What keeps your fingers awake during power lectures and connected to your friends at bar time is catching on with college admissions officers. Nationwide, universities are communicating with admissions candidates via text message. But while the trend spreads, prospective UW-Madison students may still find themselves sifting through their snail mail.
According to Mary Chase, director of admissions at Creighton University in Nebraska, the idea stemmed from conversations around the office.
'Essentially, we're looking at how our current student body communicates,' she said.
Creighton, the first university to text message, added a question to applications for admission last November asking if students would like a text sent to them if they were admitted.
Admitted students received a message announcing acceptance into the university. Although this has expedited the process, Chase said Creighton has not done away with traditional means of communication. In addition, they send e-mails, view books and admissions letters via mail.
After one cycle of applicants, student response was positive to the text messages, according to Chase. Many appreciated it, including those who were not planning to enroll.
Text messaging 'is still something very personal for the students,' Chase said. She added there are still distinct boundaries between admissions counselors and students.
'Simply giving me a cell phone number is not permission to text message. I think you need specific permission,' she said.
And because not all cell phone plans have free text messaging, cost could be a concern for students.
The over-flooding of e-mail inboxes has led students to turn to other options like Facebook, where mail is still spam free. Text message inboxes are still much a part of a student's personal realm, which has made Chase wary of expanding Creighton's text messaging program.
'My fear is that text message inboxes [are going] to turn into e-mail,' Chase said. 'I don't want that.'
