<p>@alexamt - you may want to have a talk with the CCU marketing department. They should have access to lots of information, both general and specific, on successful marketing approaches for CCU applicants (based on focus groups, market research data, etc.). Of course, not all of it may apply to your specific target market segment of MT applicants. However, they may be able to offer some useful advice and information on how best to approach applicants and give you some ideas about basic recruiting techniques using social media, when to use “hard sell” vs. “soft sell,” how to identify and tailor your approach for specific types of applicants, etc. You may be able to build off the techniques that they use to think of ways to improve your approach. At the very least, it will probably be a good exercise for you in learning more about marketing and how it works, which is a very important part of the theatre industry (market segmentation and product differentiation and compelling reasons to buy, oh my!).</p>
<p>I know the very mention of “marketing” may be distasteful to many involved in the college application process, but believe me, it is a big business and successful players are those that best apply fundamental marketing techniques. Any time you are competing for buyers, you are in a marketing situation.</p>
<p>No, that’s a great idea! Being right by Myrtle Beach, the school even has a notoriously good marketing department (go figure- golf and resort tourism!), so thank you for the tip. :)</p>
<p>I think recruiting emails are nice, and certainly offers of more money are WONDERFUL, but phone calls asking where you are in the decision-making process are too much pressure. My daughter would look at her phone, see it was from one of her schools, and not answer. Weighing the pros and cons was overwhelming enough in her own head; she didn’t want to have to share those feelings with someone she didn’t know well from a school she may or may not attend and be pressured for a decision. Of course if WE called, we wanted to be treated like royalty, lol.</p>
<p>And Alexa, while Coastal Carolina was not on our radar this year for my son’s search, I have heard many fine things about it this year while on CC. In three years, if my daughter is still interested in MT, it will certainly be one we steer her towards. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>I did appreciate the approach at the information meetings of this is what we have to offer and this is what sets us apart from other places. Also when students talked about what they liked. Both my D and I were very turned off when a top school basically bashed every program during their talk and said you can get were you want to be professionally if you don’t go here but it will just take you a lot longer. Their arrogance was too much. There is a line of saying how good you are and being too elitist.</p>
<p>Alexismt the checking in and soft sell really is a lot better. I know we appreciated that approach with schools. I think telling what is special about your program is the best and not bringing the negatives about others is what works best.</p>
<p>@Calliene, I understand completely. We received phone calls like that from admissions or current students and such. But most of those phone calls came from admissions after S had applied before the actual audition. The college had accepted but the MT program had not yet. The right hand did not know what the left hand was doing. And sometimes we received those phone calls or emails from admissions AFTER we turned down a programs. I mean WEEKS after. My S often did not want to engage. I looked at it as an opportunity for him to deal with an adult situation. Yes, it was awkward. No, you don’t have to share everything. Listen. If you have a question, ask. Thank them for their time. Welcome to adulthood. But I get it. Easier to let it ring. I would answer and hand him the phone. Our kids live in the text, email and tweet generation. (sigh.)</p>
<p>I’ll chime in on phone calls and emails from students. I hate them. Dept. heads would be wonderful but current students pushing a school you may or may not want to attend is just annoying. I would also hate to be asked by a stranger about my decision making process. Not helpful. Please stop.</p>
<p>Alexa MT: some things I know we wanted reassurance about from the up and coming programs that you may want to include in marketing materials:
. Success of students and grads - where are they getting jobs.<br>
. Background and connections of faculty
. Master class teachers and guest directors/choreographers - how long are they there, how many each year, what do they do
. Scholarships - would be helpful to stack talent with academic - something to discuss with admissions
. Performance opportunities
. Study abroad/NYC
. Videos of past productions and performances
. Location - I for one like the schools not in the big cities as I feel students can focus and train without the distractions the city provides. But many kids are scared of the more remote locations. Talk about this and how grads get connected in the city after graduation. Take away that concern.</p>
<p>I think you all do have a very personal touch already – sometimes it can just come down to a gut feeling and Chemistry and theres not much you can do about that. I know we have several friends who are thrilled to be part of your next year’s freshman class, and we will continue to highly recommend your program even though it ultimately was not the best fit for our daughter, we appreciated your interest in her - and your program definitely made her decision tougher. keep up the good work! CCU is definitely a program to be reckoned with! And you do a great job representing them.</p>
<p>I think a college that uses ego gratification for recruiting more students is going to get students who value ego gratification, bombast and glitter. And a college like AlexaMT’s, which uses honesty, will yield students who value honesty and directness. </p>
<p>So what’s your thing? Do you like being around posers and shouters (“Look at me! No, look at MEEEE!”)? For my own kids, honesty, openness and quiet support is far preferable. </p>
<p>So to answer your question, AlexaMT, no, you shouldn’t change anything. I’m sorry the desired students left, but who can say why? I don’t think adding smoke and mirrors and noise will help your program at all. At they very least, it’ll attract the sort of students who will fundamentally change the culture of your program as it is now.</p>
<p>It’s sort of like dating. There are always people who argue that you should be fake when dating, that that’s the way you’ll ‘get your man.’ (or woman). You should lie, conceal, pretend to be very hard to get or pretend whatever–and that’s how you’ll lure your guy or gal. The thing is, yeah, you might, but then what kind of marriage will you have?</p>
<p>A BFA Program is a long term relationship. If you <em>start</em> with glitter and falseness and ego stroking, what kind of relationship will you have a few years down the road?</p>
<p>I agree about the constant emails and phone calls, especially from current students. And I will be quite honest, I do wonder about the relationship between any program that has a large number of students accepted from one particular coach.</p>
<p>Connections, I agree 100%. And I think that the acceptance itself is an ego boost and an acknowledgement of the school they are interested in you. </p>
<p>AlexMT…I also agree that you do it right and I have never read anything negative about your audition process or your acceptance methods. Not broken!!!</p>
<p>So I don’t really think that someone who has been accepted into a big bunch of top tier schools is looking for an ego boost. That was not my child, sadly, but I can certainly understand wanting to be more than the next name on the list when you are talking about a pricey program and a huge commitment. The learning process in this field is very personal and I get the need for feeling a personal connection. But both of my kids, MT or not, ducked as many student recruiter calls as possible and wouldn’t be swayed one way or the other by those under any circumstances.</p>
<p>I teach at both an undergraduate and graduate level, and I’m trying to reconcile the chase for top MT students with what I see in a science department. We want to get top notch students because it would allow us to attract more students, which in turn can lead to enhanced enrollment in the entire department, which then allows more faculty to be hired, more research dollars, and such. But it seems like an MT department is different, in that most restrict class sizes to a small number to provide the individual attention needed in the field, plus unless I’m wrong there aren’t a lot of federal research dollars going to MT departments.</p>
<p>I’d be interested in responses from faculty or department chairs as to what the impetus would be to spend a ton of $$ to try and attract the “top” MT students. What is the short and long term benefit to the program by doing so? It seems inherently obvious you’d want to do that, but I’m not sure how it would have tangible benefits, other than bragging rights as to how many of your students made it on Broadway.</p>
<p>If it helps AlexaMT, part of the reason I am really encouraging my juniors this year to research CCU is because of how refreshingly honest you have been on CC. I feel that I can trust the things you say because its not all “MY PROGRAM IS THE BEST AND THERE ARE NO OTHER GOOD PROGRAMS OUT THERE!”. It was really refreshing.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, I can’t control where they all ultimately apply but I know that most, if not all of my juniors will consider the program.</p>
<p>You should feel good about your honest approach. I agree about the dating metaphor. You want to present who you really are and you will attract like-minded people :)</p>
<p>Also, I know a few pages back someone was asking about CCM boys. It seems CCM is dripping with boys this year. One of my female performers is going next year and is one of 8 girls and I think there are 14 or 15 boys!</p>
<p>Is that where all the boys are this year? I know there were 8 offers out on Jan 18 when my son auditioned. He was waitlisted by CCM and he was called the other day to see if he was still interested. Wonder what that is about?</p>
<p>I would hope schools take note of comments made at post #128 by vvnstar. This is a good list - a good start. I would add telling prospective students about the day-to-day program. What makes you so special? I loved when schools told us about their specific program, their teachers, their opportunities. Fluff pieces about how one school is the up and coming “it” school is just not helpful. We sat through one of those this year and it was a HUGE turnoff. I don’t want a school telling us it is so great - I want it to tell us what they do and let us figure out how great (or not) it is.</p>
<p>So many wonderful comments that I can’t reply to them all personally (crap, my recruitment skills are failing!) but I really appreciate everyone’s responses. I will continue to stay on this path, but improve what I can “marketing” wise, and I think if kgjc gets a chance to see the recent posts in this thread, as I know he previously posted, he’ll be picking up all of this wonderful info as well!</p>
<p>As I have said in the past, OMG! How did “feeling like they want your kid” turn into ego stroking and fawning over??? Isn’t it good recruiting if a college says they would like to work with your child, they think your child would be successful and their school, and they think they can help your child have a career. Is that too much to ask for committing thousands of $$$$ to them? Some never say it! And how about if they ask you how much you can REALLY afford and is there a way they can help make it happen? Sitting on your reputation does no good if there is no way to pay for it. CC states it over and over again that you will make little money when you graduate. Apply, pay the fees, months later we’ll tell you what it costs FOR YOU. Don’t get me started on coaching because some of these comments are made by the same people that think college recruiting is fair (or should be). OMG</p>