Even though the coronavirus pandemic has made recruitment more of a challenge this year, SigEp’s Wisconsin-Platteville chapter has experienced a great deal of success marketing its Balanced Man Scholarship. The chapter has received 213 applications. This is the second highest number it’s ever received, only behind 2018, when the chapter received 330 applications.

The chapter made a couple of tweaks to its marketing this year. For one, all admitted male students received a postcard announcing the scholarship. Previously, the chapter mailed postcards to students once they enrolled. The biggest hurdle the chapter faced was getting the postcards mailed. Typically, it’s a group effort, explained BMS Chair Jacob Horan, Wisconsin-Platteville ’20. This time around, Horan addressed and mailed nearly 1,500 postcards on his own because campus closed and most brothers were already back at home by the time cards were printed.

Another change this year was that current brothers reached out to students from their high schools to remind them to apply. This personal touch helped Wisconsin Theta build a robust applicant pool: Many of the 2020 applicants were multi-sport athletes in high school, and several intend to continue playing in college. Most impressive of all, the group is filled with academic standouts, with 132 of the applicants holding a 3.5 GPA or above.

“Many of the brothers who’ve conducted interviews in the past mentioned that this year’s group has been the highest quality interviews they have been a part of and anticipate it being difficult to narrow the pool down to a group of finalists,” Horan noted.

The chapter recently held its first virtual recruitment event exclusively for BMS scholarship applicants and plans to hold a couple more of these events, as well as a Q and A session for applicants’ parents.

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