What does the revelation that colleges misreported data to U.S. News tell us about the current environment in college admissions?
Admissions directors are on the hot seat to attract highly qualified students, fill classes and maintain and improve their rankings. As new technologies, big data, and shifting demographics enter the arena, recruiting and admissions becomes an increasingly complex machine. To target, attract, and enroll an ideal student (a student that matches academic criteria), full-pay students, minority students, veterans, and international students is a daily struggle for the often over-worked admissions director.
Increasing competition from both similar institutions and institutions in different sectors adds to the recruitment problem. Not only do admissions directors have to differentiate themselves from similar institutions, they have to worry about the often-cheaper community colleges and online universities, especially as prospective students fear the debt load that is associated with 4-yr institutions.
For the past three decades, U.S. News rankings have served as the go-to resource for parents and students when shopping for colleges, and can even make or break a prospect’s decision to apply. So when news broke a few weeks ago that at least 5 colleges misreported dataW, shock waves were sent through the admissions director community. While some cases were cited as simple errors, it seems that several were intentional.
With the obvious ethical dilemma aside, this reporting makes many question the validity of school rankings. This means that prospects may no longer refer to these reports in their information search, leaving a wide opening for marketing to supply prospects the information they need to make an informed decision.
Marketing to prospects will play an ever-increasing role in the foreseeable future. Those institutions with an effective plan to deliver relevant messages to prospective students will win; those with minimal marketing budgets and spotty strategies will lose. While social media currently plays an important role in student outreach, it is important to consider other ways to connect with prospective students. Regardless of the communication channel admission directors choose, it is heavy personalization and targeted messages that will attract the attention of prospects.
By +Maggie Young