Provide Space for Exploration

New data out from Eduventures (the research division of ACT | NRCCUA)  shows that 27% of high school seniors change their major through the college exploration and application process and most of those who change (25% of HS seniors) move to a completely different academic area. 

We’ve long known that students change their major multiple times during college. It’s a common admissions counselor talking point when speaking with an undeclared student. I, myself, went through at least 4-5 major changes as an undergrad. There were major/minor shifts and focus area changes, too. Bless my Registrar for helping make that all work. But what does such a large portion of your funnel changing their mind before they enroll mean for your recruitment strategy?

If you are only inviting the art inquiries to your stand-alone art major events, who are you leaving out from the opportunity to hear from your world-renowned faculty-in-residence? Who from that group is now missing out on exciting information about your aerospace engineering program’s esteemed research opportunities that truly set your institution apart from the rest?

As competition for students’ attention continues to evolve it is unreasonable to continually ask them what they are interested in and will lead to them wondering if they really are more than just a number to your institution. Instead, provide them a continuous variety of engaging virtual content that is available when they want it, and let them SHOW you what they are interested in at this time. Forward-thinking enrollment teams are utilizing their content to drive the conversion, leveraging the reporting data afterwards and updating records as needed to better understand what students want. Just like YouTube’s algorithm will update recommendations based on your viewing habits, your virtual content offerings should be adjusted based on continuous engagement with your prospects. 

Conduit by PlatformQ Education allows institutions to provide a curated and branded on-demand viewing environment where students can explore the information about the major they are interested in today, or consider changing to tomorrow, in an organized and easy-to-browse platform. Personalized log-in links (QTokens) give your audience access without the need of extra steps filling out forms or signing up for events. The robust, student-level data points easily display for enrollment teams the students who are interested AND what they are interested in. 

Hosting a variety of academic programs helps students work through what majors interest them and provides the experience to ask questions as they explore how your institution approaches the courses and learning outcomes they would experience. Take the guesswork out of your continuous recruitment and marketing messaging. Today’s students are used to “on-demand” and variety. Empower your prospects to tell you about their interests by showing you with their actions versus filling out forms.

Resources:

• Integrate Conduit with your Slate CRM
• Align Conduit activity with Engage Events by Capture Higher Ed
• Compare Conduit to out-of-the-box webinar solutions