Tangled Up in Tech

By ELIZABETH F. FARRELL

Admissions deans grapple with the promises and pitfalls of electronic recruiting

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kenton B. Pauls, director of enrollment services at the University of North Dakota, knew that high-school students frequently send one another text messages, so last year he decided to incorporate text-messaging lingo into the viewbook the university sends to prospective students. Its cover had read, "You belong at the University of North Dakota." Mr. Pauls changed