College website turnoff

paying3tuitions
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:13:48 +0000

Oh but they are fun, too. My kids still joke about a college whose printed materials read like a Grade One Guided Reading Level B children’s book.

One right-sided page said, “X college is…”

Turn the page and the left-hand page showed pictures of smiley students, with the one-word caption, STUDENTS!

Then the text built up again on the right-side page. “X college is…”

Turn the page, FACULTY!

It was an expensive little brochure. It made them feel as though money would be spent for trivial pursuits there.

Like you, I would avoid a college whose publication spoke about “principal” rather than “principle.” It shows tremendous carelessness. These materials should go through many committees, with the ad agencies meeting in front of various faculty or administration groups. If nobody picked up the error, to me it indicates the school isn’t up to your standards. It’s not just a spelling error; it’s an absence of critical thinking that is bothering you there.

The same school might serve other families well for many other reasons, but you won’t enjoy paying for it. So, unless you like everything else about it and can forgive that aspect, just move on to another. In your OP, however, the S likes everything else about the school, so that’s something to weigh in the balance.

I hold websites to a lower standard than printed matter, however. One thing that’s good about a college is if it will update its website often, but this increases chances of uncaught spellcheck errors on a frequently-updated site that might be caught later by other faculty readers and corrected.

My D is always troubled with college websites that remain untouched and unchanged! She’s ready to forgive a rare spelling error, but can’t forgive when the last update was in 2006.