Mailings from the Office of Admission got a makeover this year. About 2,400 accepted students from both the regular and early decision applicant pools will receive a "stylish" and color-coordinated assortment of written materials and a car decal in their forthcoming deliveries from Brown, according to Dean of Admission Jim Miller '73.
Michael Goldberger, former director of admission and current director of athletics, said admissions mailings became more and more weighed down with information over the 20 years he worked in the admissions office. He added that this trend caused "all sorts of problems" with coordinating the individual packages sent to accepted students.
Miller, who was appointed dean of admission last year, brought up the possibility of revamping the packets several months ago, and others in the admissions office were receptive to the idea.
"We're going to try to make the admission package a littler cleaner. We have been putting a lot of appropriately beautiful stuff in there," Miller said.
Among the items undergoing changes are the folders and the acceptance letters, which Miller said would be more "elegant" than before.
"We're trying to coordinate whole presentation ... color, style, tone," Miller said.
Accepted students will also receive admissions certificates this year, which Miller said are "sort of official."
The office also added Brown car decals in the initial acceptance letters, all of which were purchased directly from the Brown Bookstore.
David Pagliaccio '10, who was accepted early decision to Brown but also received acceptance letters from Brandeis and Drew universities, said he did not really notice Brown's admission letter because all the letters he received were "pretty similar."
He did, however, appreciate the car decal, though he did raise one complaint about it.
"They left the price tag on," he said of the decal, which cost $1.09.
Miller said he was unaware of the prices being left on the stickers.
"Whoops," he joked. "That's really classy. Here's your bumper sticker for 84 cents."
The price tags are printed directly on the decal and are therefore probably difficult to remove, Pagliaccio said.
Another reason Pagliaccio did not really pay much attention to his admission letter was because he already knew he was admitted when he received it, having checked his decision online several days before.
Because admissions letters are often mailed the same day the decisions are available online, "almost everybody" chooses to check the admissions office's Web site rather than wait for the mail, Goldberger said.
The office's Web site also underwent changes this year. "The presentation of the decision hasn't changed but the admitted students Web site is undergoing renovation," Miller said.
Though the upgrades may please many future Brunonians, several undergraduate students were upset about the new acceptance mailings, saying they felt forgotten.
"I think they should consider reparations," said Krishna Chokshi '09.
Despite all the changes made, Miller said the cost of the admissions packages was not dramatically higher than in previous years.
Miller said he believes as long as students are accepted, presentation probably matters little.
"I think if you get good news it probably doesn't matter what (the admissions mailings) look like," he said.
