Chicago Tribune college trends article

Parent Cafe
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<p>Colleges court prospies and tout their programs through revamped websites, blogs, podcasts, Facebook, YouTube, text messaging and online video newsletters - and, of course, CC.</p>

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"It's a very different world out there," says Mabel Freeman, Ohio State's assistant vice president of undergraduate admissions. "In the old days, you knew who was interested because they had to write to you and ask [for information]. Now, students could be thinking about you, talking to others about you and deciding not to pursue you before you have any knowledge."....Just as hotel managers monitor travel review sites, college admissions officers now check out college-review sites such as collegeconfidential.com. Northwestern University assigns one counselor to monitor the comments and check for misinformation, says Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admissions. "She can drop in occasionally and put in information that students can read. Every year we look at how students communicate and how we can be involved in those discussions."</p>

<p>Some college officials, however, are wary about using the latest technology. "We can't think of the choice of college as an impulse purchase, and if you hit students with the right message on their cell phone, that they will enroll in your institution," says Jon Boeckenstedt, DePaul University's associate vice president of enrollment services. "I would like to think the decision is a little more serious than that."

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<p><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-mxa0812magcollegetrendsaug12,0,1545689.story?page=1%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/magazine/chi-mxa0812magcollegetrendsaug12,0,1545689.story?page=1&lt;/a>
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<p>Thank you for this post.A Mom of an incoming freshman.</p>

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<p>Best of luck to you and your family, APOL.</p>

<p>Even though the article was entitled "High school seniors are courting more colleges than ever before", the article did a pretty fine job of showing how college recruiting has geared up a notch or two in the courting ritual. Apart from the turn away from snail mail brochures and viewbooks, international recruiting seems to be on the upswing:</p>

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College admissions officers are taking recruiting trips all over the map, from China and Thailand to India and Dubai.</p>

<p>In the past year, Northwestern University recruiters visited seven Asian countries, Central and South America and Canada. It seems to have paid off: Northwestern applications from international students jumped 62 percent last year, to 2,171. Applications overall increased 19.3 percent.</p>

<p>Still, this fall's freshmen class will have the same percentage of foreign students as in recent years--about 5 percent, says Keith Todd, director of undergraduate admissions. "If we got a huge influx of amazing students applying, that could change. It is a good addition to our population...</p>

<p>At Harvard University, foreign students will make up about 9 to 10 percent of the freshmen class this fall, up from 3 percent about 20 years ago. Last year's recruiting spots included India, Pakistan and parts of Africa, says admissions dean Bill Fitzsimmons....

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