<p>A few times a year, we start threads about how our mailboxes are inundated by unwelcome brochures. However, I believe that some schools do a nice job in presenting and selling their positives attributes. For instance, I remember how impressive the brochure of Amherst was. I also remember how wacky some of the MIT brochures were. </p>
<p>So, what were your favorites ... or least favorites? The most informative ... or most misleading? </p>
<p>PS We all KNOW the school that sends the most stuff out. WUSTL should be recognized by the USPS and receive its very own honorary stamp. If McDonald's did not make it so famous, WUSTL could add a sign to the St Louis Gateway Arch that says, "Billions and Billions Mailings Sent"</p>
<p>Oddly enough, D has received very little from WUSTL, which is fine as she has no interest in it. D seemed to like MIT's viewbook, although she also has no interest there.</p>
<p>I wish colleges weren't so afraid of putting their distinctive personalities out there. The viewbooks end up looking like a loaf of whitebread.</p>
<p>I think the funniest moment came when D received a second viewbook from Vanderbilt. It was identical to the previous year's, except that upon closer inspection, she noticed that the "Asian girl's photo" had a different "Asian girl". And, the "Af-Am male's photo" had a different "Af-Am male", etc.</p>
<p>She got a kick out of how cynical and manipulative the marketing really is.</p>
<p>Reed's!!! Just made me want to go and immerse myself in scholarly thought on a drop-dead gorgeous campus. Great themes, poetically described and beautifully illustrated and composed. Pushed all of my buttons, S's too. He hadn't heard of it before and immediately decided he had to apply. Though I loved the idea of going there myself I wasn't so thrilled with the idea of S being so far away. We knew we wouldn't be able to afford to bring him home at Thanksgiving. It all worked out in the end as he didn't get admitted.</p>
<p>Xiggi, while my first child was inundated with mail from WashU, my youngest hasn't received any yet. He did very well on the PSAT as a sophomore, and has gotten tons of other mail. I wonder if they've changed their process. Or maybe it will start later this year.</p>
<p>Best I have seen was from Pratt Institute and MICA.Tyler School of Art of Temple University was pretty impressive too. Even School of Visual Arts had a great looking catalog, as was the view book from Syracuse University and RIT. However, all the schools mentioned had good art programs.</p>
<p>i liked Columbia and USC's -- the mail they sent when you signed up for their mailling list...Notre Dame really didnt do any recruiting until after they accepted you, which was weird. I would have given them more thought if they had sent that sort of material earlier.</p>
<p>I should be jaded by WashU's continual mailings (just got another today, to add to the pile of scholarship applications, financial aid papers, regular applications, etc.), but I can't help but find it at least somewhat comforting to think that they've gone out of their way to send me things (although my position isn't quite the same on the equaly persistant Messiah College and UCF). </p>
<p>However, I absolutely loathe the fake little "handwritten postcards" that come every now and then from the University of Chicago. They're always so blandly peppy and written in different but very readable handwriting and so personal in their messages for Generic High-Schooler #7589237598 that it makes me want to vomit.</p>
<p>We loved Olin's mailings. Some came with duct tape on the spine, and in metalic static-free pouches. Just right for engineers. :) (And the content was excellent, too, with very good design.)</p>
<p>MIT does an amazing job wooing their EA acceptees. Once the "big envelope" arrived, there were holiday cards cut like snowflakes and hand signed by the admissions staff, several other mailings and cards and postcards... just enough, though, not <em>too</em> much. Nice marketing work, it did have an impact.</p>
<p>My daughter really enjoyed one particular mailing from Goucher. It was simply a book of post card sized pictures of various students and close ups on student back packs. Nothing overly posed, just lots of faces and details. She said it was the only mailing she's received where she felt like they showed something that let her decide if she'd fit in.</p>
<p>SHARE THE LOVE ....Yeah we all hate junk mail but remember the kids at your school from the other side of town may not get all the annoying junk mail that you do so.... I'm pasting in a suggestion I mentioned in another thread :
Last year my teacher advisor had a big laundry basket in the back of our room. we could bring in any college mailings that we did not want to keep and toss it in the basket. Everybody could look through it but we had an honor system thing to keep the stuff in the basket to share. As the year went on it was the best treasure chest and we had lots of lunch time discussions and arguments around the college laundry basket. It was more casual and fun than going to the library or the office to look at college stuff. Some students don't get all these mailings so it was helpful to have this pile in the room. Kids from other rooms could use it too it was a real magnet. It was overflowing after a while.</p>
<p>5 years ago, my son really liked the humorous mailings from Macalester - and the mail campaign was successful in terms of getting him to interview & to apply. I'm not so sure how much good that did for Mac, though -- my son never had any serious intention of going to school in Minnesota. He was heavily recruited by them because of his NM status - and it was a great ego boost when he got in.... but on Mac's end, it was a waste of money. </p>
<p>My d. got a mailing this week from Wesleyan that really impressed her, though she is not considering Wes. She really liked the way the package was organized with different magazine-formatted brochures highlighting different aspects of college life. She thought it was beautifully laid out, and liked the fact that one of the brochures was focused on housing with lots of dorm pictures. (But Wes wouldn't be a good choice for the majors she is interested in).</p>
<p>I also thought the pictures from Goucher that Carolyn mentioned were quite interesting - they had more of a sense of being candid, not the usual promotional, most-attractive-students on campus studying on the lawn look. </p>
<p>I think targeted mail is probably most effective - d. is interested in studying international relations, and this week got a one page letter from the "John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy & International Relations" at Seton Hall. From the letter, she was ready to enroll right then and there -- all it did was outline their program. With a little internet research we learned that the school is not quite up to the standards of other programs she is looking at. But definitely it is worthwhile for a lesser known college to mail out info specific to majors they offer.</p>
<p>Union has a very nice viewbook. DD has received THREE of them unsolicited. Enough is enough. The most "vanilla" viewbook was Pepperdine. All the kids looked the same.</p>
<p>Yeah WUSTL is weird - DD got a cold call from Harvard, if you can believe, probably a combination of PSAT and zip code, but only one or two pieces of mail (if that) from WUSTL. Swat, Colby and St. John's were my favorites, for different reasons, Williams' is well done, too.</p>
<p>ON a slight tangent - did anyone have a viewbook incineration party? We did, in the family barbecue - sorry, Xiggi, back to the regularly scheduled thread.</p>