Sometimes it really is the little things

khidhala
Tue, 11 Aug 2015 14:57:07 +0000

So, in last night’s mail consisted of bills; the standard pile of “junk college junk” (to paraphrase my DS’s term for it) and a post-card from England. Now, we have friends in Europe, so I thought it was from them. But I see instead, that it’s addressed to my DS, so I hand it off to him.

He scans it over, then says, “I think it’s from Alabama, maybe…” We try to parse it out together, because the handwriting is small and… well… personalized, shall we say? We read it together, alternately taking turns at deciphering the words, and piece together that it’s from a faculty member (Dr.Halli) and about the University Honors in Oxford program. He talks about his classes and the campus, and invites DS to inquire if interested.

And the skeptic in me is now hyper-analyzing the post-card like Sherlock Holmes. Who actually hand-writes anything these days, unless they are writing to friends or family? But, I can clearly see (and feel) the indentation of the pen to the card… and besides- if one was going to use a computer, wouldn’t they have used a slightly more legible script? Sure the address has a different handwriting- some intern or grad student responsible for addressing and sending these out… but nonetheless…

This simple, handwritten post card just speaks volumes about Alabama and stands out all the more because despite our early and continued interest, it’s been one of the few (perhaps only-I’m not sure) unsolicited mailing from UA we’ve received.

There has been a LOT of anonymity masquerading as personalization through this college search.

“Dear {insert name}, You’ve really impressed us!!”

“{insert name}, you are unique, and we recognize that!”
“Dear {insert name}, we’ve learned that you like {insert major}, and we have a great {insert major} program!”

We have gone through piles of “personalized” letters from admissions folks, where even the signatures on the cover letters are clearly just image scans churned out by printers. We’ve recycled reams of paper and card stock from colleges we’ve had never shown interest in at all. It’s just part of the process, we’ve accepted, if somewhat annoying.

But we were interested in Alabama pretty early- sent our ACT scores way back in December. We probably wouldn’t mind getting Bama-bombed. I reckon Minnesota just might not be on their target list, and that’s fine too. We can spare the trees, and it seems that when Alabama hits, she hits with quality, not quantity.

If nothing else, I will be able to use it against my son every Christmastime when it comes time to write out Thank Yous. I’ll always be able to say: “Remember how special you felt receiving the handwritten postcard from Dr.Halli? If he can write to you, you can write to your grandma…”

I’ll be sharing this with our recruiter, but just in case anyone knows Dr.Halli or anyone on his staff, I just want to pass on my sincere appreciation.