Steeped in Tradition; Looking Forward

At The Fessenden School, the oldest all-boys junior boarding school in the nation and a pre-K through ninth-grade day school, fifth-graders can still study Latin. Even the youngest pre-K students must follow a dress code.

But along with this old-school rigor, Fessenden is committed to maintaining its standing as a leader on the latest educational thinking. IPads and 3D printers are as familiar on its suburban Boston campus as wood-paneled lecture halls and blazing autumn foliage. Fessenden’s marketing and admissions teams have embraced the digital world, as well.

Up against the anachronistic stereotype of private school education, Fessenden wanted to use the educational power of online content to:

• Dispel myths about all-boys education.
• Bolster the reputation of its faculty and staff as nationwide thought leaders.
• Attract new families to its Upper and Lower schools.

Students and their families conduct most of their research on schools online. As a school admissions marketing director, being a successful content creator and marketer should be a major focus for you.

Heading up a college blogging project sure can be a headache. There are a lot of people on even the smallest college campus, and sometimes it can seem like everyone wants to have their say — especially when it comes to the content on your college’s website.

The admissions department wants to speak the language of high school college searchers. The faculty wants to show off their academic bona fides. The vice president of development is nervous about upsetting donors. The college president wants to honor your school’s longstanding traditions and values.

Is it possible to please all these people without succumbing to blog schizophrenia?

A few years ago, college admissions teams were struggling to figure out their social media strategy. Today, most schools have a robust social media outreach program. Many have taken it a step further by using social media to check out prospective students.

According to a Kaplan Test Prep survey, 40 percent of college admissions officers browse social media profiles to learn more about admissions candidates. I am sure that this percentage will continue to grow and reviewing a prospective student’s social media presence will become part of the application process checklist.

Now that they seem to have a handle on using social media to attract and find students, I believe the next big technology that admissions teams will need to come to grips with is virtual reality (VR).

Right now in my household, I am conducting a very informal marketing experiment.

I have two high school juniors that are in the process of exploring colleges. For whatever reason, last week was a huge direct mail week in the house. My son and daughter must have both received about two dozen letters/packages for various schools (everywhere from Wake Forest, to UNC, to the University of Maine).

After sitting out on the counter for several days, I noticed that only one package was opened – the one from Wake Forest University.

Last night I gathered my “test subjects” and asked the question, “Why are you not opening any of the packages from the schools?” Without a moment's hesitation they both give me the same answer: