<p>And before you all roll your eyes (as I would :), we went to an event at Brown over the weekend and I noticed a kid passing a mini-business card of sorts to the recruiter. It was kind of neat (I asked him for one :) and it had his name, email, high school, and then a line that says (i'm going to paraphrase here to keep his privacy): Student athlete, Paid employee at family coffee shop, Avid learner." And the card itself was very well designed.</p>
<p>Dumb? or Good?</p>
<p>How about pretentious? Or poseur? Almost sounds neo-Victorian, like those calling cards women used to leave at houses. Only tackier.</p>
<p>MrMom:This idea isn’t new. Cards for students isn’t unheard of. Passed out to college reps at college fairs. If you’ve ever been to them, they can be cattle calls.</p>
<p>Another twist on this is a sheet of pre-printed name stickers – for the sign up sheets at larger college fairs. </p>
<p>The idea behind this is for the college rep to have something convenient from interested students. You may or may not be aware but some colleges really value students’ demonstrated interest. These tend to be lesser known colleges that really are trying to scoop up some viable applicants.</p>
<p>Brown is not one however and the kid’s efforts amounted to nothing however. For the most competitive colleges, they don’t weigh any demonstrated interest other than an actual application.</p>
<p>I know all about demonstrated interest, but a card is known as “trying too hard” in my book. It would make you stand out, but I’m not sure in a good way. </p>
<p>Think about it from a college reps point of view. (I’m not one, but let’s imagine we are.) At a cattle call, they likely have signup sheets. Everyone uses them. If you hand me a card, I now have to put it in my pocket and then transfer your info, all while not losing your card. I’m going to remember you as the pain-in-the-butt kid who wouldn’t just sign my list. At least pre-printed stickers go on the list. </p>
<p>Don’t make life more difficult for the college reps!</p>
<p>But you’re acting as if the cards are a new thing. They aren’t. They’ve been around a long while – I agree that they have extremely limited utility – but I don’t think anyone would be aghast at receiving one.</p>
<p>(caveat: I recruit for an HYP. I throw away cards given to me later in the evening b/c we track none of that stuff)</p>
<p>It’s possible it’s a regional thing. Here in the Midwest, I’ve never seen any such thing, but my history is limited to my daughter’s college search.</p>
<p>In my uninformed opinion, I would agree with MrMom. The recruiters always have a sign-up sheet where interested students list their information in a standard format. I would imagine the recruiter hands these sheets to an administrative assistant when back on campus. The college fairs can have dozens or hundreds of students contacted at each event. It would be a hassle to keep track of this many cards, which will likely vary ever-so-slightly in size and paperweight, making them difficult to organize.</p>
<p>Perhaps it would be easier to have a “resume” printed on 8.5" x 11" paper? This should make it easier for the recruiter to keep track of.</p>