People People Deux

First, great to see everyone last week! There’s never enough time to connect and re-connect, is there? Thus, People People Deux. Here’s my tale. I was to join three colleagues for dinner on Friday. My flight back to SSAT was delayed to the point that I had to miss dinner.

So I returned to the Intercontinental Hotel (a hotel with an uncommon blend of excellence and mediocrity) and sent them all an email of apology and explanation. Well, their night was equally long and they didn’t return to the hotel until about midnight, after walking 15 minutes in the rain due to the absence of taxis. And it was at that time that independently each of them responded to my email. What were they doing? Why were they reading emails at midnight? I say this with as much self-curiosity as anything else, as I would have done the same thing.

Other than admissions, nothing bound them. 1 day; 2 boarding. 1 man; 2 women. 1 married; 1 divorced; 1 single. Their ages and tenures in admissions span decades. Why are so many of us like this and do such things? I say this with the hopes that my headmaster never stumbles upon my blog and reads this but I don’t think it’s a work ethic thing. I think it’s a People People thing. We want to know while we were away from email if anyone “reached out and touched us” (thank you AT&T). And we want to acknowledge (if not secretly reward and encourage) that communication by responding, and by responding on purpose at midnight.

Does anyone else in our school keep such hours and do such things? It’s not the job because certainly the head, dean of students, business manager, etc. all have demanding jobs and responsibilities. If it was the job or the position, our entire admin teams would be online at midnight doing this. It’s something that is inherently admissions-y or at least inherent in those drawn to our profession.

While I don’t think it’s a point of pride that we are all like this, I certainly do give thanks for my friends on the other end of the Blackberry. Travel safe everyone.

People People

Writing from SSATB and thinking about all that we’re being asked to do that is “virtual” and “online”. Even the Admissions Leadership Council (which you heard me speak of at today’s luncheon if you’re here in Boston) was debating meeting just once a year, and conducting the rest of our business through tweets, wiki, email, etc. Does anyone else believe this to be counter to the nature of your average admissions director?

We’re “people people”. While it may be exhausting or even frustrating at times, I think most of us would choose standing behind a table at a fair engaging a family in conversation over sitting behind a desk responding to emails. So how do we balance our innate “people-ness” with the manifold growing demands of web-based marketing, online applications, databases, social media and evolving technology? (If your office doesn’t have at least one iPad at this point, you can count yourself behind the curve!)

Fortunately for me, I had the opportunity to hire for it. I’ve got a young, bright, hard-working new staffer who loves all of this. She still needs guidance with messaging, brand and content, but how it gets into the virtual world and into the email inboxes of the right people is entirely on her. As for me, I had to go to the Tech Help Desk last week for assistance to change the batteries in my wireless keyboard.

It makes me wonder if the generation of admissions directors to follow is going to be required to have college degrees somehow related to technology. Has even the admissions profession gotten to the point whereby us liberal artists are no longer welcome? Will the new generation ever go out and meet people and engage them? Will future headmasters when hiring care if their admissions directors are personable, can look you in the eye, have a firm handshake, manage a decent outfit from out of a suitcase or even…gasp…tie a bowtie?

You can want 92...

In speaking with a colleague from another school last week, he was regaling me with the fact that his Board set an enrollment goal that would have required 92 new students this year, even though the highest they had ever enrolled in one year was 80 new students. And that was in a good economy. 92 is a 15% increase from the best record ever. Well...you can want 92 but you aren't getting 92. Now, as you read this, I am sure your blood is coming to a slow simmer with ill thoughts towards this Headmaster and Board. But I would challenge you to turn inward to yourself or at least to our profession. Whom do we allow to set enrollment expectations?

Whether or not you like Southwest Airlines (hello Shannon in Row 6), there is no question as to their success. And how are they successful? They brilliantly manage passenger expectations. We promise you no assigned seats. You get none. We show you no movies. You watch none. We offer you a rewards programme but you'll never get enough points to fly to Paris. I know that. Most everyone who buys a ticket on Southwest has a very clear expectation of what they will and will not get--and Southwest consistently delivers on that expectation, and is therefore one of the most financially successful airlines.

So, how astute are we at educating our Boards and Headmasters about total enrollment versus new student enrollment expectations? We are our school's "chief enrollment officer" and need to take the lead on the differentiation. If not us, then who? The formula shouldn't and can't read: Enrollment Goal - Returning Students = New Student Enrollment Goal. It must instead read,

New Student Enrollment Goal + Returning Students = Enrollment Goal.

But we aren't going to be credible in making this pitch if we don't use historical and data-driven predictions and recommendations, and mitigate those recommendations with current environmental factors such as competition, economy, and demographics. Do you know your five year average attrition and new enrollment rates by tuition? By grade? By gender? By boarding versus day? By domestic versus international? It takes a lot of time and can be built in Excel but the result is a fascinating and fantastic tool to begin the prediction of enrollment for next year if not the next five years. Play with it. Let your Headmaster, admin team and/or Board see how today’s first grade enrollment unveils sixth grade in five years.

Who is setting up the expectations for new student enrollment at your school? At the end of the flight...err day, it is still you who has to manage those expectations. You might want to fasten your seatbelt, stow your tray table, and put your seat in the upright position, and pay attention. If you want to be a Southwest Airlines-caliber admissions professional, then you need to first manage and then subsequently deliver on expectations.

(Un)Happy Labor Day

It wasn’t my intention to start the new school year with a negative post but I spent part of my holiday (Labor Day (aka Labour Day) is the only shared federal holiday between Canada and the U.S.) catching up on some reading, both paper and electronic. In doing so, I came across two short articles that got my attention—and not in a good way. The first from the Wall Street Journal is about a former admissions director who is now making money running a NYC service that helps children prep for the “playdate” common in elementary admissions processes. This article will have to sit with me for a bit although my initial impression is that I’m sad that our industry has driven families to such desperate measures and I’m a bit offended that a former admissions professional has decided to exploit this situation into personal profit, no doubt prostituting her former admissions experience as validity for her expertise and cost. Notice that no sitting admissions directors were quoted in the article.

The second article was sent by a friend asking what I thought as an admissions professional about an Episcopal/Anglican school that reversed its offer of admission upon realizing the applicant’s parents were both women. I had to first decide if I had to get over my embarrassment as a lifelong Anglican or as a 20-year admissions professional. But in the end, to answer my friend’s inquiry, this is the foundation of being an independent school. We are obligated to clearly articulate our programme, whom it best serves, and apply our criteria consistently, transparently, and fairly. This school’s values are obviously such that it can sustain enrolment and remain open not wanting to serve children of same-sex parents. Of course, I think I might feel better about St. Vincent’s if the article noted the school was equally diligent in following Biblical standards by asking prospective employees and donors about their use of contraception, receipt of the sacraments, not doing work on Sunday or expecting others (e.g. store employees, restaurant waiters, etc.) to do so, etc. Picking and choosing what to follow or enforce is neither professionally consistent nor particularly Christian.

Your School...in 500 words.

It’s the time of year when admissions directors are hounded by any form of media where their school is represented to update their stats, university/college lists, and data. It’s a tiresome job but a necessary evil. What showed in my inbox recently, however, was the opportunity to join a new site but they wanted pictures and a 500 word description immediately. (I’m talkin’ to you, John Williamson!)

Well, this was an unexpected hassle as when I looked on my computer I found I had only 50, 100, and 350 word descriptions. This isn’t always the easiest of tasks. You need to cover the basics but the basics can sound so much like every other school. The goal is to differentiate but not at the expense of essential information…and all in 50, 100 or 500 words.

As I considered this new hassle of a task, I heard in the back of my head the voice of a dear friend to many of us. Holly Treat, of Camille M. Bertram Educational Consultants, wrote a great blog entry this spring questioning the methodology of school rankings and the boiling down of great institutions into quantifiable data, and admonished us that, “To do so would be to quantify an experience.” Thanks for the important reminder, Holly. We do indeed offer more than can be said in 500 words.

(NOTE: I have added the Bertram Blog, "From the Quad," to the column on the right of this blog. It’s worth a review.)

Mission

Mission: whatever. Does your school have one? Does it include any of the following words: diversity, whole child, prepare, global, serve, preparation, community, life-long, or excellence? Don't they all? It's the rare school that has a profound mission but they are far and few between. Any great examples anyone? Your own school? But even the solid ones do us in admissions what good? When was the last time you were asked about your mission or to name your mission in a conversation with a parent or applicant? It's about so much more than that. Our work is about the importance of family/school long-term relationships, multi-year investments, and the education of children. It's not about pizza or cars or jeans, people. All that is done in our schools everyday cannot be boiled down to a sentence. And it shouldn't be. Mission: whatever. Snore.

Enjoy the following video. It's entertaining. But at the end of the day, I don't think it's for us.

Print versus Electronic

It’s not quite as contentious as diversity but print versus electronic is up there among professional hot topics for me. Being rather traditionalist, I sometimes worry that my own bias holds back my office’s full embracing of electronic marketing. But see what the Wall Street Journal wrote on the topic last year as it relates to getting catalogs in the mail. Interesting stuff.

In this article, I think the key line for me is, Catalogs, marketers say, drive sales at Web sites, making them more important than ever. (Of course, when I read “catalogs,” I see “viewbooks”! ) I think that’s the balance. Tease them with paper. Drive them to electronic. Wow them on the web. In leadership and management courses they teach us it is better to replace one thing for another than to simply pile onto the workforce more that needs to be done. In this case, unfortunately, I don’t think we’re there yet to replace paper with a screen so we must live with being piled on with more to do.

My favorite writer on all things related to education marketing, Andrea Jarrell (a link to whose blog, “School of Thought,” you will find in the right-hand column; feel free to suggest other blogs you like), weighs in on this here. She maddeningly provides no answers but plenty of food for thought. Making you think is among the things she does best. Enjoy her writing. She's stunning in many ways.

At the end of the day, I still think there’s a balance. After all, look at what we’ve learned about how the brain works in the last two decades and how that impacts classroom teaching and assessment and pedagogy. Doesn’t this extend to a diversity of ways in which families take in information and learn about schools? Why would we limit ourselves to a debate of print OR electronic? Doesn’t having a quality presence in both media give us greater market penetration?

From Canada, I wish you all a “Happy Civic Day” this coming Monday.

The Nouveau Minority

Thanks to Pam McKenna at Hopkins School for bringing this article to my attention regarding the proven struggles of poor, white students in education. Upon reflection, it makes sense. Schools make great efforts to recruit faculty of color. We want students of different races to find mentors and role models among our adults. Schools in the last decade have become increasingly sensitive to avoiding tests and major assignments on a variety of religions’ holidays and observances. And we’re all quick to enjoy the efforts of the International Student Club on days such as Chinese New Year. But where is the support for students who quietly and internally gasp in embarrassment when everyone is asked to bring in "just $15" so the whole team can have matching tshirts? And forget the optional trip to France over spring break. Where are the adults and teachers who publicly exclaim their own childhood poverty and struggles so these students know someone who has walked their same path? Schools commit great dollars to financial aid but then what do we do to support this “minority” in our midst (NAIS says this group makes up only 18.7% of our students)? Is it any different than 20 years ago when we started to recruit students of color but then expected them to act, assimilate and survive in an almost entirely white school culture and environment? Look how far we have come from that ignorant stance. What might it look like for poor, white students 20 years from now when our industry is more enlightened and decides this is the new struggling minority that needs our attention and effort?

Race & Social Media

Race: always a tricky topic, isn’t it? Check out this article regarding the races and social media. In summary: the Caucasian population can typically be found on Facebook while the Hispanic and African-American communities tend toward MySpace. A lot of questions surfaced for me when I heard about this on the radio and then subsequently discovered this article. What does this mean for schools who want to be harnessing the power of social media? Should we have a presence in both places? Does anyone right now—and if so, why? And now knowing the dominant audiences found at each website, do we tailor our messages accordingly and differently? Is that a form of racism? Or is it segmented marketing, the same thing we do when we craft different messages to parents versus students, or Lower School candidates versus Upper School candidates? Discuss! (FYI: An insightful study worth reading on the topic of race in independent schools was turned into the book, Blacks in the White Establishment.)

Passports.

This news of the increasing costs of passports brought to mind an admissions director quagmire that's haunted me most my career. Where is the balance between going yourself (whether it's a day school visiting a local feeder school or a boarding school visiting someone on the other side of the world) and sending a staffer? How is it received by those you visit if you send someone other than the #1 person in your office? Isn't relationship building key in our business? How do you do that if you don't send the same person each time? I mean really: can anyone do as good a job as you? Does sending someone else out take control out of your hands? On the other hand, don't you have better things, more senior administrative things to do than spend days or weeks out of the office? Thoughts?

Read On.

What's worth reading in our industry? I hired someone last year with zero admissions experience and he was looking for books to read to learn more. I had a few on my shelf to loan him, although mostly from the higher education perspective. If someone had a similar request of you, what is on your bookshelf that you would recommend? I started with these two:

1. The Gatekeepers. You'll quickly find yourself invested in the lives of these students and in the admissions office. It was hard to put down!

2. Questions and Admissions. There is nothing Fetter doesn't share, down to the color of the markers used in the folder reading process. A most interesting read, from the complex to the minuscule.

P.S. Happy Canada Day everyone!

SEO

SEO=Search Engine Optimization. I get the concept although I can't say I know how to execute it. Does anyone think they do this well? Who does it? Admissions? Tech dept.? As an exercise, I typed "private schools new england" in Google and the top results were various associations of New England schools but right there on the first page of returned results was Groton School and Berkshire School. Of the 100's of schools in New England, how do they land at the top? What are they doing right?