ALUMNAE MAGAZINE Volume 76, Number 1 • Fall 2004
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT In my conversations with alumnae throughout last year, many of you asked, “How can we help Admissions recruit more students?” I responded by urging you to spread the word. As women who have experienced and benefited from everything Sweet Briar offers, you are the best spokespersons the College has. To help you make the case this fall—and also to give you a firsthand look at today’s Sweet Briar, we decided to take it one step further. Instead of a traditional Fall Alumnae Magazine, you are receiving three of our brand-new Admissions publications: an introductory overview piece, our new viewbook, and an Insider’s Guide to Sweet Briar. We are unveiling these new publications on campus in early September and wanted you to receive them at the same time so that all members of the Sweet Briar College family will see how we are marketing the College to prospective students. These new publications, developed after a year of research and market testing, are not as formal as you may be used to. They have been designed to engage sixteen- and seventeen-year-olds. Last fall, we contracted with Richard Harrison Bailey/ The Agency to develop a whole new family of publications. They met with students, faculty, staff and administrators on campus to hear their Sweet Briar stories. They developed and refined the messages with a great deal of care and then took them out to test with focus groups of prospective students and alumnae. The new messages were extremely well received by exactly the audience they have been designed for. We want to pique students’ interest so that they will come to visit our campus to talk to our students, sit in on classes, meet faculty and experience Sweet Briar firsthand. Students who visit our campus are far more likely to apply. Of the new students who are enrolling this fall, 93% had a campus visit. The Admissions Office headed by Ken Huus, Dean of Admissions, and his team had an excellent recruiting year and we are very pleased to be welcoming a strong class of 172 new students to our campus. Let me personally thank all of you who helped us with our efforts. A special thank-you to our Alumnae Admissions Representatives who contacted prospective students, it all! e says t attended College Fairs, and spent many hours on our la p cense ions’ li behalf talking to young women about Sweet Briar dmiss A f o an College. We look forward to your continued support and The De would welcome more of you who are willing to serve as AARs. We particularly need young alumnae to assist us in this role. I hope that you enjoy reading the new publications, but I especially hope that you will share them with a young woman who could benefit from a Sweet Briar education. Nothing would please me more than to have you ask for additional copies! If you do, we’ll stick them in the mail immediately.
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