The Potential Perils of the Profile: Part 1

A Boston University admissions brochure with plenty of profiles.

Being profiled by an academic institution sounds sinister.

Profiles---of students, faculty, and even staff---are, however, are one of the major tools used for positioning and branding.

We use them at SEAS! And Harvard, in general, loves them. Even corporate America uses them in major ad campaigns, such as "I am an IBMer" or Intel's famous rock star advertisements.

Before I arrived at college, I had a sense of what the students might be like from the then ubiquitous glossy print admissions materials. Or at least I thought I did. The grab bag of admits I met were not so readily packaged or as preppy (to my relief) as the photos suggested. Admittedly, a lot of my classmates did live by the J. Crew catalog.

At Harvard I have heard that the throngs of tourists visiting the campus often accost students in the Yard with the aim of trying to figure out what made them special enough to have "gotten in." The lucky 6% become accidental celebrities, which may explain why the Yard seems filled more with tourists than students (who are safe behind the gates of their houses out of range from the camera eyes).

Of course, future students (and parents) hoping to attend Harvard (or anywhere) want to know, "Will I fit in? Will I meet people like me? Am I smart enough and good enough to make it if I do get in?" (The movie Accepted provides an ironic take on the entire college admissions saga.)

Just the other day a group of PIOs (Public Information Officers) were discussing the University's longstanding perception problem---the belief that Harvard today still looks/acts like it did in the 1950s.

Harvard engineering students working in the undergraduate labs.

The concerted efforts to diversify the community, especially the student population, has begun to pay off and is shockingly visible if you take the time to look.

When we do photo shoots---of undergraduate engineering students mind you---they almost look staged. Too good to be true! Could we really have such a wide mix of people hovering over the 3D printer?

Granted, we are still working on attracting more women to the field and the diversity story changes depending upon the area of study and population, e.g., graduate students versus undergraduates or computer science versus engineering sciences.

The Crimson, which loves a good headline, was a bit less generous: SEAS Struggles to Attract Minority Students.

That said, the push for financial aid at Harvard has been game changing at the undergraduate level. Again, there is, of course, still (a lot---and I mean, a lot) of work to do. To wit, here's a profile of a future Harvard student as reported by a local newspaper, the Chester Herald.

Tyreke White had never considered attending Harvard University. But in his second year of high school he had an epiphany. His aunt had just left for Afghanistan with her Army unit, and White and his mom moved from Chester to Annapolis, Md., to house-sit while she was away.

In the hallways at Annapolis Senior High, White heard students talk about attending universities like Stanford and Carnegie Mellon. "The kids up there ... it's like they thought out of the box more," he said. "That was the point I thought, 'Well, maybe I could do that too.'"

Read more: http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/06/02/3114693/whites-next-stop-harvard.html#ixzz1O7aJAA11

In the case of Tyreke White, a Harvard-produced profile of a student "just like him" must not have ended up on his doorstep. Instead, he was motivated by fellow students, who ironically, were not like him. Therein lies the challenge, and hints at why changing perceptions is no easy task.

At SEAS, we have the added chore that some (less and less!) students think that Harvard does not have engineering, or more generously, that science and engineering students are an outcast population in a sea of lit, history, and econ majors, or not as technically minded as those at more "technical" institutions, and so it goes. (In fact, I am convinced some days that many who work at Harvard still think this.)

We use profiles, and increasingly video profiles, as a way to try to counter that perception and build up the notion of the "liberal arts" engineer. And we aren't simply spinning---this is really what students report back to us or, even better, self-report, as in the case of Madhura Narawane ’12:

I chose to come to Harvard because I wanted to have the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research as a sophomore, learn from professors who are passionate about their students, row on the Charles as part of the novice crew team, learn Spanish, and pursue my interest in technology at the same time.

When done well, the purpose of a profile is to offer an honest and unvarnished look at the kinds of people who comprise an institution. While we do edit things out (e.g., less than kind remarks about other institutions), we do our best to leave in as much in as possible or to use first-hand accounts, untouched by our editorial oversight. (Colby College, in fact, offers what appears to be a 100% student created admissions site. The site actually seems more marketing-focused than if Ogilvy and Mather had been brought in for a consult.)

A few years ago, I wrote an alumni Q&A with Chelsey Simmons '06 (now at Stanford in graduate school) in part because she didn't seem like your typical Harvard, let alone, engineering, student.  Here's a highlight:

So even a sun-loving Gator fan from Florida can adapt to Cambridge culture?
I did feel like I fit in, and I think that's the beauty of Harvard. I think that misconceptions about the sort of students at Harvard do exist, but the most important thing is to recognize what those misconceptions might be and then break them down entirely. Once I'm in a classroom or boardroom, I can confidently show that I mean business, and people recognize that and respect that.

Try as we might, as communicators we can only facilitate the process of shattering misconceptions, and its a tough sell, more viral than veritas-driven.

And there is the real risk that profiles will have the opposite effect. Imagine a prospective student reading about how wonderful a Harvard student is. Instead of being inspired, they are utterly intimidated.

Ultimately, students like Tyreke White are left to find their own epiphanies. That's a good thing.

Yet, don't be too surprised if a few years from now he ends up appearing in one of our student profiles.

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As I really like this topic, stay tuned for more...


While busy studying in the modern Gothic library late at night, I wondered what it would be like, a few years after graduation, to be one of those lucky alumni the college higher-ups deemed profile-worthy.  Imagine making the cover of the Bulletin...