terrapinsanity.com

The deadline for early application is coming up fast. If a spring 2012 high school graduate wants consideration in any competitive program to start here in the following fall, now is the time to get those materials in. The cutoff is November 1st.

Which makes us wonder … how are we doing in advertising to the best and the brightest?

We know a majority of top college-bound Maryland high school students end up going out of state for higher education – and many don’t come back. This is the state’s chronic brain drain that a flagship operation is supposed to reverse. Today Maryland is a net donor of top kids into the nation’s college pool. College Park is supposed to change us into a net recipient. How vibrant and exciting is the environment? Let’s do a quick check of what we present to visitors on our web that might rope them in to examine us more closely:

• How about the President’s office? Community relations – that sounds like a good indicator. Oops – it invites us to a Terrapin Pride Day in the capital – in March of 2010. So much for vibrant. Federal relations is still representing President Dan Mote, but maybe prospective freshman won’t notice that Loh is now in charge. After all, Federal Relations staff didn’t notice. The President’s chief diversity officer is a vacant position – kind of a disconnect with the ‘commitment to diversity’ text over at Admissions.

• Donor relations will tell a lot about whether a campus is on its way up. Is the alumni base fired up? Do they make resources available to keep improving their alma mater? The banner link at that site advertises their 2010 office golf retreat at a resort in Easton. Looking at vacation photos of staff members wearing silly hats and beach sunglasses really says “give”, doesn’t it?

  One snapshot we can’t show you from university relations’ site is a page showing how to donate or where to send a check. Someone there forgot that. Seems like an important detail. [This is completely consistent with the reputation of Brodie Remington as being the number one doofus in the president's cabinet. Donors walk elsewhere because of how hard it is for people to give here. Maybe a prospective freshman notices this, maybe not, but he will see the effects. Using a search engine on the archives, we were able to turn up a 2010 page for giving to campus which looked promising but then seemed to wedge a server, so maybe it was an old page, or maybe just broken computers.]

• Whether first or last, prospective students would end up at the Admissions site. Besides a web motif different from most of the rest of campus, what will they see?

  If they are interested in not just one major but credentials in other specializations in order to improve their prospects, they might seek a certificate in one of several areas. But 30 percent of those links are 404. Women’s Studies? Science, Technology and Society? Dead links. Goes to a physics page which talks about something unrelated.

  Bad news if you’re interested in our major in Turf and Golf Course Management. That link timed out over on the “academics” page. Dietetics? Food Science? Same story, as with all the web presence associated with Agriculture and Natural Resources. Japanese? 404. Over in Special Programs they do a better job, but the “First Year Learning Communities” link is 404. Guess there is no learning in the first year? The most entertaining dead link: “Recommend this page” in the footer. (Seriously. Is a link checker too deep a technology for Admissions office staff?)

  Same story if you want to look up faculty in departments. (Dead links are highlighted in red.) Too bad if you are interested in UM to study English, African-American Studies, Anthropology, Physics, Aerospace Engineering, or Electrical Engineering.

  The Student Life page there sounds great! But … there aren’t links to most of the features cited. How can we find more about these great things, the prospective student might wonder, these gourmet eateries and recreational facilities? Let’s cut and paste one into the search tab at top of the screen. Center for Health and Wellbeing, that sounds promising. Oops. Even UM’s search engine can’t find it. No wonder Admissions didn’t even try to add links.

Okay, you get the idea. There are some good sites too – the golf course has a great site. Now we know the priorities!

Probably of lesser interest to prospective students, but tremendously telling about leadership here is the new One Stop Shopping site for businesses interest in this campus. As we write this, both the banner M-Square initiative and something called “Corporate Initiative at University of Maryland” show as links to nowhere.

If people were trying to connect with us, whether to give, partner or just apply, they couldn’t do it. And that doesn’t bode well for our recruiting of the best and the brightest. The picture we paint to the outside today is one of an uncaring leadership that doesn’t sweat details. That at least would be truth in advertising.