Top universities collaborate on recruitment

While the U.S. News and World Report seems to have little trouble arranging top schools in its annual rankings, it is often difficult for high school students to distinguish among them.

Because of this, Penn -- along with Georgetown, Harvard and Duke universities -- tours the country alongside its competitors.

Entitled "Exploring College Options," this program juxtaposes the four colleges' presentations with one another. Consequently, students can clearly see the differences and similarities among the four schools.

When creating the program, "we thought the schools were similar and different enough to travel together -- three are urban, one is not. One of them is in New England, two are in the Atlantic and one is in the South. Yet we are roughly the same size and all very selective," said Christoph Guttentag, director of undergraduate admissions at Duke University.

He added, "With the opportunity to ask admissions questions to the officers, there is a lot of value in not having to do the same thing four different times."

The program travels all over the country and even reaches out to cities outside the United States.

"We do these programs in 125 cities around the world, and it's really proven to be an effective recruitment for Penn," said Doris Cochran-Fikes, a regional director for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

While some students go only to hear about Georgetown, or are solely interested in Harvard, for example, they are able to learn more about the three other competitive colleges.

"We all benefit from talking to a wider group of students than any of us would have done individually," Guttentag said.

"In contrast to those other schools, Penn shines," Cochran-Fikes says. "I think that it is Penn's time, in terms of the kind of school that many students are looking for."

Cochran-Fikes has traveled a number of times with the "Exploring College Options" team. She thinks this program not only helps the high school students look at schools but also improves admissions officers' quality of life.

"The life of an admissions officer gets very lonely when you are visiting cities, driving around to high schools, getting lost all by yourself and sleeping at hotels alone. But when you are traveling with colleagues, it is truly fun."

The origin of the program came about when the deans of the four universities traveled together. "While they would do programs, they would also play golf and enjoy the social aspects of the recruitment process. They wanted that for their staff," Cochran-Fikes said.

While the program has probably been most beneficial to Penn and Georgetown, according to Cochran-Fikes, there is no rivalry among the officers when on the road. In fact, many find lifelong friendships.

"I think my favorite trips have been the all-women trips," Cochran-Fikes said. "The all-women [setup gives] you the opportunity to bond with four women. You start out sometimes as four strangers, but you end the week as best friends because you spend all that time in the car."

But that is not to say that by the end of the trip, the officers promote their peers' universities.

"There is a healthy rivalry to attract students to our schools, but we all have something different to offer," Cochran-Fikes said.

"We know that traveling together is effective in terms of how we present our schools, how we are able to reach out to the guidance counselors, how we are able to show all our unique qualities."

According to Guttentag, the trend is catching on. "This particular group started 12 or 15 years ago, and we've already seen colleges do similar programs like this one," she said.

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