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The application sensation

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Curious how most admissions offices are faring in the midst of a decline in traditional, college-bound teens? Apparently, not too bad according to some recent data shared by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). Students are applying to more colleges than in years past and fighting for coveted spots at selective schools.

Caralee Adams of Education Week shares some stats and highlights from a recent NACAC webinar series entitled “The State of College Admission” that includes data from the upcoming 2012 College Admission Report (set to be released on November 28th).

Panelists from the webinar, like Katy Murphy, director of college counseling at ...

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Categories: Applicants, Data, NACAC

NACAC — A gathering of 4,000 extroverts

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This year’s NACAC conference was all about the conversation. At the TargetX booth, in the hotel lobby, over drinks and meals, in the streets of Denver, I learned one thing for certain:

Admissions people like to talk.

Pattie Skrha, Director of Admissions at Baldwin Wallace University, summed it up best when she said, “It’s a gathering of 4,000 extroverts who like to talk!”

Most conversations were about admissions and recruitment. Even better most were optimistic and gave the conference an upbeat tone. Maybe it was Denver’s elevation, maybe it’s that everyone is accepting that things have really changed in the past five years and we’re in a new ...

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Categories: Change, College Recruiting, Conferences, Free on Friday Webcasts, NACAC, Professional Development

The pulse of NACAC

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Common themes surfaced as 3,000 plus admissions professionals gathered last week in New Orleans for the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. The mood among the crowd was filled with excitement and ideas for change in higher education.

In the midst of the conference action, admissions officers from across the country shared their thoughts with us at the annual iThink event which was held on the exhibit hall floor. We asked our friends and colleagues to complete this phrase — “I think admissions…” — and here’s what attendees had to say:

“Admissions is at a crossroads.” Many factors contributed to this widely used phrase, like the higher ed balance between being market driven and education-oriented, branding versus authenticity ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, Change, Free on Friday Webcasts, Misc., NACAC, Webcast

Is branding the solution?

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Vince Lombardi would begin practice each spring by lifting a football and, with deep resonance, announce, “Men, this is a football.”

To winning teams, the fundamentals are etched in stone; they make up the DNA of every player. When it comes to enrollment, many colleges and universities have lost sight of the fundamentals.

Over the years, I’ve helped build the importance of “institutional branding” as it became a taskmaster, dictating to all who follow. Many say that branded messaging is the cornerstone for enrollment success and the engine driving the perception of institutional significance.

After more than two decades of creating institutional brands, my experience has proven otherwise.

Institutional branding should begin to form after the fundamentals have been drilled into the team. When ...

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Categories: Branding/Marketing/Recruiting, College Recruiting, NACAC, Uncategorized

Heading to a conference? Here are six tips to maximize ROI.

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It’s admissions conference season!

This week I’ll be at OACAC with my colleague Adrienne Bartlett while our colleagues Trent Gilbert and Emily Welsh are at SACAC and Kevin Corr is at GPACAC.

Whether you’re attending, exhibiting or presenting the cost of participating at a conference is significant, and with budgets the way they are many of you are attending less and conferences.

Be sure to have a plan to maximize your conference ROI. Along with attending sessions featuring TargetX educators and stopping by our exhibits, here are six tips for earning a better return on any conference investment:

1. Be where you are.
2. Don’t feel pressured to do it all.
3. Figure out your balance.
4. Keep up with the buzz.
5. Dial ...

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Categories: Best Practice Documents, Did You Know?, NACAC, Workshops and Events

XpertTip No. 171: 2 reminders

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Here at TargetX, we’re buzzing around completing final preparations for this year’s NACAC Conference in St. Louis.

As a result, I’ve opted to offer two reminders in lieu of an XpertTip today.  The first is for those of you attending the conference, so just skip ahead if it’s not in the cards for you this year;)

1.  If you’ll be attending NACAC, don’t forget to reach out to us and plan some time to visit our booth.  We’ll have some famous faces from our crew on hand to chat with you about your account, our services or anything else that’s on your mind.

Not sure how to contact the “X-er” you’re looking for?  Just contact me at bartlett@targetx.com and I’ll be sure ...

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Categories: Free on Friday Webcasts, NACAC, Webcast

XpertTip No. 169: Be (more) productive at NACAC

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Going to St. Louis for NACAC this year?

Don’t forget to make an appointment to spend time with TargetX Support at our booth (#629 if you’re interested.  But hey, you’re smart.  I’m sure you’ll figure it out;)

Adding support team members to our booth was something we introduced last year to give you an opportunity to take advantage of some face-to-face time.  We’ll review your account, give you some pointers and fill you in on what’s working best for clients these days.

Bonus:  If you’ve got extra time to spare, consider scheduling a full-on training for yourself or a colleague. It’s the perfect way to kick bad habits and start off your semester on the right foot.

Since we know our clients are the ...

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Categories: NACAC

iThinking about solutions

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When 120 enrollment officers came together last fall for their annual “iThink” discussion, one of the things they thought was this:

Work more closely with Career Services. After all, communicating the success of your graduates may be the best way to articulate the return-on-investment of your school.

Forging ties with the job placement office was a theme that came up again and again as this group of high-powered admissions officers looked for concrete ways to confront the challenges they face.

And now one of the world’s most prestigious schools has taken that idea a bold step further.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania has appointed a vice dean for admissions, financial aid and career management.

J.J. Cutler recently told the Chronicle of Higher ...

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Categories: College Recruiting, NACAC, Workshops and Events

Award goes to Enormous Luther

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For most schools, changing the way they market is like turning an ocean liner. That’s why college fairs, high school visits, search mailings and other recruiting staples still play such a large role and eat up so much of the admissions budget.

But there are some schools that can change direction like a jet-skier, and those are the ones that TargetX considered for this year’s “X Award” for excellence in student recruiting. The winner is a college in California that has made great strides in “overthrowing dead culture,” the phrase adopted by TargetX CEO Brian Niles to represent the company’s philosophy of modernizing admissions marketing.

California Lutheran University was recognized with the 3rd annual X Award for “reinventing recruitment marketing,” including such ...

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Categories: Change, College Recruiting, NACAC

Finding solutions at NACAC

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Bring together 120 enrollment officers and ask them what’s on their minds these tumultuous days, and you can expect a lot of hand wringing.

While there was some of that at the second annual “iThink” kick-off of the NACAC Conference yesterday, most of a lively two-hour discussion was spent on moving forward and finding solutions.

A handful of issues dominated the session, which preceded the opening of the 65th annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. They included public resistance to the cost of college, admissions policies and procedures that serve as stumbling blocks for prospective students, the increasing challenge from for-profit and web-based alternatives to traditional schools, and the drain on financial resources and staff time of trying ...

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Categories: College Recruiting, NACAC

What's ahead in 2010?

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About this time last year the world was rocked by a series of financial tremors that seemed to take everyone by surprise. But not admissions officers. At least, not the ones who attended a special kick-off event at the 2008 conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling in Seattle.

These were directors, deans and VPs who attended the first “iThink,” an open discussion with some of the industry’s top thought leaders to address the challenges and opportunities for recruiting students in 2009. And they quickly focused on the financial vibrations they were sensing.

“The economy may exacerbate the challenges admissions professionals face, experts said here on Thursday,” reported the Chronicle of Higher Education the next day. “Among other concerns, they ...

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Categories: College Recruiting, NACAC

XpertTip No. 123: Let's catch up at NACAC

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Heading to NACAC in Baltimore?

Here’s a quick tip that’s guaranteed to help you take your usage to the next level: stop by our booth in the exhibit hall (#725) and spend some QT with the TargetX support folks.

It’s something new we’ve added this year to give you an opportunity to meet the team, go over what you’re doing, and get answers to any of those nagging little questions you’ve just never had the time to look into.

Got extra time to spare? Schedule a full-on training! Feel free to let us know you’d like a formal training for yourself or any staff who’ll be attending the conference.

We do ask that you schedule an appointment just so ...

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Categories: NACAC, Support

Xpert Tip No.77: There's got to be a better way

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Well folks, put another NACAC Conference in the books.

Seattle stood out to me as one of the best cities — with great sessions, great venues and lots of smart people.

For me, the only bad part about it was the trip home.

My colleagues and I experienced one of those fifteen-hour travel days, courtesy of weather delays that make it really tough to handle the already exasperating airline experience.

If you travel often, you know what I mean. I’ve found that every step in the process, from booking to boarding, has me repeating the same mantra: “There’s got to be a better way.”

I decided to make use of my time to catch up with Seth’s blog (one of my favorites). To ...

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Categories: Lists, Misc., NACAC, Summer Projects, Surveys, Workshops and Events, Your Website

XpertTip No. 28: What's new at TargetX (NACAC recap)

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It’s official — my favorite month has finally arrived.

Here in the Northeast, I can’t help but get excited for that first chill in the air, crisp apple cider, rustling leaves, football and post-season baseball (after fourteen years;)

Life, my friends, is beautiful.

Here at TargetX, we’re busy “debriefing” from NACAC. After months and months of preparation, it is my pleasure to report that Austin was yet another great conference for us.

Special thanks to all of you who stopped by to say hello. I’m consistently amazed at how many folks feel comfortable just “hanging out” at our booth. Some of you even brought baby pictures. We loved it.

For everyone’s benefit, I thought I’d give a little NACAC recap. Here’s the “short-short” version of ...

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Categories: eXpressNet, eXpressSUITE, NACAC