Right. But it’s marketing. The question was why it got hot. The answers I read were that it did this and that and it marketed itself.
This is marketing.
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I gues it is a chicken-egg issue. I saw no marketing from Elon itself, but the USNWR award caught my attention on that site. Maybe some have been motivated by direct marketing. More likely by word of mouth among students in the Boston-DC corridor. I really don’t know whether it dramatically increased its advertising budget from, say, 2014 ( when it was not hot) to 2020 ( hot)
My thoughts … doesn’t marketing contribute to the “hotness” of anything? Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.
Regardless, the US News accolades are really quite impressive. #1 Undergrad teaching, #2 First Year Experiences, #3 Service learning, #1 Learning communities, #3 Study Abroad, #5 senior capstone, #7 undergrad research #9 internships
Of all schools considered Elon has the most “Top 10” placement in these areas that are considered central to student success.
I would say it is marketing to put those rankings front and center AND it helps explain why it got hot. Here are other reasons, in my opinion:
- I think there’s something about the visits that are enchanting to many. The students are remarkably nice. (I sat in the cafeteria and watched as virtually every single student made it a point to say thank you and chat with staff.) It is known for having kindness on campus.
- There is a diversity of experience including diversity of guest speakers.
- Historically, it has been a little cheaper with lower rate of increase in tuition than many others. Not sure that is still the case
- The professors and administrations are, by and large, extremely available to both students and kids. I don’t think students feel “like a number” for the most part.
- It became a viable “safety” school for applicants to very impressive schools (Duke, UNC, etc). I think they now try to minimize accepting kids who are applying for “safety”, but for a while I suspect it bumped up the academic standards of students.
- And … “hotness” just happens. Here in the midwest, suddenly a lot of high schoolers started talking about going to Clemson, Alabama, S Carolina, N Carolina, etc. Big interest in the southern schools.
Personally, I think Elon is still in a positive trajectory and that their name will continue to become increasingly recognized.
All that said, hot or not, it’s not the right school for everyone.
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Yes. That’s the point of my post.
Their marketing has substance.
I do agree that the higher admissions rate combined with slightly lower cost and better weather contributed to the new popularity. As an aging parent, I’m looking to move out of the northeast eventually and NC is attractive to us, especially since Florida (where we have a lot of family and friends) seems to be going the opposite way of my values.
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Sure. Who said it didn’t?
I’m not aware of many legitimate schools whose marketing materials don’t. Maybe there are some, but probably not the norm.
Good luck finding your retirement home. A bit of advice from a former Floridian: the further south you go on your side of the country, the greater the number of animals present who would love to eat your cats.
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Being in the south definitely helps. We moved to NC 12 years ago from Long Island, the HS my kids would have gone to has ironically turned into a feeder school for Elon. There are about 10 kids from the class of 2022 at Elon from that HS out of about 300 grads. My freshman’s HS class here in NC graduated 500 and she is one of two who went to Elon, there’s usually only one or two. People want to get out of the northeast and they want their kids to also. The other reason for the difference is the wonderful state uni system in NC - at least half of my kids’ graduating classes went to NC colleges, including my son. It’s a fantastic deal, DD just didn’t want to go to college with all her HS peers.
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My contribution to the ‘hot/marketing’ discussion as a parent of an Elon senior is that yes, Elon is GREAT at marketing including admissions visits, materials, and website, but the substance behind the marketing is solidly there, in terms of performance and student experience.
@pdiddy123 , if you are interested in being a Communications major, I would say that this is Elon’s star. It’s an excellent program with well known grads and connections and opportunities, and very impressive facilities, etc. (FYI my son is not a comm major). From the looks of it from the outside it is a strategic priority of the school and is probably working its way up the rankings as well. As for Denver vs Elon…the surroundings are incredibly different. What do you like to do in your spare time? I think that many incoming freshmen might overestimate the amount of time they will spend off campus in the surrounding area, but, someone who really wants the activities/atmosphere of a downtown urban atmosphere such as DU will find Elon (the town) lacking.
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Continuing the discussion from Elon Got "Hot". Why?:
My daughter is a sophomore at Elon. She, and we (parents) could not be happier with her experience and the school thus far. Every dimension, from logistics and cost, to quality of learning, faculty support, and life, has been outstanding. They have a brilliant strategy and leadership which I believe will land them firmly among the bigger “brand names” in the coming years. As our son begins his search, he is benchmarking every school vs. Elon. Just last week we met another Elon parent randomly on the street (thanks to both wearing Elon shirts) and instantly bonded over what a special place it is.
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We did an admitted student tour of Elon last week. My child expected to hate it because she knows many who used it as a safety, so she underestimated it. She ended up really liking it. The kids looked very happy ( a sharp contrast to a school we visited the day before where the kids were all walking alone and looked very unhappy). I would be happy if she chose it.
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Looking forward to our visit! We live 40 min away but have never been to campus. Only heard good things. My son’s only a HS sophomore, so we’re just seeing UNC, NCSU, and Elon over Spring break just to slowly get him thinking about colleges. He didn’t accompany us on any of my '22 daughter’s visits. She was looking at big engineering schools, so we didn’t give Elon it a look. I do agree with folks upthread about why it’s not more popular with NC folks. Indeed, our public system is great with lower cost choices. Everyone we know who’s gone to Elon has really liked it, but they’ve also all been folks who pay the equivalent of NC public school tuition (due to the generosity of the children’s tuition benefit offered to employees of Duke University).
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I think this hits the nail on the head. Elon seems to have made a conscious decision at some point to differentiate itself as a well-run business that offers value to their customers, a place where parents feel like they’re actually getting something for their $, instead of selling itself on its reputation as an academic research institution (a game it’s never going to win in the short to medium term, especially in North Carolina) or by injecting tons of money to its athletic programs (which again takes years to pay dividends in terms of branding). This efficiency of operations allows them to offer something unique: a private university education that’s not outrageously expensive. The timing of that has combined with other factors like the expanded use of the Common App, test-optional applications, and general demographic/population movement from North to South. So they’re filling a market demand that may not have existed a decade or two ago. I had never heard of anyone from our Midwest state going there 5 years ago, and now there are several from our D’s high school every year. For the parents of a student who’s competent and talented but not at the level who’s going to gain admission to Wake or Davidson, the extra $20-25k/year to send their kid to TCU or Fairfield or Bard or wherever might not seem worth it.
It’s not for everyone, obviously. The campus feels (to my eyes, ymmv of course) a bit like a large corporate office park. If a kid’s looking for the school spirit and social things that come from big time sports, of course, Elon’s not the place to be when compared to larger public schools elsewhere in the South. And for anyone heading there in at least the next 10-15 years, they’d best be committed to moving to Charlotte, RDU, Atlanta, etc., at least for their first job.
But it’s definitely filling a market need.
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My kid graduated in 2021. Works in SF. Her roommates are working in NYC and Boston. I didnt notice any regional bias in hiring.
Maybe its all the parents in corporate positions but the pipeline to NYC and DC seems strong.
Per first destination data, 24% end up in NC, 20% in NY and 12% in MA. Aggregating the DMV area is another 7 or 8%.
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Interesting. I would imagine your mention of parental connections might play a role, especially when so many of the students at Elon are from the NE. Or those three instances could be anomalous, or I could be totally on the wrong track. I would still guess the alumni connectivity of say, Syracuse grads in NYC or IU grads in Chicago or DU grads in Denver will open doors in those markets for kids from those schools that may not be available for the average Elon grad without a “who you know” leg up.
Elon has a well-regarded undergrad business school that places well among financial firms in NYC. My unconnected kid had no problem securing offers
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Good to her the admitted student tour was worthwhile. We can make one of the big admitted student weekends, so will be going to one of the tours on a weekday. My DS isn’t so interested in the tour/campus (though he probably will go to Elon!), but I would like to see where he potentially may be for the next 4 years.
I’m late to the party here, but I very much disagree with your comment about committing to “moving to Charlotte, RDU, Atlanta, etc for their 1st job.” This may have been the case in the past, but at least for students in business, companies in the Midwest and Northeast tend to be VERY aware of Elon and exceptionally interested in Elon students. (I have no info on other geographic areas.) No doubt, the general public is probably less aware of Elon than the businesses who will be hiring. I do think it takes a certain kind of kid (and parent?) to let go of the “big name school” mentality and look at schools for more than reputation (which is, I know, important). My kid gladly chose Elon over Wake and other “big name” schools. No regrets.
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D24 and I listened in on a virtual info session last week. We were blown away by all the opportunities available at Elon and were impressed by the presenter and current students on the Zoom. It shot way up her list of schools she’s planning on applying to. Her sister chose a non brand name school and is thriving. This is going a long way in helping D24 keep an open mind when looking at schools.
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We visited last week and Elon lived up to our high expectations. D24 said she finally found a less selective school that she’d be thrilled to attend. A huge relief for all of us going into an application process where things are unpredictable. We love that this school caters to all kinds of students. It’s a gorgeous campus that seems full of opportunities for any kid looking for them. The one reservation D24 has is that it’s not very racially diverse but it did seem inclusive and welcoming to all.
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We really liked it. My son didn’t end up attending there, but our family would have been very happy for him to go there if it had worked out that way.
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