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- Repetitive mailings (I don't need the same letter five times over or multiple letters every week)
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beloved alma mater for both H and I didn't get S's name right on correspondence,
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We have students who put themselves on the mailing list so many times...we try to catch them, but it's impossible to correct or delete every single inquiry record. </p>
<p>Sometimes, one person will sign up for the mailing list with a nickname (Jenn Smith), then the SAT score shows up with the full name (Jennifer A. Smith), and then another postcard is filled out in a rush (chicken scratch) and gets entered improperly in the system. Duplicate or incorrect records aren't a message about how important you are, it's just a function of the number of records we have in our inquiry systems.</p>
<p>Least successful marketing (for my daughter): the flood of literature of all kinds from WashU; she did not consider herself a likely admit at all (accurate assessment, in my opinion), never expressed interest, and was still inundated with mail.
Admissions staff impressions were very important to her--the ad officer giving the presentation she hit at Tufts had a good sense of humor (but she didn't apply because she eventually found other schools she liked better that were also more likely to admit her); continued personal attention from her regional rep at Dickinson may end up being a clincher (always one of her favorites, anyway); cheerful, helpful responses to a few phone calls she made to the Brandeis admissions and financial aid offices added to the general welcoming attitude that was conveyed by a plate of warm chocolate chip cookies and very personable student guides when she visited. There is another school still on the short list, Conn College, which is surprising to me because it was a late discovery for her and impossible to visit. She likes the sense of the place that she gets from the website; I guess I should start a thread seeking input after we really sit down and identify program and financial pros and cons, because she is stuck making a final decision from afar.</p>
<p>I do LOTS of online research. I <em>despise</em> cutesy, artsy, high-Flash, lots-of-blank-space Websites that force me to decipher whatever mystical connections are necessary to find what I want. The UW Website does a lot of this and it's a horror. Give me a good honest 2001-era text-heavy site with clear navigation tools any day. </p>
<p>I'd even go so far as to say that any Website with a black background automatically stinks.</p>