SUMMARY:
This session will share the results of an undergraduate inquiry response project. We posed as a prospective student and visited web pages for nearly 300 schools across the country, submitting request information forms when they were found. The goal: Find out how accessible schools were to interested students requesting information, how fast they responded, how relevant their responses were, and how many communication channels were used. Responses to our form submissions were tracked for four weeks from date of the request. The results of the study may be surprising - some schools only send one email response, some schools still only send a print piece, and a few don't respond at all.
Findings of these annual studies have been presented at several conferences, including NACAC, AACRAO-SEM, and NAGAP. Webinars have also been presented.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
After attending this session, attendees will be able to:
1. Identify trends around student engagement from first inquiry.
2. Compare and contrast their student engagement strategy to that of their colleagues in admissions.
3. Plan changes to their student engagement strategy that will help drive applications and increase yield.

SESSION OUTLINE:
I. Welcome and Introduction
a. Introduction of speakers and past experiences
b. Overview of session objectives and format
II. Project Overview and Data Sharing
a. Review of today’s prospective student and their expectations
b. Overview of the inquiry response projects, methods and tracking
c. Results of the tracking
III. Conclusion
a. Group breakout session: Sharing of each group’s three key takeaways
b. Summary
c. Speaker contact information and invite to participate in future research

Submission ID:

6567

Presenter(s):

Jennifer Crump Central Methodist University

Cindy Cammack Peru State College