Ripon College - Crimson Yearbook (Ripon, WI)

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There is room for great improvement in this field. 2. Field Work: We have one man, Dr. Henderson, in the field all the time, whereas Grinnell. for instance, has three full time people, and Law- rence has three or four spending almost all of their time in this work. The field work naturally divides itself into three parts. First, contacts with high school superintendents and principals which are of the utmost importance because friendly contacts with high school offi cials can not be built up immediately and when they are secured are proba bly of more actual value than anything else. The second division of this field work would be the work of the alumni, both in groups and individually. This work is very loosely organized at pres- ent. simply for lack of time, and much work could be done in this way. The third division would be the endless work of direct calling on high school seniors. This phase is connected with the work with high school officials for the obvious reason that if the high school officials arc friendly they can save the college representative a great deal of time and energy by directing his attention to those students who are most likely to go to school. Lacking this very necessary information, a col- lege representative is almost hopelessly handicapped. 3. Competitive Examinations: This is a division of the work which I person- ally feel has very great possibilities. It is an attempt to get the better high school student to come to Ripon and win a scholarship. This competitive examination gives the college a much more dignified position, and I feel that it could be greatly developed. It would recommend that next year two competitive examinations be held, one in the fall and one in the spring. 4. American Legion Scholarships: This plan was inaugurated last year, and it has possibilities. It will take at least two or three years more to have the Legion in the state thoroughly aware of our position and to have them and the Legion Auxiliary push our scholarship plan. This year we have tried to secure publicity through the A 11 ami college files. — IS-

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Ripon Recruiting Student recruiting can be discussed under the following heads: ( 1) adver- tising: (2) field work: (3) competitive examinations: (4) American Legion scholarships: (5) friendship days: (6) student help. The entire problem has changed very much in the last six years. Up to 1929 or 30. the problem was comparatively simple. Every es- tablished college and university had its more or less definite clientele, based on its geographical position, its reputation as a seat of learning, as a cultural cen- ter. as a great athletic institution, or in other ways. Students applied for ad- mission. and in many cases had to ap- ply a long time before the opening of the school year. Many times, such students were refused because their ac- ademic standing in high school was not sufficiently high, and with the general prosperity up to 1929. many schools showed a steady gain in enrollment. An important fact in the development of colleges and universities during this boom period was the building program which in many cases was necessary to take care of increased numbers. After 1929. the picture changed very rapidly, and in a very startling manner In hundreds of homes parents c ould no longer afford to pay the expenses of a college education, no matter how much they desired it for their children. As a consequence of these and other facts, college enrollments began to drop, and those colleges which had carried on an expensive program of expansion were very much embarrassed. This situation had a very serious ef- fect on all the small liberal arts col- leges. The colleges now were faced with the problem of organizing a high- powered sales force, and selling to high school graduates the idea that a par- ticular college was the one to attend. The principal difficulty encountered lies in the fact that the high school student 'o rahonaiisituj, please. 'ow, why weren't you at { Ice dub rehearsal now can leisurely listen to the different college representatives, finally deciding on the college that most appeals to him. 1. Advertising. Every college real- izes that very much depends upon the variety, the novelty, the fresh appeal of its view books, catalogs, and bulle- tins of all kinds. Many colleges are hiring professional advertising men and professional photographers to super- vise this department of their work. The issue of the bulletins should be planned carefully for a year in advance, so that there would he more continuity and a logical follow-up in the different issues. Skipper Chamberlain

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 Badger Legionnaire. If ilie plan is tried another year, we should make ev- ery effort to contact both the head offi- cials of the Legion and the Legion Aux- iliary and also have a representative at the state convention, and at every one of the district conventions. We should write direct to all the Legion Com- manders. 5. Friendship Days: The friendship day is a great problem, the actual val- ue of which is certainly questionable. We do not have the time to talk to the students with any seriousiness about college and very few of them are in the proper mood anyway. 1 would strong ly recommend that during the year the different houses entertain small groups of high school seniors, two, three, or four at a time without any inconveni- ence and very little expense. 6. Help from present college stu- dents: I spoke in paragraph 2 above about the help which the high school authorities could give us in furnishing names of desirable prospects. If our present students will continue to aid us in this way. we could have a tremen- dous amount of time and energy spent in looking up people who have on in- clination toward college. Our students should be careful to spell the last name correctly and be sure to get the first name. The student should also have the street address, the telephone num- ber. and by all means the father's bus- iness, and any special information in addition, such as: Does high school student have parents, brothers or sis- ters who have come to college? What is student's record in the home town? What is the state of the father’s busi- ness? and any information which would help us in making an intelligent canvass of the prospect. —19—