Data-Informed Tips to Understand College Admissions: Part 1
Question: Do you know what filling the oil in a 1972 Studebaker Avanti and college admissions have in common?
Answer: They both are more effective if you understand how to use a funnel.
Now, I don’t know much about cars, really. In fact when I was a senior in mechanical engineering, I got a call from a recruiter with Honda. She asked me if I could tell her what I knew about Honda and I responded with some nonsense about lawnmowers. This was back in the mid-90s when Honda was really relevant in the lawnmower world. Needless to say she wasn’t super impressed with my answer as she was representing the automotive side of the business.
It wasn’t one of my finer 10 minutes on the phone.
Blurring the line between lawnmower and race car. I should have talked about this.
Credit: Motor Trend
Today’s post is going to talk about a really important set of data points that every enrollment and admissions professional is well aware of - the admissions funnel. For prospective students and families, understanding this funnel can help them navigate the application process more effectively and know what to expect at each stage.
Let’s begin by looking at a visual representation of the typical college admissions funnel.
A typical college admissions funnel. I’ve added “Melt” because some schools are looking at this data point very closely.
Let’s take two hypothetical schools - Eastern State College (ESC) and Northern State University (NSU). Both schools are of similar size and are seeking to bring in a similar sized class of first-year students. Let’s assume that the enrollment goal is 2,000. In other words, looking at the funnel, 2,000 is the enrolled goal for each school.
So how do we get there? Well, it’s really a combination of art and science.
The admissions and enrollment folks (enrollment may include departments other than admissions including financial aid and others) know that this is just the start and they have a lot of work to do in order to reach their goal. This is why schools have several admissions counselors, some even located around the region or country, and bring in the best students to serve as campus ambassadors. Believe me when I tell you that there’s a lot at stake for schools hitting their enrollment targets.
So how do ESC and NSU go about hitting their enrollment targets? Well, it can be very different for each school.
Throughout the process, which repeats year after year after year, colleges and universities use various strategies and tools to "nurture" prospective students through the funnel. This can include targeted marketing, personalized communications, financial aid packages, and other tactics to influence a student's journey from awareness to enrollment.
Today’s colleges may employ data science professionals or hire consultants to help them understand each step of the funnel. Ever read the book Moneyball? This is higher education’s version of it. Ultimately, the big question they are trying to answer is…
In order to hit our goal of 2,000 new, first-year students, how many students do we have to admit?
This question is so prevalent, and the answer is so important, that it has a well-understood term within the college admissions world: YIELD. Here’s how yield is calculated:
Let’s return to our two hypothetical schools and consider data they collected from the 2021-22 academic year and let’s assume that both schools hit their enrollment target of 2,000 new first-year students. (Yeah! This is great news and certainly does not always happen.)
Eastern State College - 10,000 students were admitted
Northern State University - 4,000 students were admitted
What is the yield for each school?
ESC has a yield of 20%
NSU has a yield of 50%
So NSU has a higher yield and is therefore much more efficient and effective at turning admitted students into enrolled students. This has an even more profound impact as we move up the funnel.
A higher yield indicates that a larger proportion of admitted students have chosen to attend the institution, which can be a sign of the institution's desirability among prospective students. Conversely, a lower yield might suggest that students are choosing other options over that institution for some reason.
Schools put time, effort, and money into understanding all the variables and data associated with their admissions funnel because they know that small differences mean thousands and thousands dollars.
Yield is just one of the important pieces of data admissions professionals consider. My next post will be Part 2 in this series where I’ll continue to explore and help you understand the art and science around the admissions funnel.
I empower college-curious and college-bound students and families with the knowledge, tools, and confidence for college success. I will guide you through the complexities of college admissions and beyond, so you can create your boundless life.
Have a question or comment? Please leave it in the comment section below or contact me at mark@mastalskicoaching.com.
There’s no one way to do college.
Be Boundless.
