It’s that time of year again where we, in admissions, wait to see who has selected us after all our efforts to recruit them. I know you have all done your best to put your freshman class together, but I bet today you are asking yourself, “Did we really do enough?”
Let’s find out…We all know that the main objective of the admissions office is to achieve the institutions enrollment goals. Crafting a class, however, does not begin on May 1. It begins with the top of your funnel. Your real goal should be to fill the prospect pool with the right composition of student to increase the chances of matriculating the type of student the college hope to enroll. You cannot increase your enrollment if you don’t have the right applicant pool, and the chances of having the right applicant pool will be minimal if you fail to populate your prospect pool with the students you wish to attract. So, how do you achieve the goal of having the right prospect pool to make May 1 a celebration day, rather than a worry day?
- Purchase names – you should be purchasing names to augment your prospective student pool. There is a real science to this process, since you will have multiple variables you must consider when placing an order. Once you decided to purchase names, the key is to make sure you are receiving a return on those names. Therefore, you must craft a specific series of messages to these students.
- Turn those prospects into applicants – Once you have successfully populated your prospect pool you have to get the prospects to take the big step and apply. The “dating” begins. You start to use your best efforts to woo the student to submit an application, with the goal of winning over the heart, and deposit of that student (remember it is May 1).
- Connect – We all know that your admission office has limited resources, so we have to be imaginative and resourceful when it coming to creating methods to move the prospect along the admissions funnel. You need to take advantage of strategic partnerships available to you to help you use blogs, chat rooms, email blast, interactive web and mobile sites to connect with these prospects.
Once you have outlined how you are going to craft your class, you should be enabled to meet the institutions goals for the freshman class without having to worry about May 1. And May 1 can go back to being a happy day full of crafty little baskets of joy rather than the stress of making a freshman class.
Is May 1 a stressful day in your office? If so, let us help, contact a strategic enrollment consultant to find out how we can take the stress away!
Let us help you have a happy May Day