By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
3 minute read
As you work to yield this next class, your admitted student events will play a very important part in helping you achieve (or miss) that overall enrollment goal.
Here’s the first piece of advice I have for you today. Every component of your admitted student day needs to start and end with the student and parent experience in mind. Does what you want to do add value and help them with the college decision? And are you creating or eliminating friction? Please make those things a focal point during your planning discussions.
If you’re looking for additional ideas and strategies to help you deliver a more enjoyable and impactful student-centered experience, consider one or more of the following:
- Parking, directions, and registration. They’re three of the biggest micro frictions or little details that create frustration for families – especially parents/guardians. Do you have enough signage on the street – and is it clear? Consider having one or more parking lot attendants who help direct families, and adding one or two additional people to assist with registration and to avoid people standing in long lines.
- What happens in the first 20 minutes? The first thing you do sets the tone for the entire day. What’s the energy level and overall vibe like? If you’re going to have an opening speaker, are they authentic, engaging, and relatable, or does it feel like he/she is dry, too formal, and essentially vomiting information about your school? Consider having a current first-year student or a recent graduate begin the day by sharing part of their story about how they made their college decision, or how your school helped prepare them for where they currently are in their professional career. Get the audience to visualize.
- Connect admitted but undecided students with students who have deposited, and connect both groups with current students. While the majority of your attendees haven’t made a final decision yet, you’re going to have some students who have already committed/deposited and are very excited about the future. How are you leveraging that group to influence students who are undecided? And, how are you creating opportunities for both groups to engage with current students? Consider breaking off into smaller groups at some point and doing an interactive activity.
- Give students options to choose from. Every attendee isn’t at the same stage nor do they have the same interests. So why not give them options to self-select between different sessions and discover what they want. Offering choices ahead of time will make your event feel more personalized and relevant. So will ditching a lot of the PowerPoints and focusing on creating connections.
- Student panels are great, but… Every college and university does student panels. How is yours going to be different? Think outside the box and consider doing something that’s interactive. If you are doing a panel, encourage current students to talk about something more authentic like the transition from high school to college – living on your own, living with a roommate, time management, making new friends, etc. You could even do a separate panel specifically for out-of-state students or first-generation students. And if you have a decent size commuter population, don’t forget that group either.
- Don’t forget about the parents/guardians. How are you going to make this influencer group feel seen, heard, and valued? Consider doing a parent panel where parents who represent current students – particularly first-year students – talk about the “investment” side of college and/or other relevant and timely topics. You could also have a faculty member whose child is a current student, or whose child graduated from your school, offer their point of view. It’s important this group walks away feeling like their concerns were addressed, and questions were answered.
- What’s your fun component? A carnival type party with various activities and competitions, food trucks, or a DJ are just few possibilities. How about an interactive family feud type event. Incorporating something that’s low pressure and enjoyable helps to make the experience more memorable.
- Celebrate when they decide! When a student feels ready to take the next step and submit their deposit, do they know where to go during your event to do that? More importantly, how are you celebrating this monumental decision? Some schools have those students ring a bell, sign a banner or wall, or get something that’s branded. Regardless of what you do, make sure you celebrate the student. Furthermore, make sure other students, parents, and families see/hear your celebrations.
- Document the day. Not every admitted or committed/deposited student will be able to attend one of these events. How are you capturing the exciting and impactful moments throughout the day and then sharing those after the fact (on social media or in a personalized email) with students who were unable to attend?
- Intentional follow-up. Our research continues to show that there are a handful of times when a student’s mindset significantly shifts during their college search. One of those is in the hours and days after a campus visit. Having a clearly defined plan for personalized follow-up is essential. You need to better understand what, if any, new questions they might have, as well as what they have left to do before they make a decision.
- Drop the survey. Instead of doing a post-event survey which oftentimes produces very general feedback, consider having an ‘undercover’ staff member whose sole goal is to walk around, listen, observe, and takes notes throughout the day – focusing specifically on friction points. If you’re waiting for students and parents to come and tell you about every problem, then you’re going to be waiting for a long time. Identify the pain points yourself and then discuss how to remedy them before your next admitted student day.
If you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.