A few weeks ago, the Women’s College Coalition released a Hardwick~Day comparative alumni research study titled, "What Matters in College after College." Alumnae of women’s colleges recall learning skills and being engaged in certain activities more frequently than their peers at coed private schools or public flagship universities.

For example, they "learned to solve problems" at twice the rate of public flagship alumnae (54% vs. 27%) and at a 16% higher rate than alumnae of coed private colleges.

The next day, Inside HigherEd ran a story on the study which moved readers to post 20 comments - a high number of responses even for IHE’s cantankerous readership, and not from just the usual suspects, either.

You can read the article and comments here:

March 4, 2008
New Evidence Bolsters Women's Colleges
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/03/04/women

As you know, Hardwick~Day has conducted similar surveys for other consortia, such as the Annapolis Group, Council of Independent Colleges, the National Catholic Colleges Admissions Association, and many other consortia and individual colleges.

As a member institution of one of the groups of independent colleges that has conducted this research, I thought it would be helpful to provide you with a list of Frequently Asked Questions (with Answers, of course) about alumni research based on the IHE comments and others we've received over the years.

There is a fine line between making research findings accessible, offering interpretation, and assaulting audiences with charts and graphs, but certain questions recur. My hope is that as you use the comparative alumni research to make the case to support your institution, you'll be able to address these in a confident way - before they’re even raised.

If you know of colleges that have used comparative alumni research in particularly powerful or creative ways to advance private higher education, please let me know.

Here is a link to the FAQs as well as many of the studies themselves: http://www.hardwickday.com/alumni/default.php

Questions and comments usually fall into three broad categories: 1) Red Herrings; 2) "Good Question, Here are the Details"; and 3) "That would be a Great Question to Explore Further".

Regards,

Jim