By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
2 minute read
Dealing with seniors who got a late start on their college search process is a common scenario each year for admissions teams around the country.
Your newer inquiry pool can be broken down into two smaller groups – those who haven’t engaged or taken a next step despite many opportunities, and those who have visited campus sometime in the past 90 days but haven’t started their application.
As you might imagine, radio silence and a lack of action can mean different things depending on a student’s individual situation. But, in looking through years of survey research we have been able to identify some of the biggest reasons why.
- For some of the inquiries who visited campus, it didn’t have the ‘feel’ they were looking for. It was too small or too big, they didn’t get a sense of community, or they didn’t like your school’s location.
- Your website was too confusing and the key pieces of information they were looking for weren’t easy to find so they just gave up.
- Your emails sounded (and looked) like mass marketing messages. They were too formal, the information was too general, nothing felt personalized, and instead of trying to learn about the student they pushed actions that he/she wasn’t ready to take (i.e. visit or apply).
- They’re not comfortable receiving text messages from a college, and/or they don’t like talking on the phone. Sometimes it’s as simple as the medium you’re using for outreach.
- They’re busy and overwhelmed. The college search, activities, and just being busy with teenage life can be exhausting. They feel like they have until at least the summer to figure things out, so what’s the rush.
- Some actually think they’ve missed their opportunity and that your school isn’t accepting new applications or doesn’t have any scholarships and financial aid left to give out.
- If you’re a Common App school, some students aren’t sure which application they’re supposed to fill out – yours or the Common App.
- They’re scared or nervous to tell you, “No” and are hoping that eventually you’ll get the hint and stop the communication.
- They’re actually interested but they don’t know what questions to ask or what the first thing they should do is.
Now let’s talk about what you can do to generate some engagement and feedback that will help you better understand some of these students.
Create a very short email in a conversational tone that is sent from the student’s admissions counselor. Consider using a subject line such as “Helping you figure out your college plans”, or “<First/Preferred Name>, let’s chat about your college search.”
For the inquiries who have visited campus sometime in the past 90 days but haven’t started their application, reiterate how much you appreciated the student and their family taking time out to visit. Mention that you’ve been watching for their application and haven’t seen it yet, so you wanted to make sure they’re doing okay. End the email by asking a direct question as your call to action. You could ask something like, “What’s turning out to be the hardest part of your college search?”
For the inquiries who haven’t engaged or taken a next step, start by saying you understand every student’s college search is uniquely theirs and your job as their counselor is to listen and provide support where you can. End the email by asking a direct question as your call to action. You could ask something like, “What would you like to see us talk about next? What would really be helpful, <First/Preferred Name>?”
Based on additional Tudor Collegiate Strategies data I’d recommend you send your email on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday sometime between 3-7pm in the time zone you’re sending it to.
Finally, as a follow-up strategy, consider sending a very short text message two or three days after your email to all the students who don’t reply back. In your text, alert the student to the email you sent and let them know you’re really interested in getting their answer to the question you asked.
Good luck!
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