大学品牌营销有点儿过火

大学品牌营销有点儿过火 BETWEEN the last application season招生季 节 and the current one, Swarthmore College, a school nationally renowned for使...有声誉 its academic rigor严格 的, changed the requirements for students vying竞争,形容学 生 to be admitted in to its next freshman新生 class. It made filling out the proper合适的 forms easier. A year ago, applicants were asked to write two 500-word essays as supplements补充 to作为...的补充 the standard one that?s part of.....的一部分 the Common Application“通用申请应用程 序”(Common Application), an electronic form一张电子 格 that Swarthmore and hundreds of small colleges and big universities accep t.This was slightly more material较多的材 料 than Swarthmore had previously 之前 requested, and it was more than many other highly selective schools十分苛刻的学校 demanded. Not coincidentally巧合的是, the number of applicants to the college dropped 下降,numbers下降, and its acceptance rate 录取率in turn climbed上升, to 17 from 14 percent, making Swarthmore seem less selective.淘汰的,不普遍的 This year, it?s asking for just one supplemental essay, of only 250 words.形容文章 Swarthmore is hardly alone 并不是一个人in its desire to eliminate消除 impediments障碍 to a bounty，慷慨,大方， of 一大堆 applicants.Over the last decade, many elite精 英 colleges have adjusted their applications in ways that remove disincentives，使...受挫的事物， and maximize the odds希望,可能 性 that the number of students jockeying(驾驶,欺骗) to get in remains robust，精力充沛的,热情， — or, even better, grows larger.甚至数目增长最好了 In one sense在某种意义上, that?s a commendably很好的 egalitarian平等主义 approach and a sensible合乎情理 的 attempt to be sure that no sterling ，符合最高标准的,高质量的，candidate is missed. But there?s often a less pure motive单纯的动 机 in play. In our increasingly status-oriented重视地 位 society, a school?s reputation is bolstered支持 by its glimmer 少许of exclusivity，垄断,排外主 义， and by a low acceptance rate,which can even influence how U.S. News & World Report 《美国新闻不世界报道》ranks it.对于学校的排名 And unless a school is shrinking缩水 the size of its student body学生主体, the only way to bring its acceptance接 纳 rate down is to get its number of applicants up.让申请学校的人数上升 So, many colleges methodically有条不紊 的 generate interest only to frustrate it. 激发兴趣只是为了挫败他们They woo，求爱， supplicants for the purpose of turning them down.拒绝他们 It?s a cynical，adj.怀疑的; 愤世嫉俗的; 冷嘲的; 见利忘义 的; ， numbers game that further darkens更加灰暗 了 the whole admissions process,招生过程 a life juncture，关键 点， that should be exhilarating，令人兴奋 的， but is governed these days by dread.恐惧 It depersonalizes，v.使失去个性( depersonalize的第三人称单 数 )， the process, too. Ideally在理想状态 下, colleges should want students whose interest in them is genuine真正的, and students should be figuring out清 楚 which colleges suit them best, not applying indiscriminately，adv.无差别， to schools that have encouraged that by making it as painless ，简单，(and heedless，不加注意的，)as possible. “Colleges are actively saddling，vt.& vi.给，马，装鞍;使承 担， themselves with a whole group of applicants about whom they know little and who, in turn, know little about them,” Lauren Gersick, the associate副 director主 任 of college counseling at the Urban School of San Francisco, told me. “You have a whole bunch束 of people fumbling ，v.，笨拙地，摸索或处理，某事物，( fumble，along and freaking，糟透的,该死的， out.” In a story in The Times last weekend, Ariel Kaminer observed that it?s not uncommon these days for an anxious, ambitious student to submit applications递交申请 to 15 or more schools. Kaminerrightly cast铸 造 this as a consequence of the overheated过热的,过于激烈的 competition竞争 for admission to the most elite ones精英学 府. Students spread their nets wider扩大网 in the hopes of a good catch 为了一个好的收获, and the Common Application abets，v.教唆，犯罪，( abet， this. But so do the schools选校也在这样做, which hawk，vt.通过叫卖主动兜售，货物， themselves more assertively果断 的 than ever. They fly in counselors 他们让咨询顾问飞到各处 like Gersick and give them elaborate精心制作的 sales pitches，n.球场;，.这里是推销演说 They send their own emissaries，n.，外交上的，使 者; ， out into the world, armed with glossy光光鲜的 pamphlets，n.小册子( pamphlet，. They buy data to identify persuadable 可以税说服的applicants and then approach着手处理 them with come-ons 诱惑 as breathless as any telemarketer’s pitch.流畅程度不输于电话推销员 A recent email that Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute sent unbidden未被要求的 to one high school senior invited him “to apply with Candidate?s Choice status方式!” (The boldface letters and the exclamation呼喊,感叹 point感叹号 are Rensselaer?s, not mine.不是我添加的) “Exclusively独一无二 的 for select students, the Candidate?s Choice Application is unique to Rensselaer, and is available online开放网上申 请 now,” the email said, after telling its recipient接受 者 that “a talented student like you deserves a college experience that is co mmitted 致力于to developing the great minds of tomorrow.培养未来接触人物” “The marketing is unbelievable, just unbelievable,” said Kay Rothman, director of college counseling at the NYC Lab School, in Manhattan. “There are places like Tulane that will send everyone a „V.I.P.? application.” She told me that she routinely常规 had to disabuse，去除.....的错误想法， impressionable，adj.，人,尤指年轻人，易受影响 的; ， students of the notion that they?d won some prized lottery中了大奖 or been given some inside track.获得了一些内幕消息 A certain amount of一定程度的 outreach 延伸,扩大and promotion促销is necessary, even commendable.值得称道的 “I don?t think colleges are guilty for marketing their product推销自己的产品,” Kathleen McCartney, the president of Smith College, said when I spoke with her last week. “Colleges need to explain to students what their product is about.”“学院需要向学生解释,自己的产品是什么。” And there can be other rationales理由 for what looks like a loosening松开 of application demands.Smith and several other similarly prominent 杰出的 colleges no longer require the SAT or ACT, and McCartney said that that?s not a bid出价,投 标 for more applicants. It?s a recognition that top scores on those tests corr elate with，，使，相同于; 符合于， high family income and may say more可能更加能够说 明 about an applicant?s economic advantages — including, say, private SAT t utoring — than about academic potential.学术潜力 “It is harder than ever to sell „fit? as opposed反对 to ‘logo affixing,’黏贴徽章” he wrote, adding that “what you will learn there” has taken a back seat 让位于to a different consideration: “Look at my brand!” “推销让学生找到合适自己的学校的理念,而不是宣扬品牌,比以往任何时候都更困难,”他写道:“你在那里能学到什么”的考虑,已经让位于“看看我校的牌子”。