Atrévete a Ser el Primero [Dare to Be First]
CURRENTS Article The University of Delaware launched a website in Spanish in November 2011. This online foray into another language is an important step in the institution's continuing globalization and its goal to develop a more diverse campus community.

All Together Now
CURRENTS Article This article looks at how the public affairs department and admissions office at the College of the Holy Cross collaborated to overhaul and update the college's admissions recruitment materials, print and online, and how the process not only improved the products but also improved the working relationship between the departments and set an example for the campus. The authors discuss the lessons they learned from the process and the importance of some of the choices they made along the way.

Hacer contacto
CURRENTS Article Este artículo habla sobre cómo las instituciones están utilizando, mensajes de texto, video, correos electrónicos, blogs, foros de discusión en línea, redes sociales y aplicaciones para el teléfono celular como medios de mercadotecnia para alcanzar a futuros y actuales estudiantes que consideran que el correo electrónico es un medio lento y pasado de moda.

Influencing the Influencers
CURRENTS Article This article discusses the growing trend of U.S. four-year institutions collecting e-mail addresses from parents of applicants. Some institutions are using this information as a marketing tool to involve parents in the college selection and decision-making process.

Making Contact
CURRENTS Article This article discusses how institutions are using texting, video e-mail, marketing techniques, student blogs, private social networks, mobile applications, and more to try to reach prospective and currents students at a time when e-mail is viewed as old-fashioned and slow.

Acting Their Age
CURRENTS Article Adult students are becoming a target audience for many institutions. But reaching them can be difficult---they have different goals and different reasons why they are going back to school. Find out how your institution can target its communications to this untraditional cohort.

Advance Work: Viva la Vida
CURRENTS Article Mexico's Universidad Anáhuac produces a monthly magazine aimed at prospective students. The magazine features photos of secondary students at their own schools as well as at university events and helps the teenagers feel connected to the university before they have even applied.

Outlook: Beyond the Digital Divide
CURRENTS Article New research shows that black and Hispanic students use digital tools in the college search process just as much, if not more, than white students do. Institutions should employ multiple technological tools to recruit a diverse class.

Advance Work: Old-School Intelligence Gathering
CURRENTS Article Survey shows that vast majority of high school seniors aren't using social networking sites to find out more about prospective colleges.

Advance Work: Off to College, Via Reality TV
CURRENTS Article Five U.K. universities offer full-ride scholarships via an unusual reality TV program.

Advance Work: A Techy Tour
CURRENTS Article Prospective students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, can take a tour of the campus using a GPS device.

Talking Points: From Dog Tags to Degrees
CURRENTS Article This column discusses the 2008 Veterans Education Assistance Act, which expands the original GI Bill, and points out ways in which institutions can best serve student veterans.

Advance Work: Timing is Everything
CURRENTS Article Davidson College took advantage of its unanticipated success in NCAA men's basketball tournament to pitch itself to prospective students.

Power of Profiling
CURRENTS Article Public four-year colleges and universities have joined a voluntary effort to provide more consistent, comparable, and transparent information on the undergraduate student experience to prospective students and their families. Through the Web reporting template called College Portrait, students now have access to common data on institutional characteristics and campus life.

Advance Work: Bugged About Recruiting
CURRENTS Article A welding rodeo is not your common campus event, but it is the perfect recruitment and community building tool for one technical college in Washington.

Postcard from St. Petersburg
CURRENTS Article The British Council reaches out to potential students in Russia.

Advance Work: Woman to Woman
CURRENTS Article In an effort to increase female enrollment, MIT Sloan School of Management asked 20 female students to collaborate and tell their stories in a 12-page booklet for prospective students.

Dispelling the Millenial Myth
CURRENTS Article In this article, the authors take a closer look at Millennial theory as described by Neil Howe and William Strauss. Their books, Millennials Rising and Millennials Go to College, are primary resources for information about Millennials--students born in or after 1982--including characteristics, traits, etc. Much of this has become common knowledge and accepted as fact, but the authors of this article caution campus communicators against relying solely on Howe and Strauss’ descriptions of students for their marketing efforts. They don’t completely disagree with Howe and Strauss, but they expose Howe and Strauss research/data as somewhat flawed and offer alternative sources of more longitudinal data that offer a more accurate portrait of students today. They also offer a point/counterpoint perspective on what Howe and Strauss say and some alternative ideas that are likely more relevant.

Soul Story
CURRENTS Article This article looks at how spirituality has become an important factor for campuses to consider when marketing to and communicating with prospective students. The article points out that it’s not necessarily religion that students are looking for, but help in finding meaning in their lives and support and help in developing their values and ideals and beliefs. Religion and faith may or may not be a part of it, but students are looking to college to help them in ways that go beyond academics, and, the author argues, it’s the job of campus marketers to be keenly aware of this market, to understand how their motivations intersect with what their campuses offer, and to learn to talk about these intersections in compelling ways. The article is based in large part on data and the premise of a UCLA/Higher Education Research Institute project/study, “Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose.”

Message Mavens
CURRENTS Article Based on insight from admissions deans, this article offers a preview of tomorrow’s students, alumni, and donors, based on applicants’ essays, e-mails, and interviews. Some of their insights bear out Millennial trends--a generation of kids who like and admire their parents and see them as very much a part of their undergraduate lives, as well as a service-minded streak. But another picture emerges of this up-and-coming generation. It is a picture of a “message savvy” generation that would make branding gurus proud. This article gives an overview of students today and explores the traits that make the current crop of prospective students a message-savvy group who market themselves and their ideas.

Clear It Up
CURRENTS Article Constituents increasingly want and expect the admissions process to be open. They want answers, guidance, explanations when applicants don't get in, and so on. This article explores the issues surrounding admissions with which campus communicators find themselves grappling, including how to communicate policies to various audiences, including prospective students, parents, high school counselors, legislators, the media, and the public; what kinds of information to provide; and how much information to provide.

AdvanceWork: Charitable Applications
CURRENTS Article Many institutions charge application fees, but Bryn Mawr College has waived them for students who prefer to use the money to support a worthy cause. According to Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jennifer Rickard, the option helps the college “convey part of who we are to the world.” Nearly a quarter of Bryn Mawr applicants have chosen to redirect their application fee, generating more than $22,000 in charitable giving.

A Separate Piece
CURRENTS Article Parents have become increasingly important as a campus constituency, a change driven by both financial and generational factors. Their increased involvement--from recruitment to commencement--demands an organized communications effort that strikes a balance between information and involvement, and many campuses have responded by adding programming and dedicated staff. This article outlines essential strategies for communicating with parents, including creating separate experiences for them.

Who Says They Matter?
CURRENTS Article Campus communicators should consider how parents and students use the popular guides in their decision-making processes. The author, a guidance counselor, offers an on-the-ground perspective based on her own experiences and interviews with other counselors, parents, and students. A companion piece to "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate."

Two Perspectives on Legacy Admissions
CURRENTS Article The college admissions process and media coverage of it has reached fever pitch in recent years. The controversy over legacy admissions is a particular point of contention among academics and constituents alike. Two campus administrators examine both sides of the legacy issue in this pro/con article.

Stand Out in a Crowd
CURRENTS Article Branding is challenging for colleges and universities, whose brands are diffuse and complex and whose faculty, alumni, students, and advancement and admission officers send diverse messages. This article describes a proposed market taxonomy for postsecondary education based on brand characteristics and discusses market research, positioning, and the fundamentals of brand management. Includes brief case studies from Trinity University in San Antonio and Ohio University. This article is of interest to marketers who deal with branding and student recruitment as well as marketing and communications managers.

Talking Points: The Lure of Early Admission
CURRENTS Article Increasingly students use early action and early admission to improve their chances of getting accepted to a college or university. Critics charge that these programs benefit the institutions more than the students, however, because they raise yield numbers, which affect rankings, and they prevent students from comparing financial aid packages when choosing a campus.

AdvanceWork: New Cues on Hues
CURRENTS Article To appeal to today’s youth, campuses need to expand their color repertoire in recruitment and marketing publications. Creative use of vibrant hues can attract attention and breathe new life into print materials. To spot current color trends, a design consultant recommends looking at teen fashions and cosmetics, designer paints, and MTV.

AdvanceWork: Cooperation Beats Competition
CURRENTS Article Marketing professionals at 11 colleges and universities in Nova Scotia, Canada, have joined forces to promote their institutions to international students.

AdvanceWork: Student E-Recruitment
CURRENTS Article Rather than sorting through their snail mail when they arrive home, most high school students immediately log on to the family computer and check their e-mail.