Sharpen Your Campus Visit Experience
A funny thing happened on the way to the campus visit. Well actually, it happened during the campus visit in a roundabout way. Findings in Stamats’ 2009 SUMMER TeensTALK® study shine a bright light on something you’ve probably assumed for years, but may have back-burnered for too long.
As college-bound prospective students sorted through their college options late last year, those who placed greatest value on finding a college where they felt a great “fit” placed highest value on (1) attending a class in session, (2) meeting enrolled college students who were similar to them, (3) interacting with a tour guide who not only knows about the school but is excited about it, and (4) spending a night on campus. All of these activities gave them a chance to see people just like themselves fitting in (or not) on a campus.
On the other hand, prospective students for whom “fit” was less important than other factors (i.e. cost, placement statistics, overall academic quality, or quality of faculty or facilities) also placed greatest value on (1) attending a class in session. But they were also primarily interested in (2) meeting a professor, and (3) interacting with an admissions counselor. So for these prospective students, seeing “their own kind” enjoying life on campus wasn’t all that important.
In a nutshell, these findings remind us that prospective students whose college choices are motivated by different considerations place differing levels of value on the experiences they have when they visit campuses. To assume a one-campus-visit-experience-fits-all strategy is fraught with risk in this highly customized world. A campus visit experience that isn’t perceived as highly relevant by a prospective student is likely considered a waste of time.
The key take-away: Encourage everyone who plays a role in your campus visit experience to begin each and every prospective student interaction (before, during, and after the visit) by asking, listening, and probing for clues about what that individual student values most as she considers her college options. Then and only then will your “visit machine” be able to deliver a genuinely effective and mutually productive campus visit experience to each individual visitor.
NOTE: TeensTALK® is Stamats’ annual nationwide telephone study initiative of college-bound teens designed to keep our (and your) finger on the pulse of the trends, attitudes, lifestyles, and knowledge that influence their college selection decision-making process. Findings are based on 565 responses from college-bound high school seniors; sampling was completed at random (probability sample) to provide a rigorous data set for accurate assessment of the college selection process. Stamats offers a companion TeensTALK® Focus study for colleges and universities that want to conduct a comparison survey of their inquiry pools and assess their peculiar institutional undergraduate recruitment challenges and opportunities against the backdrop of national findings.
Photo by Veerle De Troyer
