Mythbusting Admissions

@GilRogers @mStonerVT #ACTEPC
Mythbusting
Admissions
ACT Meeting/Chicago, IL
16 July 2015
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#ACTEPC
@GilRogers
@mStonerVT
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1.No such thing as a silver bullet
2.Demographics of our samples
3.Myths and realities
4.(Plenty of) discussion & comments
3

4

If we don’t adopt
(y technology) right
now, we soon won’t
be able to recruit
students.
5

6

1. Prospects hang on admission ofﬁcer’s every word.
2. The higher your institution’s ranking, the more impressed
teens are.
3. Social media is an awesome channel for engaging teens
who don’t know our institution.
4. Admission ofﬁcers don’t understand how teens use their
phones.
5. Search works. Really.
6. Teens regard print as a vital source of information about
colleges.
7. Facebook is dead to teens.
8. Teens love it when you contact them via a social channel.
10

Prospects hang on
your every word.
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And you think they do!
teens value a conversation with admission
ofﬁcers at a college…
before deciding
to apply
after deciding
to apply after applying after being
accepted
71% 79% 77% 72%
12

What they say
75%
said college fairs are not that
influential in deciding where to apply
66% said college reps visiting their
school were not that influential
Only 45% of teens value a conversation with admission
ofﬁces at a college.
13

Teens pay attention to
• Gut feeling about campus & students: 79%
• The tour: 78%
• Student tour guide: 71%
• Admission officer’s presentation: 45%
• Organized meeting w/current students: 40%
• Sitting in on a class: 28%
• Overnight stay: 29%
• Athletic event: 24%
14

The higher your
institution’s ranking,
the more impressed
teens are!
16

You say it’s important!
teens check US News & value your ranking …
before deciding
to apply
after deciding
to apply after applying after being
accepted
72% 20% 14% 11%
17

What teens say …
⅔ indicate rankings are extremely
useful when researching colleges
77%
say that rankings are an
influential when deciding
where to enroll
16%
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Social media is an
awesome channel
for engaging teens
who don’t know
our institution.
19

never heard of
heard of, not
considered
email 18% 29%
phone call 12% 23%
social media 30% 26%
brochures 12% 5%
pamphlets 21% 7%
text messages 4% 5%
virtual event 4% 5%
You think it is!
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But teens said …
4%
prefer social as the first point
of contact
Half of them use official social media for the college
they’ve applied to. But:
They use official social media as an information source that
informs their decisions. They prefer to engage with current
students. Not with you. (Sorry).
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And,
70%
say that social media conversation
influences their decision about where
to enroll
research decide where to
enroll
Facebook 10% 33%
Twitter 4% 15%
YouTube 7% 8%
Instagram 5% 15%
Snapchat 3% 7%
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Admission ofﬁcers
don’t understand
how teens use
their phones.
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In reality, you do know!
73%
of admission professionals say
teens primarily use smartphones
to research colleges
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you teens
visited a college website using a
mobile browser
87% 81%
texted w/ a college rep 65% 14%
took a virtual tour 73% 33%
submitted an application 50% 35%
scheduled a campus visit 83% 40%
asked questions on social media 74% 13%
live chat with a college rep 36% 7%
You said, they said …
25

Search works.
Really.
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You believe …
… that communications from colleges that
teens hadn’t previously heard about will have
some influence on their decision to apply to
those colleges.
27

In fact, you say
73% believe it will have “some effect.”
23%
believe it will have a “big effect”
and that reaching out to teens
who haven’t heard of their
college will be successful.
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Um, no!
21%
of students say it made any
difference to them (and that’s
down from 24% in 2014).
59%
of students with GPAs 3.6+ read
less than half of their unsolicited
mail vs. 50% of those with GPAs
under 3.6
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Teens regard print
as a vital source
of information
about colleges.
30

You believe …
91%
of admission ofﬁcers say that
print materials picked up at a
college fair are important to teens
before they apply.
31

They say …
OMG! LOL!
!!!!!!
!!!!!!
!!!!!!
!!!!!!
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Facebook is dead
to teens.
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You said yes!
⅓
Less than ⅓ of admission
professionals believe
students use Facebook when
deciding where to enroll.
35

But, to teens …
⅔ of teens say they use social media
when deciding where to enroll
67%
of teens used Facebook when
researching college and half used
it to actively research colleges
they applied to.
Facebook (social media in general) is highly influential:
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Reality = social fragmentation
Facebook YouTube Instagram Twitter Pinterest
20%
46%
48%
62%
67%
14%
31%
28%
49%
60%
6%
19%
41%
58%
2012 2013 2014
37

Teens love it when
you contact them on
a social channel.
38

You believe …
72% of admissions professionals believe
students are open to being contacted through
Facebook, 71% through Twitter, and 50%
through Instagram.
39

And, they are …
But: Only if they contact you ﬁrst.
Only 4% of students prefer social media as an
initial form of contact. But more than 75% say
they are interested in talking to admissions on
a social channel.
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As a general rule,
Use the channel students use to
contact you to reach out to them.
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1. Prospects hang on admission ofﬁcer’s every word.
2. The higher your institution’s ranking, the more impressed
teens are.
3. Social media is an awesome channel for engaging teens
who don’t know our institution.
4. Admission ofﬁcers don’t understand how teens use their
phones.
5. Search works. Really.
6. Teens regard print as a vital source of information about
colleges.
7. Facebook is dead to teens.
8. Teens love it when you contact them via a social channel.
42

Gil Rogers
Director of Marketing and Enrollment
Insights, Chegg
gil@Chegg.com
Michael Stoner
President, mStoner, Inc.
michael.stoner@mstoner.com
Thank you!
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2015 Social Admissions Report (February
2015)
How Did you (Really) Decide? (May 2015)
Trends in Student Perspectives Annual
Research (March 2015)
Research with Admission Professionals
(June 2015)
Data sources
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Mythbusting Admissions

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