, and others - and thinking that if they all honestly felt so strongly about fixing the admissions arms race, they'd do it. It seems that there is a definite case of "Well, we know it's wrong, but we don't want to be the first to change things."
