As the DC team surveys the recruiting landscape and the tools and approaches being used, we clearly see the drive for Admissions departments to level the playing field. Get your product on par with peer colleges/universities who are vying for the same students, right?

It's burned in our psyche that we have to keep up with the Jones'. We're horrified with the thought of not matching the recruiting strategy and arsenal of tools of our competitors. Everyone wants a level playing field... all things equal.

A level playing field may not be what you should be striving for after all. The level playing field mindset may create a false sense of confidence. In reality, you might be positioning your collegiate experience as “one and the same”. Prospective students are being marketed and pitched a barrage of sameness in many school's front-line recruiting efforts. Web sites, conference presentations, collateral, social media... upon closer examination, there’s not much separation and uniqueness from one school to the next.

Your distinct advantage comes when you focus on “unleveling the playing field”. "Unleveling" defined means unfair or inequitable; giving one person or group an unfair advantage. 

Unleveling the playing field means you are keenly focused on differentiating your college/university.  Rather than marching in the same lines as so many other schools, you deliberately choose to march to the beat of a different drummer. To quote Thoreau, "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." Rethink. Unlevel things. It’s how strong brands are making themselves stand out amongst the crowd of sameness.

Unleveling Continued…The next installment will focus on ways to put the unleveling practice to work within your team and arsenal of tools.