Gaining Acceptance

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Recruiting & Retention Technology

Gaining Acceptance

9/1/2007

By Matt Villano

First, the adviser reviews the question against an always-growing frequently asked question (FAQ) list—in actuality, a dynamic knowledge-base. If this database can satisfy a particular question, the adviser pulls the answer from there. If not, the adviser researches and answers the question personally. Prospective students also have the option to chat in real time with advisers, a service that is offered through the home page of the Minnesota Online website. While Snay says it’s still too soon to tell how the technology has impacted admissions applications or enrollment, he says students have reacted positively to the attention.

“If a student is not our student, he or she will become someone else’s,” Snay insists, noting that the technology spans 36 schools and 52 campuses across Minnesota. “Our philosophy is to give students as much of our attention and assistance as we possibly can, and hope that they choose to do their schooling with us.”

Talk about recruitment: Back in 2001, the University of North Carolina General Administration (the organization that oversees all state schools in North Carolina) teamed with Xap to launch a web portal for prospective state school students. North Carolina teens can start using the portal as early as seventh grade to collect transcripts and other materials for the application process. Funded by the state legislature, and continually improved and updated since its introduction, the program is designed to prepare students for the process of applying to college early in their high school careers. It’s the largest Xap implementation to date, and a model for other school systems nationwide. Once North Carolina students create their portfolios, they can “shop” them to any of 110 state schools.

The portal exists online here, and is branded under the College Foundation of North Carolina. The National College Access Network (NCAN) oversees the program, and Senior Consultant George Dixon says that over the last six years, participating institutions have fielded more than 700,000 applications, a “marked increase” from numbers the same schools saw in the six years prior to the portal. According to Dixon, the system works well as a recruitment tool because it gives students the opportunity to get involved in the process well before the pressure of applying mounts.

“We want to make the whole application process as painless and uncomplicated as possible,” says Dixon. “The earlier [students] start, the easier it is for them to get all of their transcripts ready, and the sooner they’ll start thinking about which schools they want to attend.”