Most university presidents believe the idea of stealing share from other universities is unsightly. It reeks of business and winning, and it rubs against the collegial grain with other presidents.
I know that because the branding and marketing of universities proves it. If you run ads of universities together, as we did in a study this month, you see a blending of messages and tone that are so similar they are easy to tune out and rarely give students a choice. All they do is reaffirm a choice a current student has already made.
