A successful fall admissions season comes down to three principles: planning, personalization and perseverance.
Planning helps your team manage the many details of recruitment without losing sight of the bigger picture. Personalization ensures that students and parents feel recognized as individuals rather than names in an admissions database. Perseverance keeps your team focused on building relationships, answering questions and guiding families through a months-long decision-making process.
All three matter right now and well into decision season. Right now, your office is in the thick of your busiest season, hosting large admissions events, scheduling personal tours and interviews, and keeping your prospective families engaged (in-person and online).
When you combine a well-organized admissions process with authentic opportunities to experience your community, you do more than move applications through a funnel. You build the relationships that turn prospective families into enrolled families.
Planning is Ongoing
Hopefully, your summer planning created a solid foundation for the season. But planning is never “one and done.” Schedule time during your weekly meetings with your team to debrief on events. Use what worked well and what didn’t to adjust other events on the calendar. Ask your team to look for patterns and problem-solve together about addressing prospects’ pain points.
Anticipate common questions. What do families ask most when visiting? Create short FAQs and include them prominently on your admissions webpages. Hyperlink them at the bottom of your team’s email signatures. The easier you make it for families to get their questions answered (and they may not ask in person), the better. Bonus: AI summaries favor FAQs.
Pay attention to transitions. Your tour and classroom visits are solid. But do families know exactly where to find the right parking lot on your campus? Do students visiting know how to get lunch during a shadow day? Review every aspect of a visit to campus and create a “During Your Visit” PDF to email beforehand (and put on your website) with details about parking, when to avoid carpools, lunch system, phone policy, what to wear, etc. When visitors feel prepared, they can relax and enjoy the great day you have planned for them.
Data is your friend. Segment your inquiry and applicant lists according to where families are in the admissions process. Then develop a communication plan tailored to each group and schedule emails accordingly. For example, for open house attendees who haven’t applied, send a friendly follow-up thanking them for attending with reminders about upcoming events and deadlines, and invite them to another event that aligns with their child’s interests.
Gratitude is also ongoing. With planning, you can show your appreciation for those in your community who are making admissions season hum.
- If your budget allows, take pastries and coffee to the maintenance and grounds crew before or after an admissions event.
- Schedule 15 minutes each week to write a hand-written thank-you note to the faculty and staff who open up their classrooms, sit on a panel, etc.
- Send an email to the parents of your student tour guides to tell them how great their child is and what a difference they make. Include a photo if you can of the student in action.
Personalization is Essential
It can be challenging this time of year to keep your admissions funnel moving while ensuring every prospect and applicant receives the personal attention they deserve. But every successful prospect-to-enrolled-student depends on that attention.
Every prospective student and family want to see themselves belonging at your school. Parents want to know that their children will be valued, supported, and challenged. Both want to understand what makes your school worth choosing.
Families aren’t simply evaluating your academic program. They’re looking for a community where their children will feel welcome, develop friendships, explore interests and thrive.
Your main objective is simple: help prospective families envision their children as members of your community while making the admissions process welcoming, informative and manageable. Keep in mind:
Every campus visit, handwritten note, phone call and student interaction contributes to a family’s perception of your school.
- After a visit or event, reach out to the people who interacted with your prospects (tour guides, faculty, etc.). Create an easy, quick form for your team to jot down some perceptions and submit it to you.
- Don’t bog down faculty with a form on every class visit, but if a prospect spent a great deal of time in a classroom, follow up with your colleague by email or in person.
Record-keeping matters. It’s busy, yes, but try to log any follow-up with prospects and use it in real time. Did the prospect mention that they love theater or had questions about tuition assistance? Have standard, brief email language (with respective hyperlinks) about your school’s drama program or whatever the interest to send in your follow-up email.
Lean on student ambassadors. You’ve trained them to be great tour guides and shadow hosts. Schedule time for them to come to your office, post-event or visit, to write a very brief, timely message to the prospective student. It’s a key way to reinforce the relationships that prospective families value most. (And having treats in your office for your student ambassadors is a no-fail way to make this aspect of their leadership role sweeter.)
Perseverance: Admission Season is a Marathon
Prospects don’t move through your admissions funnel at the same time. You have no way of knowing how many schools the family might be looking at and where you rank in the process.
It’s essential that you remove barriers families may have to getting to know your school and to completing an application. A few suggestions:
- Before the busiest deadline periods, host help sessions to complete application forms. Make sure you have laptops and your team available. Ask someone from your Business Office to be on hand too to address tuition assistance questions, if that process is not handled entirely by the enrollment team.
- If a family has applied but their application is incomplete, let them know what is missing, provide links to the appropriate resources, and explain whom they can contact for assistance.
- Pay attention to language access. If faculty/staff members or students speak languages commonly used by prospective families, consider arranging appropriate interpretation or translated resources. You might also invite trained, bilingual current parents to help families navigate the application process. Be mindful of confidentiality, particularly when discussing sensitive financial information. Bilingual volunteers can help explain general processes and direct families to the appropriate staff member, while private financial aid questions should be handled by authorized school personnel or qualified interpreters.
- Go digital. Ask your Communications department or tech-savvy student ambassador to create a short video on how to complete the application. Post it online and on social media.
Perseverance Counts, Too, for Your Team
Just as you reach out to prospects with thoughtful personalization, do the same for your team with short notes, thoughtful gestures of gratitude and team-building. Acknowledging how hard someone is working goes a long way.
Building trust and respect among colleagues also means making sure everyone understands expectations. A shared admissions calendar is key as is gathering feedback on events, interview processes, etc. There will always be last-minute changes to the schedule, but try to minimize them for your team.
Model basic self-care and encourage your team to take breaks. Don’t glorify burn out. What about a walking “team meeting” on campus for 20 minutes once a week? (It’s a great time to check out how your prospects see campus, too.) Balance the candy dish with healthy snacks and water for your team.
Admission season is long, and it asks a lot of everyone. But with thoughtful planning, personal attention, and with a team that takes care of each other, you’ll do more than fill seats. You will welcome families who already feel like they belong.
How can Kalix help your admission and enrollment program hum? Contact us.
