<p>Knowing that Notre Dame is above us is somewhat irritating. Are we so much different that we don’t even deserve a tie? Seems weird. I think we are being punished for the decline in applications. It’s not like the school itself got worse or that Notre Dame got better. Perhaps USNews shouldn’t do this every single year. It’s not really like schools themselves change that much within a year (though the economic fiasco clearly had an effect, all of us were affected). I think 3-5 years is enough time to really measure any significant changes. Otherwise they are merely playing with ranks to sell. And I hate to say this, but I don’t understand why a school like Vandy that has improved it’s freshmen class and application levels was not rewarded. Instead, it’s in the same spot. Seems as if Emory, Rice, and Vandy are stuck in a rut with the current methodology. And the top 10-15 seem to experience weird changes too. I really don’t get any of this, w/e.</p>
<p>Just looked at Notre Dame’s website, and looked at admissions. Seems to be a great design that truely markets the experience of the students. While the Emory admissions website has greatly improved, it (or any media through which we market ourselves) is still very lackluster compared to that of our peers. I feel that we must use more than a few outdated pics of the campus and you-tube videos to get the point across. We need to implant videos (that are not a part of Youtube) that perhaps emphasize the actual academic experience of various students in some sort of detail. Even amongst You tube videos, you rarely hear current students (not recent graduates) talk about an actual class or perhaps have a camera follow them to one. Normally they give a rather generic infomercial about a particular program/department they are involved in. We really don’t even have a legit video (there is one that tours more historic areas, but it was done in summer and hardly captures the activity of the campus) posted by anyone fully touring the campus with inclusion of newer buildings, academic/meeting hubs (such as Cox bridge, Tull Plaza, Callaway area, and under Cannon Chapel), B-school, Duc, Med. School etc.</p>
<p>A lot we could be doing better starting right at our website or YouTube channel.</p>