By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
2 minute read
Yes, May 1 is an important date on the calendar for colleges and universities. But at the end of the day, most schools will still be working hard over the next couple of months to successfully bring in their class.
As your school receives new inquiries who are interested in starting this fall, let me provide some words of caution:
Don’t try to rush those students through their decision-making processes.
Do that and you risk overwhelming them and coming across as completely transactional – both of which we continue to find causes many students to turn their focus elsewhere.
Instead, I encourage admissions counselors and enrollment marketers to follow many of the same personalized communication and relationship building tactics that I outline often in my newsletter – with a couple of slight tweaks.
Start by expressing excitement that the student is considering your school. Acknowledge that while it’s later in the process, as their counselor, you can guide the student and their family through everything step by step. Make it clear your #1 goal is to learn more about the student so you can best support them during their decision-making process.
Next, focus on getting the student to answer one or all of these key questions – not necessarily all in the same conversation. It’s important that you discover the student’s mindset specifically as it relates to information they want/need, their timeline, who’s helping them, what’s important in their search, and what, if any, concerns they have.
“What are one or two things you’d like to know about being a student here?”
“What do you see as the next step in your process?” (And then what?)
“What are some things you and your parents (or family) have been talking about when it comes to your college search?”
“What else besides cost is going to be important in your decision?”
“At this point, what’s the biggest concern you have about <Your School’s Name>?”
If you learn that a student is relying on one or both parents (or a guardian) for help, reach out to them separately and determine what questions they need answered, or what concerns they need you to address/alleviate.
After a student is admitted, be sure and ask how they feel about making their college decision, what they have left to do before they make their decision, and when do they see themselves making their decision.
Remember, there’s no perfect timeline for a student to complete their process. The key is that from start to finish you lead the conversation and ask direct questions, never just “checking in.” And, whenever possible, find ways to infuse empathy into your messaging and conversations.
If you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to subscribe to my newsletter.