The title for this blog makes it sound a bit too heavy and academic if you ask me, but really is reflective of a critical lesson for institutions on how to operate particularly in relation to international student admissions flows. In this first installment, let's look at what has changed over the last 15 years in the way colleges and universities recruit students, specifically international students.
Back in the early 90's most admissions offices were buying lists of thousands of students who took SAT tests and other exams and mailing them information in the hope that a certain number of those prospects, after reviewing the glossy brochures and smiling faces of students on campus, would eventually apply, and from that group, a smaller subset would be admitted, and then an even smaller number would eventually enroll. This Admissions Funnel was the industry-standard for recruitment for US institutions.
With the rise of the internet and Tom Friedman's increasingly flat world, control over information is now in the hands of the individual. In the arena of international admissions, students in any country now have access to details and critiques about any institution in the US they would ever want to get their hands on. As a result, what universities and colleges now face are students who are first presenting themselves equipped with all the information they might need (other than whether they will get a scholarship). The admissions funnel has narrowed quite dramatically since the early 90s. In some cases upwards of 75-80% of first time international inquiries to institutions in 2008 were applications!
These "stealth" applicants are students who have done their homework and found out enough from institutional websites and other resources to really feel confident enough about whether that institution can meet their needs. Development of EducationUSA's "How to make your website internationally friendly" resource has helped institutions get a sense for what the do's and don't's are regarding what international audiences will understand. But are institutions now using their sites as springboards or portal to more interactive, student-friendly, web 2.0 tools, programs?
Back in the early 90's most admissions offices were buying lists of thousands of students who took SAT tests and other exams and mailing them information in the hope that a certain number of those prospects, after reviewing the glossy brochures and smiling faces of students on campus, would eventually apply, and from that group, a smaller subset would be admitted, and then an even smaller number would eventually enroll. This Admissions Funnel was the industry-standard for recruitment for US institutions.
With the rise of the internet and Tom Friedman's increasingly flat world, control over information is now in the hands of the individual. In the arena of international admissions, students in any country now have access to details and critiques about any institution in the US they would ever want to get their hands on. As a result, what universities and colleges now face are students who are first presenting themselves equipped with all the information they might need (other than whether they will get a scholarship). The admissions funnel has narrowed quite dramatically since the early 90s. In some cases upwards of 75-80% of first time international inquiries to institutions in 2008 were applications!
These "stealth" applicants are students who have done their homework and found out enough from institutional websites and other resources to really feel confident enough about whether that institution can meet their needs. Development of EducationUSA's "How to make your website internationally friendly" resource has helped institutions get a sense for what the do's and don't's are regarding what international audiences will understand. But are institutions now using their sites as springboards or portal to more interactive, student-friendly, web 2.0 tools, programs?
A combination of improved interactivity of institutional websites combined with vast array of new tools that allow prospective students to get perhaps an insider perspective. In the past only the few international students that are able to make campus visits, and perhaps stay overnight on a "shadow" experience in the residence halls could get the level of clarity and reality of what life on a particular college campus is like.
Over the next few weeks, we'll look at a few of these technologies/tools and the impact they have have on international admissions. First up next week, Facebook.
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