BY Anthony Campisi | November 16th, 2020

The importance of personal connection during pandemic admissions

By now, it is not new news that colleges have had to drastically alter their admissions process. In both undergrad and higher ed institutions alike, requirements have quickly shifted as a result of the pandemic limitations. Schools that never intended to veer from their admissions “rites of passage” have been forced to change their processes or risk being changed by the landscape.

While you’ve held certain criteria requirements, you may find that your program is trying to find alternative ways to determine students’ viability while your typical screening methods are being challenged.

Replacement criterion

A recent article in the New York Times examined how some undergrad schools are finding replacement criterion. The article suggests that for college admissions during COVID-19, “SATs are out, personal stories are in.” It seems that in light of the pandemic, many schools are beginning to favor a more personal approach that requires students to dig into and demonstrate their “sense of self” which may prove to become more valuable over time than test scores to predict success in higher education.

This is not to say that the importance of test scores should be diminished, especially in the higher ed space. They have been, and continue to be, solid gauges of the hard skills required to succeed in finance, economics and operations courses. But in a time when the soft skills are crucial to survival, resiliency and adaptability are starting to emerge as strong traits that exhibit a person’s propensity to perform under pressure, and can dictate how well they will do in a demanding MBA or higher ed program.

Using personal stories as a gauge of fitness

Because submitting a personal story isn’t something someone can “study for,” admissions staff can use data from responses to determine natural creativity and adaptability as key predictors of success. It’s possible for you to come up with an objective grading scale that examines and scores qualities on a scale, such as:

• Creativity
• Uniqueness
• Authenticity
• Empathy
• Honesty
• Resilience

Since your admissions process likely already includes several touchpoints that are aimed at getting to know someone — a personal interview, an essay, multiple conversations — the suggestion is not to add another requirement. It is simply that you may put more weight on their responses. And using a quantitative grading scale can help you assess prospects more objectively and place them with confidence.

What questions to ask when soliciting a personal story

Although we’re all ready for COVID-19 to make an exit from our lives, it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon. It’s also unlikely that you will meet anyone that has not been impacted in some way by the pandemic. Whether emotionally, financially or physically, everyone has seen the side effects of what the virus has done to our communities, country and world. Rather than gloss over the topic, leaning into the narrative can actually benefit us in the way we relate to each other. And getting a prospect’s take on what they’ve lost, gained and taken away from this experience can shed light on how they react in the face of adversity.

Here are a few questions you could ask prospects during the admissions process. Whether in an essay or interview format, be sure to find ways to quantify the response. You don’t want to get too caught up in your emotional response to their response.

• What limitations did the pandemic place on you personally and professionally?
• How did you handle the stress of the pandemic?
• What did you add or remove from your daily routine as a result of restrictions?
• What is your daily life/routine like now?
• In what ways have you shown leadership in your community, workplace and personal life during this time?
• What are you looking forward to the most in a post-pandemic world?

Moving forward

While you will certainly be placing more weight on transcripts and references in the coming admissions cycles, finding ways to assess a prospect’s ability to overcome challenges could become a new mainstay in your process — and you might even find something new and helpful to take away from the pandemic, too.

Need help?

If you need help with altering or improving your admissions processes, GPRS can help. Think of us as your partner during the pandemic to help shape and meet your new enrollment goals.

BY Anthony Campisi | October 30th, 2020

How do you pivot your branding and marketing when your programs have changed?

By now, it is likely that your school has a statement on its homepage following all of the changes COVID-19 has created in the higher education space. However, if the plan only goes so far as detailing what the overall university is doing, you may need to take it a step further to communicate how your individual programs will operate within your business school.

While you have made efforts to maintain your brand, even during a time of great adversity, functional elements of how you offer programs, what it feels like to be part of a cohort and the physical space where students are learning may be greatly altered. Communication is key to creating and maintaining your relationships with leads, prospects and applicants during this time and there are a few things you can do to encourage them to begin and follow through with the enrollment process.

So many changes

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing the cascade of questions that are currently facing programs:

• International travel – From an MBA that offers spring break immersions to a Global Executive MBA program that involves travel to multiple continents, the landscape will look different this year.
• Class delivery – Whether you’re offering in-person, virtual or hybrid approaches, the student experience will be altered.
• Internships and recruiting – With many large companies working from home and limiting travel, internships may be tricky to manage.
• Admissions events – Although in-person meetings, campus tours and preview days — all key components to recruiting — may be on hold, you may need to find creative ways to give prospects a view into campus life.
• Admissions testing – Stay consistent and explain your reasoning for any alteration in admissions testing requirements.

Although it is easy to get overwhelmed with the logistics, it’s important to remember that your prospects definitely have the same questions and may be intimidated to start the application process before they know all the details. Don’t let ambiguity be a barrier for your prospects.

Where you can make a difference

Plans are changing often — are your communications? Here are some ways to ensure students have the information they need to make key decisions. By implementing some of these tactics, you can maintain your relationships with your prospects. You may even have the opportunity to gain students from different geographic locations, demographics and backgrounds.

• Your website: Although you don’t need to alter your entire website (and this is not recommended due to the amount of time it would take), you can create banner statements on each program page that ensure your prospects that you have a plan. End with a call to action to schedule a casual conversation or attend a webinar.
• Your events: Host webinars or town hall-style virtual chats where your admissions staff can address questions. You don’t have to have all the answers — just showing transparency and a willingness to engage while you’re working through the details can go a long way. Podcasts can also be a good way to personally communicate with prospects where they are.
• Your digital ads: Don’t be afraid to address the elephant in the room. Try creating a digital campaign that offers details about altered course delivery, how you’ll maintain the student experience and ways you’re striving to keep everyone safe and healthy.
• Your mobile strategy: Find ways that you can optimize your marketing budget with cost-effective solutions that target your prospects directly on their mobile devices.
• Your keywords: Now’s a great time to write blogs that add keyword-rich and searchable content to your website. Employ admissions staff, student ambassadors and alumni to write about the changes that are happening. This organic content, especially as it is related to COVID-19, will boost your searchability that can lead to increased traffic.

It’s important to remember that you are currently marketing and recruiting in an ever-changing environment. The challenges the higher education market is facing are unprecedented. But quickly pivoting (and continuing to do so) will pay off as you seek to instill confidence in your prospects.

Need help?

If you need help with website alterations, promoting virtual events, altering your advertising campaign or writing keyword-rich content that can increase your leads and enrollment, GPRS can offer solutions.

BY Anthony Campisi | October 15th, 2020

Finding ways to evaluate last year’s marketing effectiveness

How do you evaluate marketing effectiveness and enrollment in a year where benchmarks are out the window?

Before you begin planning for the upcoming recruiting year, you may be staring down the seemingly impossible task of evaluating last year’s enrollment goals and marketing plan effectiveness.

The 2019-2020 cycle may seem like a blur as you tackle questions about spending, engagement, quality leads, yield, cost-per-seated student and enrollment goals. How do you determine what worked and what didn’t in a year where everything turned upside down?

Here are a few ideas on where to start.

Break the year into segments

For this exercise, we will focus on a recruiting year that runs August-July. Feel free to adjust based on your start date, or if you have additional cohorts.

Consider for a moment, that there were approximately eight months (August – March) that were—for all intents and purposes—“normal.” If you are benchmarking YOY data on spending and leads, breaking the year up this way will help you apply a lens for comparison. Using your CRM, you can also match up leads from that period to enrollments and determine a cost-per-seated student.

For the four months that followed (April – July), benchmarks were sidelined in favor of adjusted enrollment goals, spending reallocations and altered recruiting strategies. Now is a good time to revisit those adjustments and plans you made to see if you reached any of those goals. Realize that goals were a moving target and celebrate even small victories or accomplishments.

Evaluate how you pivoted, throw out the benchmarks

This past year was a time of uncertainty and adjustment. You were forced to alter your plans in ways you’ve never been asked to do, during your key recruiting period. On the road events? Cancelled. Campus tours, preview days and interviews? Moved online. Digital advertising strategy designed to bring in leads? Halted or altered.

When you look back on the ways you pivoted your marketing and recruitment strategy at warp speed, were you moving so fast that you forgot to keep track?

Now is a great time to jot down these alterations so you can chart your successes and incorporate them into planning for the upcoming year.

• What platforms worked best for virtual events?
• What social content got the highest engagement?
• What types of events had the most attendees?
• What did yield look like?
• What were the best ways to personally connect with prospective students?
• What did your website traffic look like (both YOY and pre-COVID to post)?

Jogging your memory now and keeping track of the things you changed can help you track your successes and incorporate them into the upcoming year.

Look at the final results in context and celebrate successes

Often, marketing and recruiting success is evaluated in black and white terms: Did you meet your enrollment goals? What was your cost-per-seated student? How did digital advertising fare in terms of CPL?

Although using a tracking method to evaluate these benchmarks at key points during the year can certainly give you a window into how well your plan worked, it’s also important to look at the results in context.

And in terms of planning for the future, this may be the time to create new benchmarks that are adjustable to the market and your prospective students’ needs.

Need help?

Navigating the evaluation process and planning upcoming recruiting cycle will be challenging this year. If you need help charting your successes and creating a realistic recruiting plan that can help you gain more quality leads and seated students next year, GPRS can help.

BY Anthony Campisi | September 30th, 2020

What will the next round of recruiting look like?

When the Spring 2020 recruiting cycle was upended mid-stream due to COVID-19, many schools had to pivot quickly. Since then, the entire higher education industry including recruiters, marketers and leaders have been operating in pandemic emergency mode, focusing on the short term out of necessity and trying to remain as flexible as possible to address continuous change. As such, there have been significant impacts on recruiting and enrollment in higher ed. However, in thinking about the upcoming recruiting cycle, it may be time to regroup and think long term.

Although you may be staring down challenges to your planning process that include financial pressures, demographic changes and technology innovation, it’s important to realize that the opportunities to reshape your school’s recruiting process are abundant. While you’re developing your projections, enrollment goals and the supporting strategic marketing plans, here are four ways to prepare for the next round of recruiting.

Focus on building community

At a time when many people – your prospective students included – are feeling isolated due to continued social distancing, one-to-one connections are critical. According to an Inside Higher Ed article that examines the community college model of building relationships beyond the traditional college campus experience, checking in on your prospects virtually to address their needs can mean the difference between yielding a student or losing them.

Invest in technology

If there was ever a time to upgrade your digital technology, it’s now. Let’s face it, the online recruiting events you begrudgingly accepted last Spring in hopes that they would be temporary, are not going anywhere. In fact, it appears that they may become a staple in the foreseeable future. Be sure your internal tech partners are up to the challenge and your team allocates the time and resources it will take to learn how to use new meeting platforms and digital collaboration tools.

Continue offering options

Your students (and prospective students) want to know your plan. They are interested in how you are altering your recruiting process including admissions testing, events and application deadlines. They’re also curious about what their degree experience will look like, what shape leadership development and career planning will take and how they’ll interact with other students safely. During a time when there are a wide variety of preferences – in-person, virtual, hybrid— and several barriers to decision making, the most important thing you can do is to instill confidence and set expectations with a clearly laid-out plan, addressing as many concerns as possible and clearly outlining what they can expect.

Remain flexible

According to many higher education leaders, thinking long term – although difficult when the future is unsettled – is critical. If it’s possible, find a way to create a roadmap that allows for quick alterations. Contingency plans can give your team and prospective students confidence that you’re prepared to pivot quickly and efficiently when needed.

Need help?

Navigating the upcoming recruiting cycle will be challenging. But developing a strategic plan that builds community, integrates technology, offers options and allows for alterations can help you meet your enrollment goals. If you need help creating a realistic recruiting plan that can help you gain more quality leads and seated students, GPRS can help.