In the age of Big Data, colleges and universities have access to a mind-numbing amount of data. Savvy schools are using that information to guide their recruiting, admissions and enrollment efforts. Whether you’re looking to improve targeting in your admissions communications, increase diversity or build a stronger admissions pipeline, the right data can point you toward the best way to proceed.

Kelly Sugrue, Executive Director of Admissions for Brandeis International Business School says data not only drives her personally — it also drives the admissions process and the higher education industry. “I try to find good sources of data, both internal and external, to guide decisions. Internally we look at things like our website traffic, application activity from certain regions, where we’ve recruited and outcomes, return on investment from different events and activities, how students are engaging with us… [we use] external sources like test taker trends and what the job market requires.” Careful analysis of the information allows Sugrue and her team to adjust to shifts in the market, gain greater return on budget investments and develop new graduate business programs to meet market needs.

Read on for more examples of how admissions and enrollment professionals draw on data to improve their operations.

Assessing progress toward strategic admissions and enrollment goals

Tracking the number of inquiries, applicants, accepted and enrolled students allows schools to understand patterns — and quickly respond when the numbers aren’t trending as anticipated.

Lisa Rosenberg, associate dean for recruiting and admissions at Rush University’s College of Nursing, uses reports to keep an eye on each stage of the applicant pipeline. “About a month before our application deadline, we take a look at our targets. About two weeks prior to that deadline we know whether to email in-progress applicants with a deadline reminder or simply to extend the deadline by another two weeks,” she says. “We’ve increased enrollment about 5% in a single program from this tactic alone. We’re much more able to manage our pipeline than we were before,” she explains.

For programs focused on increasing diversity, evaluating progress allows schools to determine whether they need to increase recruiting efforts or adjust policies to meet their objectives. Dina Batlivala, director of marketing and admissions for Rush University’s College of Health Sciences, looks at applicants versus matriculants by race and ethnicity to understand how well her programs are using diversity scholarships as a recruiting tool.

On a larger scale, in fall 2017, more than 150 National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) member schools offered test waivers and deadline extensions to international students impacted by natural disasters and test cancellations.¹ When international applications plummeted, higher education institutions considered the factors driving the decline. The resulting changes allowed schools to reverse the trend and increase applications from foreign students.

Creating less biased holistic review processes

The goal of holistic review is to level the playing field by providing schools a more complete picture of each applicant, allowing admissions committees to make decisions based on more than just transcripts and test scores. When not carefully managed, however, holistic review can result in decisions based on a different set of biases. Thoughtfully incorporating data to measure specific factors in the review process allows schools to lessen the potential for biased reviews.

Samford University’s School of Public Health is very committed to holistic review, according to Dr. Marian Carter, assistant dean of enrollment management and student services. Samford uses its Centralized Application Services (CASs™) to develop scoring rubrics that reflect each program’s unique requirements; faculty access and review applications online. Allowing faculty to rank applications in private lessens bias in response to outside influences, while the scoring rubrics ensure consistency in evaluation.

Carter says faculty are delighted with the system, especially those who were new to holistic review. “When we get together we know extraordinary details about these students — their personal goals, mission trips or community service experiences. We have rubrics in place to score all of these different elements and weigh them fairly,” says Carter.

Not all data centers on students: Holistic admissions solution provider (and Liaison’s partner) Kira Talent offers reviewer analytics so teams can see if among their reviewers, anyone’s evaluations are trending particularly high or low. “Admissions directors can use this data to help identify where discussion and training is needed,” explained Emilie Cushman, Kira CEO and founder. In addition, keeping an eye on the number of applicants assigned to each reviewer and the deadlines for evaluation lets admissions teams better balance the workload, reducing the likelihood of reviewer burnout.

Evaluating return on investment and determining the best use of recruiting dollars

The days of taking part in an event or dropping a mailing just because you’ve always done it are long gone. Admissions teams must be able to demonstrate that their campaigns are delivering value. That means measuring results and return on investment, which demands reliable data.

Jonathan Parker, assistant director of admissions at Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy, appreciates the insight his school gets from PharmCAS™, Liaison’s CAS for colleges and schools of pharmacy.  “It’s great to be able to look at where our applicants are coming from and which undergraduate programs are the largest feeders of the national applicant pool,” he said. This information allows Parker and his team to determine where to apply critical recruiting dollars. “We can look at current data, compare numbers over the past five years and figure out, do we still need to make a personal visit, or do we do something more cost efficient?”

Rush University also draws on CAS data to answer some fundamental questions about marketing spend, campaign targets and quality indicators. Programs use data from a CAS to understand how many applicants are meeting minimum requirements or to understand what prerequisites are or aren’t being met, both of which provide valuable benchmarks for future planning. Batlivala said she looks at the applicant pool by region to understand where brand awareness campaigns are yielding more applicants and whether those applicants meet the right quality indicators.

Developing the most effective messaging for prospective students

When Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business revamped its evening MBA program and was preparing to launch the university’s inaugural online degree, Toby McChesney, senior assistant dean for graduate business programs, encouraged the school to participate in a study to better understand students’ unique motivations for pursuing a graduate business degree at Santa Clara. The Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) has identified seven distinct “candidate segments” based on applicants’ motivations for pursuing graduate management education and for applying to specific schools. Applying this filter helps schools better understand what types of students they attract and how to refine messaging.

Once McChesney and his colleagues learned which audiences comprised the majority of Santa Clara’s on-campus population (Career Revitalizers and Skills Upgraders), they were able to validate their marketing messages. “Our initial tagline for the online MBA, ‘Our program helps students disrupt their career,’ clearly fit the goals of the Career Revitalizers and spoke to the Skills Upgraders’ alignment with the Silicon Valley culture of innovation,” McChesney explains. “As we continue to promote our online program, we’re gaining insight into how this audience is similar — and how it differs — so that we can hone a message that resonates.”

Personalizing student communications

Faulkner University uses data to improve targeting of specific cohorts — including students who have not yet completed applications, students who are eligible for merit- or location-based awards and students who interacted with the college before the campaign began. This helps Faulkner deliver the right messages at the right time to the right students, spurring greater application activity and increasing enrollment.

Other schools have used the information they have about each student’s interests to customize email and print communications. They go beyond simply including first names — these institutions are incorporating messages about student majors and images that reflect interests like athletics, student clubs or research interests.

Targeting specific regions or schools for recruiting

Admissions staff at Samford’s McWhorter School of Pharmacy can easily see where students are coming from and which schools or regions provide the most qualified applicants. For Parker, the data says it all: “We’ve seen that we are getting new, excellent applicants every year from new schools, new areas and new regions, and it has brought our program to the forefront. In a highly competitive market, we’ve been able to maintain our high standards and fill our classes.”

Understanding how to best support incoming students

Dr. Evangeline De Leon, chairperson of the department of nursing education at Del Mar College, and her staff can easily export data from NursingCAS™ to understand more about which students come to Del Mar and why. Those data points help Dr. De Leon build stronger student profiles and implement better strategies to help them be successful. “We ask admitted students to complete surveys,” says Dr. De Leon. “I feel the better profile we can create, the better we can understand and make decisions based on who we actually serve versus who we think we serve.”

Make better admissions decisions with centralized data

A Centralized Application Service (CAS™) puts all of your admissions data in a single location, easily accessible by everyone who needs it. Detailed reports offer insight into your applicant pool that empowers you to make more strategic decisions. Quickly benchmark applicant quality, the number of prospective students at each stage in the process, diversity metrics and more. To make the best admissions decisions, you need data that you can trust. Learn more about how a CAS can put the data you need for better admissions results at your fingertips.

Sources

¹ Stegmeir, M.
Breaking Barriers
Journal of College Admission
Winter 2018