Need a little help from students about to enter college - or in college

[mycattoldme]

Hi all! I need your help! I've been out of college for many years and it seems that I may have the opportunity to design a direct mail recruitment piece for a tier 1 college - the piece will be the initial search piece sent to high school students. The goal of the piece is to get students interested enough to ask for more information by going to a web site or returing a postage paid card.

Now my question is when conducting your college search what made you respond to the very first promotional piece you received? I know that one thing may have been cost, and the other was problably location and your test scores, but aside from that -- what did you like/want to see - pictures of the campus or town, pictures of other students, lifestyle pictures of dorm life? If you received information from a college you were not familiar with what did you see in their literature that made you think that college might be a possiblity for you?

The other side of this is what turned you off about the material you were sent? Pictures of dorm life, the campus, did the information and pictures in the piece look like it appealed to your parents more than you?

My other question is -- what if you were to receive a DVD that gave you a video campus walkthrough - if the walkthrough looked interesting would you request more information or do you think it might show you too many things you didn't really want to know at that point? What if you were to receive a poster with lots of pictures and information about successful graduates - artists, lawyers, media personalities? What if it was a simple personal invitation with a few nice pictures from a graduating senior at the college or from one of the professors?

Ok, one more - if you had to reduce all your questions about a college down to one single question or concern what would it be? Would it be about personal security, would it be will this college guarantee my success, would it be will this college be a fun place to live and learn? Or would it be something else?

Thanks in advance for your help - I really want to be able to come up with a cool concept for this college - can't tell you who it is - but I'd really appreciate knowing what your concerns are or were when choosing your college and what drove you to respond to the initial information a college sent you.

:D

[SweetpeaAeryn]

I'm currently a college senior... but I'll take a stab. I also work in the theatre office here at Millikin with the prospective students so I'm around them a bit still.

When I was looking for colleges when it came to pictures I remember always wondering what dorm rooms looked like. It was good to see students in action, too. Like not only in the classroom but in the community (or for me schools since I'm an ed major.)

The DVD idea is really cool. I would have personally liked that.

Hmm... one question about college. Is the education worth the price? For me, the education and the reputation of the program were at the top of my list. Then I looked at price.

I'm pretty interested in this stuff as not only a college student but a soon-to-be high school college prep teacher. If you have any more questions... I'd be glad to offer my opinion or observations I've seen in personally working with prospective students.

[freckle]

when i was appling to college, i must admit it was the glossy brochure that attracted me.Besides that it was the way the course material was printed.Clear concise and no having to constantly refer to other Prospectus' or appendixes etc etc.
A dvd is great idea.
Id be more likely to ask for more info or even apply straight away if i was sent an informative and lively dvd rather than a paper brochure.You can never see too much of college life before applying.

[Owlman]

Due to my major, I basically had to decide between Sam and Alabama. Since Sam was only fourty minutes, I went there. There wasn't really much debating for me.

[Zutulu]

The DVD idea is a really cool one. I would have looked at those.

I like having a clear, concise overview of course offerings, as well as an idea of how big the campus/class size is.

Pictures are good, too, but I actually got sick of seeing just people. I know there's going to be people at a college, I was more interested in seeing the campus, the average classroom, the dorm rooms, the amount of nature on or near campus, the proximity to a city, and so on.

I suppose, to boil it all down into one issue: it's a matter of comfort; comfort in the academic offerings, comfort in the surroundings both in and out of the classroom, comfort in my money being well spent ;)

[AgentSun]

the biggest draw for high school kids is seeing the kinds of fun they could have. they don't want a place that seems stuffy. second is the dorm life. third is probably the specific education they would be able to get. say i am interested in going to college but i'm not sure what i want to study. a good college would try to make themselves appealing all around, highlight every major and make each of them seem inviting.

[mycattoldme]

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'm definately going to run with the DVD idea but I'm not sure if its something they can handle with the budget they have but heck it's a good idea! I was also thinking that seeing pictures of the dorms, the actual classrooms would be very interesting - like Zutulu said you know there are going to be people there!! :lol so why show copious amouts of people.

I still have a few days to get my act together for this so anyone else who would like to share their experince please chime in!