Recruiting Intelligence

I have heard quite a few U.S. colleagues asking me about the secondary schools in Vietnam and where they would find the most number of potential candidates for their programs. Where will you find students with strong academic performance, best English skills, and high propensity to seek a college education in the U.S.?

We couldn't help it, but the University of Chicago's recent letter to prospective students caught our attention.  We are awarding the University of Chicago's Office of Undergraduate Admission and the leader of the crew, James Nondorf, VP of Enrollment and Financial Aid the Intead Award for Creative Engagement.  

What started as a way to decorate my office became something more intriguing this summer. This past spring I decided to make my office look brighter and more collegiate. I began purchasing pennants during my spring and summer visits to college campuses as a way to share pride for those universities. As my collection developed I was struck by the vast cost differential of collegiate pennants.

Although all of the pennants were manufactured by the same company, Collegiate Pacific, the prices of the pennants ranged from just under $10 to over $20. I couldn’t figure out why there would be such a vast price range for standard 12”x30” felt pennants. I was shocked and also curious. What would I find when comparing these universities? With the help of our summer interns we put together a chart outlining the price of pennants at the top 100 universities, according to the 2011 US News and World Report rankings. What did we find?

The pennant index project revealed some surprising results. Whereas I had made a hypothesis that the caliber of the institution and its prominence on the US News rankings would determine pennant price, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Some of the most expensive pennants came from lower ranking institutions. There seems to be little correlation between ranking, tuition price, and pennant price. For this research, Columbia and Harvard were an incredible steal. 

Are you concerned about improving your reach and productivity in social media marketing? You should always be thinking about improving your systems, and this could be one to consider. 

We have a great deal of respect for the role of admission officers. They show impressive persistence and dedication in the relentless marketing through high school visits, college fairs, international travel and so forth. They are road warriors. Now admission officers are asked to engage and connect through social media and video. The job requirements and skill sets can be daunting.

What do I mean by "rudimentary?" Maybe I should have stated that U.S. domestic student recruitment has become more and more sophisticated over the past few years. This trend will accelerate with increased competition among schools across larger territories, more entries into hybrid and online brands that lend themselves to larger territories, and broader marketing campaigns. 

We are continuing to work on our summer research project. Here is one of the companies we researched for you. To read the introduction to this project, click here:_http://bit.ly/whoownswhom

Coordinating efforts between recruitment and student services 

Bill Gates gave an interview recently and described himself as a "professional student" in response to the comment that he was a college drop out.  I appreciated that description. Our professional careers require that mindset today.