| Abstract: | Schools of Business are interested in improving the quantity and quality of their undergraduate enrollments. For this reason, they often contact applicants who have been accepted in order to make them feel welcome. Telephone calls, follow-up letters and other devices are employed. Cognitive dissonance theory suggests that these should have a positive effect on the percentage of applicants who follow through and actually attend classes, but no empirical evidence exists to prove or disprove this hypothesis. This study reports on the results obtained when two dissonance reducing techniques, a follow-up letter and a copy of a school of business newsletter, were used to increase the percentage of applicants matriculating for the fall semester. These techniques were not successful in achieving this objective and, instead, may have been counter productive. |
