5 Ways College Admissions Staff Can Leverage Data for Efficiency and Effectiveness

What's the difference between being data-driven and data-informed?

Well, do you let the GPS steer the car, or does it inform where you go?

Data-informed is how I would prefer everyone to be. Data is an input and can help inform your work and add proof points to the cases you make; but much like AI is a tool and shouldn't be used solely to do your job you can't turn over the keys to data.

Here are 5 ways that admissions staff can use data to inform their work to be (as a former colleague used to say) efficient and effective:

1. Streamline application review

2. Enhance student visit experiences

3. Change how you think about fall travel season

4. Find and solve enrollment funnel bottlenecks

5. Measure and test your processes

   
   

1. Streamline Application Review Processes

Let data do the heavy lifting! By utilizing scoring rubrics or logic trees informed by who thrives and graduates, admissions staff can prioritize applications based on fit and likelihood of success. This reduces the time spent on less promising candidates, allowing for a more focused and efficient review process. Admitting students who have a slim chance of graduating does them no favors, nor does it help your team to spend more time on them.

2. Enhance Visit Experiences

Who do visits serve? If you analyze what experiences students have while on a visit and pair that with conversions you can find correlations. Meeting with faculty might be very effective for admitted students in the spring, but a deal killer for juniors.

Individual visits contribute to the funnel differently than large group visits or visits targeted by a major of interest. When they are taken also influences outcomes based on what stage of the funnel the student is in. Understanding these differences can help you advise prospective students on how or when to visit and can lead to better-optimized experiences.

3. Make Smarter Travel Decisions

Based on prior work I have done we know that less than a third of this year's college freshmen attended a college fair and only 37% met with a recruiter who visited their high school. There was so much overlap that most students did neither.

That hasn't seemed to impact visit plans, however, and a large part of enrollment budgets still go towards tactics that aren't influencing enrollment. Track which students you meet with at high schools, whether you get time with the counselors, how visible materials are, and expenses related to them.

If you're only meeting with applied or admitted students there may be other ways to meet with them and their parents, or if you're spending thousands to get one soft app it may be a good sign to cut back and rethink how to engage counselors and other influencers in the area.

4. Identify and Address Bottlenecks in the Enrollment Funnel    

Analyze data to pinpoint where students are dropping off in the funnel. Whether it's prospects not being interested in inquiring, inquiries not applying, app starters not submitting, or admits not depositing you can identify bottlenecks to increase your full funnel conversion and get more value for your investments. Continual testing and optimization should become a way of life in your office.

5. Measure the Impact of Admissions Initiatives    

Data isn’t just numbers. When you combine qualitative and quantitative data with situational context you get the full picture of what you are measuring.

Too often I see offices rely only on anecdotal feedback or just one type of data without context to make decisions. This is a mistake only slightly better than not evaluating the effectiveness of recruitment initiatives at all.

Use surveys, counselor feedback, and enrollment data to assess what’s working and what isn’t. This feedback loop creates an adaptive approach, allowing your team to pivot strategies based on real insights rather than gut feelings.

Final Thoughts

Whether you've worked in enrollment for 10 years or 10 days you can pick one of these things to help understand your position better. The capacity of your team to analyze and pick out tactical insights isn't just a luxury, it's a requirement for modern recruiting. If you don't have the capacity on your team we should talk about research, consulting, and training from Clarity EM.