An anecdote I sometimes share: during my undergraduate college search, I experienced what you would call “polarizing techniques” at one university and their antithesis at another. I had previously attended a summer camp at a university in my home state; in my senior year of high school, they invited me back for a short seminar and proceeded to spend an hour talking about how wonderful they are, how privileged I would be to attend, how much of an honor it was to be invited to join [insert pithy university collective name]. They were, in fact, a decent school. They were also my backup option. Big fish, small pond.
I attended a different university’s program not long after. The program director’s welcome speech, by contrast, said in essence “we want you here, we think we’d be good for you, but you should go to the school that will bring out the best in you; if you think that’s not us, go elsewhere with our blessing.”
I attended the second school and never regretted it. While my decision was pretty overdetermined, the stark contrast between the pushy, snobbish diatribe at the first school and the encouraging, welcoming, confident-but-not-arrogant tone at the second was a definite influence.
An anecdote I sometimes share: during my undergraduate college search, I experienced what you would call “polarizing techniques” at one university and their antithesis at another. I had previously attended a summer camp at a university in my home state; in my senior year of high school, they invited me back for a short seminar and proceeded to spend an hour talking about how wonderful they are, how privileged I would be to attend, how much of an honor it was to be invited to join [insert pithy university collective name]. They were, in fact, a decent school. They were also my backup option. Big fish, small pond.
I attended a different university’s program not long after. The program director’s welcome speech, by contrast, said in essence “we want you here, we think we’d be good for you, but you should go to the school that will bring out the best in you; if you think that’s not us, go elsewhere with our blessing.”
I attended the second school and never regretted it. While my decision was pretty overdetermined, the stark contrast between the pushy, snobbish diatribe at the first school and the encouraging, welcoming, confident-but-not-arrogant tone at the second was a definite influence.
Respect your audience, and they respect you back.