Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Marketing Loyola

For my event analysis this week I attended the SimpsonScarbourough marketing research lecture. The main point of this lecture was to show what sorts of qualities make a school unique or special. They chose a bunch of different qualities and took surveys showing how each quality impacted a certain person on choosing a school. Using a bar graph they showed how much well roundedness, school spirit, options for majors and the beauty of the campus impacted the decisions of prospective students as well as undergraduates in choosing a school. The Marketing research program found that well roundedness and majors were two of the most important leading factors to students picking their Colleges. They also took a survey on how the Jesuits and Faculty view these qualities according to Loyola today. It was interesting to see what qualities of the school attracted the students to Loyola and how the faculty views these qualities associated with Loyola.
For undergraduate students and prospective students the researchers found that there were similarly high percentages for the impact of well roundedness on choosing a school. The prospective students and undergraduate students both agreed that well roundedness was the most important leading factor in picking a school. The faculty also found that well roundedness was a major part of Loyola’s reputation. I found this interesting because I had never really thought about well roundedness as a major leading quality to narrowing down my choices of schools. After hearing different opinions from other students on what they thought well roundness meant I realized that it actually had played a major part in my decision process. Being well rounded means being socially and academically excellent. Most people want to be socially and academically excellent so naturally they would look for a well-rounded school. Since Loyola seems to be known for it’s well rounded students, it’s no wonder I chose to go here. Most of the students in the lecture agreed that well roundedness is a sought after quality and is strived for because obtaining this quality usually results in success. We also pay forty five thousand dollars a year for a good education and a lifetime of fun experiences, so it doesn’t hurt to strive to become a well rounded person.
The marketing research program also found that according to undergraduates and prospective students, the options of majors was also a leading quality to picking a school. The higher amount of choices of majors would earn a school points and sometimes put it at the top of a prospective students list of schools. I know that for me, as a freshman majors was a big decision maker for what school I would choose. If a certain school I was considering did not have some of the majors I thought I might pursue I would eliminate them from my list. When we looked at the Faculty’s list of what qualities they thought best represented Loyola, majors was not in the top three. In fact it wasn’t high on the list at all. I thought this was interesting because half the reason I picked Loyola College was because of its extensive amount of choices of majors. Overall we can see that the Faculty and Jesuit’s idea of Loyola’s appeal to students is actually quite different than what they actually look for in a school.

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