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

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If we don’t adopt

(y technology) right

now, we soon won’t

be able to recruit

students.

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Myths?

Or realities?

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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.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%

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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.

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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%

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The higher your

institution’s ranking,

the more impressed

teens are!

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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%

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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.

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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 …

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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.

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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.

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You believe …

91%

of admission officers say that print materials picked up at a college fair are important to teens before they apply.

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They say …

OMG! LOL!!!!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

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Facebook is dead

to teens.

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You said yes!

⅓Less than ⅓ of admission professionals believe students use Facebook when deciding where to enroll.

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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

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Teens love it when

you contact them on

a social channel.

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You believe …

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

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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

?Questions?

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Gil Rogers Director of Marketing and Enrollment Insights, Chegg [email protected]

Michael Stoner President, mStoner, Inc. [email protected]

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

Education