Recruitment Strategies of Dietetic Programs

Abstract

Student recruitment is an important and integral part of any successful dietetic education program. The purpose of this study was to measure the timeliness and quality of responses to a letter of inquiry sent to 54 Coordinated Programs (CP), 110 Approved Preprofessional Practice Programs (AP4), 95 internship programs and the admissions offices of 267 educational institutions. A total of 332 responses were received from dietetic programs and 343 from admission offices. The average “wait time” for a reply was 31 days for admissions offices. Coordinated programs responded within 21 days while AP4 and internships responded in 24 and 20 days respectively. Admission offices sent significantly more pieces of information than programs (P<.05) but there was no significant difference among program types for number of pieces sent. Forty-five percent of the dietetic programs included a cover letter but only 27% of those letters were personally addressed to the student. Over 80 % of the response letters had a photocopied or typed signature. Only 4% of the letters sent by dietetic programs mentioned dietetics or included literature on dietetic careers. Applications were mailed by 49% of the dietetic programs and 29% of the programs invited students to visit campus. Less than 1% of the programs included materials published by the American Dietetic Association. Three individuals evaluated the recruiting literature for the professional quality of the response and the marketing appeal. There was no significant difference among rater's consistency for these items. Seventy-five percent of the program materials were determined to be of professional quality and 51% had market appeal. Dietetic programs and admission offices are responding to potential student inquiries but improvement can be made in the timeliness of response and in some areas of the recruitment materials and strategies.