<p>Not sure this is a ■■■■■ as much as an ignorant poster. Either way, good to clear it up at least once. Looking at some of the other posts by iamtbh, he doesn’t appear to be a ■■■■■, just a bit ignorant on this issue. It happens. It would be nice if he learned not to be snarky until he knows the facts.</p>
<p>let’s take marketing strategy and tactics. Different companies might employ the exact same tactics with entirely different strategic goals in mind. For example, high end automobile companies as well as lower end ones might employ similar advertising time slots on television, similar warrenty promises, even similar financing options and yet have very different target customers and sales goals. Certainly high end schools like Wash U and Chicago are in a somewhat different position than Tulane, who is in a very different position than the schools he mentions. Yet they all are “famous” for heavy e-mailing, mailings, and other techniques for encouraging students (for example, Wash U pays for the best students to come visit, something I wish Tulane would do). It is all about reaching a goal the most efficient and/or effective way possible. In Tulane’s case, the goal to to get a student body with a profile more similar to Wash U, Vandy, Emory, etc. In the case of MSM and St. Rose, it is about making sure the schools continue to fill all the seats, I assume. Hard to see what is wrong with any of that. Of course the Havards of this world don’t have to do that, although they still do it to a smaller extent. My D received completely unsolicited letters from all the Ivies because of her SAT scores and grades. They didn’t pour it on after that, although both Columbia and Cornell did a few mailings, not just the one.</p>
<p>So I see it as a chance to inform a bit. Sometimes they are ■■■■■■ and it is hopeless. Other times it actually helps. I was probably a bit harsh in my response, actually. Snarky uninformed quips like iamtbh’s do that to me sometimes.</p>
<p>FC- read his past posts and posting pattern in other threads.</p>
<p>Agreed, FC-- good oppty to educate, even if some snarky retort will likely follow our comments. As an aside, my s’s got several mailings from Harvard, Cal Tech and others, along with the standard volume from Wash U and a few others (I forget who). There was one school – have no idea how my younger s got on their radar, that sent weekly mailings. It was a small school I was unfamiliar with- and it was a religious based school that was not our faith. Funny how our kids get on these mailing lists., but higher education is a business, and marketing is an understandible (well, to most reasonable people) part of that business strategy.</p>
<p>You can include WashU and UChicago if you wish. I wouldn’t characterize what I said as “ignorant.” It IS nice to know that Tulane shares something in common with College of Saint Rose and Mount St. Mary’s University. I appreciate the Tulane parent for posting such informative links.</p>
<p>Not paid for, lol. But sure, word of mouth is a valuable marketing tool. One of the most effective of all when you can get it.</p>
<p>The obvious inference of your original comment was that Tulane was lowering itself by using the same strategy as those schools that are clearly tiers belows Tulane. Tulane was actually a leader in this area. It is nothing to be ashamed of. Quite the opposite I think. It is silly to pretend to be in the same situation as HYPS schools when that simply is not the case. That is one tactic, along with many others, that Wash U employed to rise in prestige and academic profile.</p>
<p>Some people look down their noses at these efforts, but that is just silly. Like I said, why market like Harvard when you are not Harvard? There are a lot of electrons used to compare business schools and their merits on CC, so it is kind of ironic that when a school actually uses sound business principles to achieve a successful result, people complain about it. But this is exactly the kind of thing you learn in marketing courses.</p>
And there was a testimonial from Emory, who has been a customer of theirs since 1995.
Enrollment management is big business. Maybe our ■■■■■ will apply for one of their summer internship opportunities, since he has such positive things to say about so many institutions of higher learning :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Both of my daughters received several free applications. Only one of them was inclined to fill out the Tulane application. Regardless of cost, it’s still a pain in the a** to do yet one more. And there still was an optional essay which if you really want to be considered, you should do. There was something intriguing about Tulane that made her fill it out and now she’s so glad that she did because that’s the college she selected.</p>
<p>Chemist, your daughter wasn’t selected to receive mailings because of her SAT scores. Those mailings went to everyone. I laughed when I saw them.</p>
<p>I dont think that is correct, SJUHawk. Enrollment management strategy targets apppropriate and desired candidates. Schools don’t send out mailings to “everyone” . That would be inefficient and prohibitively expensive (at least the snail mail ones). As you know, they identify students by many variables, and PSAT, SAT and ACT scores are definitely one. Tick off that box on the answer sheet, and with the right threshold scores, the mailboxes will runneth over with college junk mail. Many of my s’s friends received free/streamlined applications offers from differing schools, but many did not.</p>
<p>Along with USC, the University of Florida has done a fantastic job using winning athletic programs to drive the interest up in the school and as a result the ‘quality’ of applicants.</p>