With 23 majors in the UF/IFAS College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and several advisors serving in the recruiting role, CALS felt the need was great to create continuity among all recruitment materials. With the goal of recruiting for all majors within in the college, each major card includes:
- A description of the major
- What courses a student should expect to take in the major
- Specializations (if any)
- Potential career paths, and
- A “Did you know?” section that lists labs, internship and study abroad opportunities, student organizations, related minors, and additional fun facts about the major
A pre-professional card was created as well to highlight the diversity of majors a pre-health student could take to achieve their career goals.
Each undergraduate major advisor was provided with 250 cards of their major(s) to use in recruiting efforts. Laminated sets on a circle-binding clip were provided to the UF recruiters who travel around the state and nation, CALS advisors, and CALS recruiters around the state.
The small 5×7 cards have proven to be successful, particularly at state college fairs because of the succinctness of the material in a small amount of space. The cards remain set-up in the CALS Collaboration Room, a space for students to work on group projects, homework, and presentations. CALS students, friends of CALS students, and visiting high school students utilizing this collaboration space often pick-up several cards with majors of interest to them.
The card development was timed in conjunction with the redesign of the UF majors catalog. The photos and descriptions of each major are also present on the UF majors catalog as well as the redesigned college website. This ensures continuity of messaging and images for prospective students interested in the college.
The project proved so effective that we replicated the project for graduate program recruitment cards.
Dana Edwards Szigeti 