With this economy in this shape, college admissions officers sent out record marketing letters. I know a few high school kids who receive at 20 letters per day from colleges, universities and even vocational schools. The admissions office is now busy with their acceptance notifications–sending out fancy certificates, T-shirts, tubes of confetti, or Internet links to videos of fireworks–in an effort to inspire loyalty and lock in commitments from today’s worried high school seniors. Even a traditionalist school like Kalamazoo College is printing its hand-drafted and hand-signed letters on better-quality paper and is sending out bigger packets so that acceptances will look more impressive.
For some students, that personal touch is what really makes the difference. Old-fashioned personal letters that show an admissions officer actually read the essays may actually made the difference. For others real things could be the trigger for the final decision. Which school do you want to go? Should it be the school that sent you a personal letter or the school that sent you a T-shirt? What about other things such as:
- This year the school’s acceptance package from St. Bonaventure University in western New York contains a T-shirt.
- MIT sent out a tube filled with a poster and confetti to its early admissions.
- A lot of schools are shipping bumper stickers, decals, and other knickknacks.
- Ithaca College sent out “Phat package”–a foot-long envelope emblazoned with the words “Something big is about to happen.”
- Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa. sent out a fancy new translucent envelope holding a green linen folder embossed with the college seal and the words: “You have been accepted.”
- Baylor, Rutgers and Elon sent out suitable-for-framing acceptance certificates.
- St. Bonaventure upgraded the college’s T-shirt package this year.
What about dean letters? Are you going to cry? We have had tears and cheers at inappropriate places and times, this is unnecessarily upsetting many students and their classmates. School’s preference for electronic rejections aggravated feelings of worthlessness. The new electronic rejections–some of which are little more than “Admissions decision: Deny”–feel much harsher than the traditional letters enclosed in ominously thin envelopes. Some posters on collegeconfidential.com have complained that after all their hard work on essays, electronic rejections can feel especially brutal. Someone said he felt awful when he logged on to read “Admissions decision: Deny” and then got what he called a “hard, cold” formal rejection in the mail.
Schools hire webmasters and web designers to design new digital letters. For example videos through email a link to a video of cheering crowds and the words “Congratulations. You’ve been accepted to Elon!”. Binghamton University added flash animation to its E-mail last year. The University of Georgia greeted accepted students with a link to an animated graphic of fireworks, says this year’s fireworks will be flashier than ever. Bryn Mawr launched its video acceptance last year, is promising an even better video this year. California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo provides a flashy acceptance video because studies show an average applicant applies to anywhere from nine to 12 other schools and will choose from about six offers. In addition, as a science and tech school, Cal Poly attracts applicants more fluent in text messages and Tweets than snail mail.
At IQx.com, we are going to publish some of the example acceptance and rejection letters. You will have a taste of the new buzz.