Last night I was researching colleges for one of my clients and had a look at High Point University in High Point, NC. I previously knew nothing about.
The website is impressive. It was clearly constructed by masters of marketing and public relations. The president, Nido Qubein, is a fantastic businessman and public speaker, and he clearly is a motivator and visionary. And undoubtedly his leadership is having an impact: new classroom buildings, new schools, new residence halls, and impeccable grounds.

But what struck me most is that this university has learned that marketing and PR make a huge difference. The school has a “Director of Wow.” I’m not kidding. This person’s job is to make everyone on campus feel great, take pride in the school and its people, and generally make people happy. (Perhaps he worked for Disney World before coming to HPU?).
This link will take you to a page of videos produced by the university. The first one, “Prepare to be WOWed,” is a good example of masterful marketing. It’s professional, the messages are clear, and the viewer comes away with a feeling that High Point is perhaps the most wonderful college on earth.
Have a look.
Impressive, right?
But think about it. Just because a college is great at marketing does not mean it is a great college. The video says almost nothing about academics, about professional placement, about the kind of kids who go there, about its athletics, extracurriculars, learning centers, or just about anything really useful for a college-bound student to know.
The video sells a feeling. A sentiment. An idea that you will be loved. That you will be nurtured. That you will be pampered, even.
While it’s true that every college does have a personality, and in a sense, each is trying to sell that “feeling” of love for one’s school, this glitzy marketing video–and other techniques used on the website–do not convince me that High Point University will be a good fit for every student. Nor does it convince me that there is substance underneath the veneer of good feelings.
To be clear, I’m not knocking HPU. I’m still learning about it, and it may be a great place for certain kinds of students who want a certain kind of educational atmosphere and educational programming.
And I’m not even knocking the fact that colleges and universities are becoming better at marketing themselves. They are taking lessons from Nido Qubein and other masterful marketers as they sell their services. And why not? Like any other business or service provider, institutions of higher ed need to convince consumers that they are worthy of your educational dollar.
But caveat emptor: buyer beware. videos like this–and many others that colleges are now creating to help sell their services–should be viewed with caution and a dose of skepticism. Don’t be snowed by the glitz and glamour. Remind yourself that they are selling, and that you must do some due diligence before letting yourself be hooked. Dig beneath the marketing veneer.
For example, what are faculty saying about the quality of education at HPU? What do they say about the quality of the students, the learning atmosphere, the value of the education that is provided? What do the data tell us?
In order to decide whether the school is right for a particular student, we need to look beyond the feel-good videos. We need to dig into the data, talk to students (ones that are not managed by the admissions office!), and to faculty. This sort of research takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it if you plan to invest tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of dollars into an institution.
Fortunately there are professionals out there who can help you find the right fit.
Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consultant and Healthy Skeptic
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At the dawn of the 21st century, every college in America is touting its smorgasbord of study abroad opportunities, from Albania to Angola to Australia and back again. For colleges, these programs are “must-haves,” just like climbing walls, salad bars, and frisbee golf. And these programs have proliferated in a very short amount of time. How did this happen? The free market stepped in to provide “study abroad services” to colleges that could not economically create their own programs.
But as everything in a market society, some shady practices have developed along with the demand, and it turns out that some colleges–and even individual college administrators–sometimes get kickbacks to promote certain programs over other, or to build exclusive arrangements with certain study abroad companies.
The New York Times recently ran an article (registration required) exposing some of the cozy relationships between colleges and study abroad providers. Here’s an excerpt:

At many campuses, study abroad programs are run by multiple companies and nonprofit institutes that offer colleges generous perks to sign up students: free and subsidized travel overseas for officials, back-office services to defray operating expenses, stipends to market the programs to students, unpaid membership on advisory councils and boards, and even cash bonuses and commissions on student-paid fees. This money generally goes directly to colleges, not always to the students who take the trips.
Critics say that these and similar arrangements, which are seldom disclosed, typically limit student options and drive up prices for gaining international credentials compared with the most economical alternative — enrolling directly in a foreign university, paying generally lower tuition to that institution and having the credits transferred. Some campuses require students to use one of several affiliated providers, but some even have exclusive arrangements with study-abroad agents, further limiting options.

The article also highlights the case of a Columbia student who wanted to go to Oxford to study for a year at one of the most prestigious colleges within the Oxford system. Because Columbia had an exclusive financial agreement with another, lesser college, the student was not allowed to transfer his credits earned at Oxford back to Columbia. He appealed, and lost. So he dropped out of Columbia and graduated from Oxford.
The cautionary tale here is that not all study abroad programs are alike. While some universities have rich academic offerings and exert tight quality control over their programs, others are simply “credit mills” shepherd large groups of students overseas, through them into some classes of questionable value, and transfer some (always good) grades back to the students’ home universities.
Meanwhile, many cash-strapped universities are happy to send kids overseas for reasons other than the transformative experience of learning another culture. Universities make agreements with study abroad providers, whose programs cost considerably less than the cost of tuition at a private, 4-year college. Mom and dad are paying full tuition at the home university, while the university turns around and pays the provider perhaps a third of what a semester’s tuition costs. And the university pockets the rest. Moreover, the university doesn’t have to construct new dorms for all those kids on their junior year abroad…thus saving even more money over the long haul.
What’s the point here?
The point is that students and their parents needs to be as careful about choosing a study abroad program as they are about choosing a college. Some study abroad experiences have the potential to expand a student’s horizons intellectually, culturally, and socially (and geographically, of course). But others are not worth the price of admission.
So look carefully at those study abroad options. Does the college create its own programs or buy them “off the shelf” from other providers? Who are those other providers? Does the college have exclusive arrangements, or can students create their own programs or choose others that are not on the college’s “official, approved list”? Does the college’s academic faculty exert any oversight at all over the study abroad program, or is it run as a profit center within the university administration?
The answers to these questions…as well as the goals of the individual student…should guide you as you investigate study abroad options.
Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting and Study Abroad Specialist
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I’m getting excited about my September trip to Austin for the annual conference of the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC). I’ll have the opportunity to attend a college fair and meet with dozens of college admission counselors in the search for schools that match the needs of my clients.
Furthermore, I’ll visit several other colleges and universities for an insider’s tour to what makes those schools different. Again, my aim is to get a better feel for which colleges will be a good match for clients.
Here’s a list of the schools I will visit:

There’s nothing like getting a first-hand knowledge of colleges and universities. These experiences better prepare me to serve the needs of my clients.
Mark Montgomery
Montgomery Educational Consulting
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