The Survey of Admitted Students™ Analysis in the Eduventures® Research App examines the responses from the annual Eduventures® Survey of Admitted Students to better understand reasons why students do or do not enroll at your institution. It is specific to your institution and therefore provides insights on the unique profile of your admitted student body. Using this report, your team will be able to make data-driven decisions to improve recruiting tactics, messaging, and financial aid planning for students in the lower parts of the funnel.
Navigating the Report
The Tabs across the top of the report allow you to toggle through different pages containing insights and figures derived from the survey information.
- Student Profiles provides a breakdown of your enrolling vs. non-enrolling admitted students by common demographic segments - GPA, State, Income, first generation, transfer status, first-time freshman etc.
- Enrollment Decision Criteria details the key enrollment drivers for your admitted student population and identifies gaps between enrolling and non-enrolling influencers such as core academic experience.
- Competitive Set identifies which colleges your non-enrolling students are most likely attending and where your institution ranked on their short lists.
- Quality Comparisons illustrates how enrolling vs. non-enrolling students view the quality of your institution compared to competing institutions. Factors evaluated include core academic experiences, career preparation, social environment, and affordability.
- College Enrollment Behavior provides deeper insight into the application practices of your admitted students as well as deeper insight into their core academic interests.
- Institution Perceptions shows how enrolling vs. non-enrolling students view specific attributes of your institution like high-quality, hands-on, traditional, or average.
- Communications allows you to understand which engagement and marketing tactics were most used and most helpful to enrolling students vs. non-enrolling students.
- Financial Aid details the role your financial aid strategy played in a student’s decision to enroll or not enroll.
Within each page you will find filters that allow you to manipulate data within the tables and figures to derive specific insights for your needs. The filters are primarily located on the left side and customized to each page. As an example, Figure 1 is located in the Communications tab and would allow you to segment the responses to see what marketing tactics resonate well with students placing heavy emphasis on career outcomes in their decision.
Figure 1. Use and Usefulness of In-Person Interactions with Sample University by Career Outcomes Oriented Students
Top Insights By Tab
- Student Profiles
- Is there a demographic trend between the enrolling and non-enrolling students from my applicant pool?
- Of the students with [broad academic area of interest], are there any demographic trends between enrolling vs. non-enrolling students?
- Enrollment Decision Criteria
- Which student mindsets did I resonate well with this yield season?
- Was my messaging toward students with [mindset] effective?
- What factors did my applicants weigh most heavily in their enrollment decision? Is my messaging focusing on what’s important to them? Did I miss the mark on communicating a specific topic like, affordability?
- What factors won over my enrolling students?
- Which people strongly influenced the decision of my applicant pool? What groups should I encourage my recruiters to educate on the value of our institution?
- Was there a particular “thing” outside of cost or availability of desired major that tipped enrollment decisions? What were those?
- Competitive Set
- Of the non-enrolling students most concerned about [decision factor], what schools did they most likely enroll at? Decision factors include need for flexibility of schedule, close to home, reputation, sense of community, affordability etc.
- Where did students with [broad academic area] of interest enroll? Who’s messaging should I be looking at to understand what is resonating well with my admitted students?
- What other institutions are admitting students in my applicant pool?
- Quality Comparisons
- What is the perception of quality for my institution between enrolling and non-enrolling students?
- Are there specific factors my non-enrolling students are considering to be lower quality than other schools they are considering?
- When compared to other institutions my admitted pool has been accepted to, how do students feel my school ranks in terms of core academic experience, career preparation, social environment, and other important measures of quality?
- College Enrollment Behavior
- How many colleges did my enrolling vs. non-enrolling students apply to?
- What types of institutions did my non-enrolling students choose?
- Did my non-enrolling students end up at their first-choice institution? What is the key academic area of interest for those students who did end up at their first-choice institution?
- What is the key academic area of interest of students who enrolled at my institution as their first-choice?
- Institution Perceptions
- What attributes does an enrolled vs. non-enrolled student use to best describe my institution?
- Are there any attributes used to describe your university that you are unaware of?
- What attributes of your university differentiate your student experience?
- Communications
- What communications did my enrolling students find most helpful?
- What communication are my female vs. male students using most to make their college decisions?
- What communications did my non-enrolling students find the most and least helpful?
- What in-person recruiting tactics are most useful to enrolling and non-enrolling students? What are least useful?
- What social media sites are my admitted students using most during their college search process?
- Is a communication tool or channel I’m using not represented in the most useful or helpful tools for students?
- Financial Aid
- What is the impact of my financial aid package on enrolling vs. non-enrolling students?
- How did the net cost of my institution compare to 2nd choice of an enrolling student?
- How did the net cost of my institution compare to 1st choice of a non-enrolling student?
About the Research
The Survey of Admitted Students is conducted from May to the following June. Participation in the survey can be discussed with your ACT® | NRCCUA® Regional Director directly, or by emailing contact@nrccua.org.
May - June 2018 (90,000 Respondents)