Virtual On-Line College Fair brings in 700+ Students

As you may or may not know, Sacred Heart University and MoreThanGrades held our first virtual on-line college fair this past week (September 16, 2010) and wow!

Our on line fair attracted over 700 students (600 who directly expressed learning more about Sacred Heart University) with only three weeks worth of preparation. Students from around the country signed up for our three-hour chat session that ran from 7pm to 10pm. During the live chat, students were able to chat with the admission office, financial aid officers, and current students. In all, it was a great event for both students and Sacred Heart University.

“We will definitely do it again for November. We set up missions control in our lobby and had 5 of us here with our laptops and pizza. It was a great bonding experience for our team,” said Mike Tarantino, Undergraduate Admissions Counselor at Sacred Heart University. “This definitely is a great idea and we plan on using it for other events such as our cohort information session. Having 600 new students from around the country who want to learn more about Sacred Heart University is incredible. ”

What many colleges and universities don't know is that this platform is available to them. All they need to do is register on the site and send us an email with the information requested. During the month of October, we will make the virtual on-line service available at no cost to any two or four year college wishing to host its own on-line chat. For those attending the NACAC conference in St. Louis, a voucher for a second on-line fair will be given just for stopping by booth 1228 so don't be shy.

Students spend the majority of their time on line and gravitate toward those who do likewise. Social media plays an important part in the life of a high school student so it is only natural that on-line is where they will seek information and interaction. I think having over 600 students specifically interested in learning more about Sacred Heart University confirms this.

MoreThanGrades.com not only offers colleges/universities the opportunity to find students who are a good fit for their institution, our goal is to provide an easy to use and well-integrated system of student recruitment at a low cost.

Our next information session with Sacred Heart University will be in November -so take note high school seniors. For more information, please contact us. Hope to chat soon.

Mike, Co-Founder of MoreThanGrades.com

Rosich@morethangrades.com

Facebook and Colleges. Not so Good

Why Facebook is not the answer for colleges.

Before I tell you why you should not use Facebook in college admission, let me first tell you that we, at MoreThanGrades.com, use Facebook. We have a Fanpage that is quite active and use it to post upcoming events like our virtual on-line college fairs. We also have a Facebook application that allows students to follow their favorite colleges while on Facebook -College Scoop. So if we use it, why shouldn’t you?

Recently, colleges have had to wrestle with the dilemma of “friending” students. Is it right for a college admission officer to friend a student? If so, what happens after that student enrolls or doesn’t’ enroll? Then there is the issue of looking at a students profile for information, something students are not very comfortable with. Will college deny admission or scholarships based on information they find in a student’s profile? That question is still an open question.

It seems that Facebook is one of those things that colleges feel they have to use since “everyone” is using it but many don’t really know how to use it. Just because it is free does not mean everyone should just dive in.

So, what’s the answer?

There is no doubt that Facebook can be a valuable tool if used correctly. Just having a fanpage or group does not mean the page is functional. Colleges need to monitor their pages and provide content and interaction. But even with this, Facebook is not the panacea many believe it to be.

Recently, a few companies have begun to market recruitment platforms based on Facebook. The argument here is that Facebook reaches millions of high school aged students and is therefore the place to be. Some of these platforms come at a significant cost. But consider this: Building your school’s recruitment on Facebook would be analogous to building your house on a rented piece of property. Ultimately, the owner of the land is the one who holds all the cards.

What if Facebook decided tomorrow not to allow email information to be collected from Facebook users? How would that impact your marketing campaigns? Facebook can decide whatever it pleases and you are then left with a platform that is worthless for your purposes. Will Facebook ever make such a drastic change? It is anybody’s guess but changes do happen regularly.

Last week, Facebook announced it is making a major change to its fanpages; they are changing the box feature. For those of you not familiar with the box feature, it allows users to create an area where information can be placed on a Fanpage. (In an area that is very visible.) What’s more, boxes are able to accept html coding, (which allows users to create links or embed objects,) a de facto area where users can create ads for whatever they please and then place them on the left side of the page in a very visible area. Where are they now? Squashed on the top of the page and buried among all the other tabs. If a user doesn’t specifically look for that tab, it will never be found. Still think building your social media on Facebook is a good idea? My guess is that this real estate directly interfered with Facebook’s own ad placement, so it is no wonder they decided to change this. So what’s next? Who knows? Isn’t that the point?

Facebook is a great tool if used correctly since it cost nothing to join Facebook, and it allows colleges to reach students in an area they are familiar and comfortable with. But like any tool, it needs to be used correctly, with some guidance, and not as the main tool for marketing.

We welcome your opinions. Post a comment or email me directly at morethangrades.com at
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