Demonstrated Interest: How it Factors Into Decisions

1. Demonstrated Interest: How it Factors Into Decisions

2. Our Panel Janine Bissic, Director of AdmissionWhittier College Kristy Collins, Dean of Enrollment Management Seaver College, Pepperdine University Christopher Ferguson, Associate Vice President of EnrollmentOccidental College Chris Krzak, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of AdmissionsUniversity of the Pacific

3. How Colleges Make Admission DecisionsConsiderable to Moderate Importance NACAC: State of College Admission Report 2017

4. Demonstrated Interest • Considerable Importance Change Over Time NACAC: State of College Admission Report 2017

5. When Demonstrated Interest Matters

6. Whittier College Janine Bissic, Director of Admission

7. Institutional Context • Private, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Residential, Undergraduate Focus • Approx. 1,650 students • 60% Students of Color, Making Whittier One of the Most Diverse Liberal Arts Colleges in the Country • NCAA Div. III • Rolling Admission (EA/Regular Decision deadlines) • Students are not Admitted to the Major Fall 2018 Goals • 475 Target Enrollment • Increase Out-Of-State and International Diversity • Maintain Other Types of Diversity • Increase Academic Quality and Yield

8. Admission Cycle / DI • Prospects • Royall Search Campaigns • Alumni Referral Program • Recruitment Engagement • High School Visit • College Fair Engagement • Tour/Event Visits (On/Off Campus) • Applicants • Writing Supplement • Counselor Outreach Sometimes • Admitted Students • Admitted Student Events • Submitted FAFSA • Incoming Students • New Student Checklist • Responding to Emails/Calls • Engaging with Outreach (Click-Through…etc.) • Outreach to Admission Counselor • Likelihood to Yield Impacts Many Strategic Decisions Throughout the Cycle

9. Demonstrated InterestIt’s an Art AND a Science! While DI can/does impact an individual admission decision on occasion it’s much more frequently utilized in strategic planning as we make decisions about where to travel, how to target prospective students, what type of yield activities we plan, in addition to being one of many analysis points that can influence our financial aid leveraging models as an indicator of the likelihood to yield.

10. When Demonstrated Interest Matters

11. Pepperdine University Demonstrated Interest Kristy Paredes Collins, PhD Dean of Enrollment Management

12. Institutional Priorities: Fall 2018 Goals 810 Target enrollment Increase academic quality + mission fit Decrease admit rate Increase yield Maintain (or improve) gender balance + racial/ethnic profile Increase international student diversity

13. Demonstrated Interest: What is it? At Pepperdine, students who “demonstrate interest” have either… engaged in conversation/email with an admission counselor and clearly noted that Pepperdine is their top choice physically wrote in Pepperdine on the myCollegeOptions questionnaire (hand writers) or selected Pepperdine from a partner list (hand raisers) visited campus and/or attended a Pepperdine event, regional reception, etc submitted a FAFSA The volume of our applicant pool significantly impacts our ability to consider one-on-one DI.

14. Common Practices: A Timeline Early HS Hand Writers Hand Raisers Campus Visit Jr-Sr Event attendance DI is utilized to help manage marketing campaigns ----------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Decision Email/phone correspondence w/ admission counselor DI is not utilized as a part of the decision making process ----------------------------------------------------------- Post-WL Email/phone correspondence w/ Decision admission counselor DI is utilized to identify potential WL candidates for consideration

15. Demonstrated Interest: The Big Picture Instead of using demonstrated interest to impact individual student decisions, we use it to help refine our funnel, yield activities, and event locations. Tracking demonstrated interest enables us the ability to have a more clear picture of the overall behaviors of our prospective students.

16. When Demonstrated Interest Matters

17. Chris Ferguson, EdD Associate Vice President of Enrollment

18. PROSPECTING, INQUIRY & APPLICATION CULTIVATION Demonstrated Interest Fast Facts • Market research • Lead purchasing • Self-initiated search • High school visits • 165,000 + Prospects • 30,000 + Inquiries • 7,280 Applications • Observations: • Increased Prospects by +61.3% in one year • Increased Inquiries by +16.7% in one year • Increased Applications by +7.5% in one year

19. ADMISSION DECISION PROCESS Nine Statistical Models All Scenarios IN RANGE • Early Decision I • Early Decision II • Deferrals from last year • International students • Regular Decision • Predictive modeling by cohort x 3 • Predictive modeling by individual (1-YR x 3, 3-YR x 3) • Behavior Analysis by academic interest • Behavior Analysis by geographic location Daily Monitoring During Reading Season Twice Daily Monitoring During Committee Review • Need Sensitive Admission

20. SHAPING THE CLASS: MANAGING ENROLLMENT TARGETS Demonstrated Interest Fast Facts • Data analysis • Committee process • Yield management • Summer engagement • 548 First-Year Student Target • 2,710 Admitted Students • 610 Student Confirms (May 1) • Fall 2018 Observations: • Decreased Admit Rate by -5% in one year, and -9% in two years • Increased Yield Rate by +1% in one year, and +6% in two years • Met Gross Confirm Target on May 1

21. When Demonstrated Interest Matters

22. Chris Krzak Assistant Vice Provost & Director of Admission

23. University of the Pacific • 1000 new freshman • Male/Female • Diversity • Ethnic • Geographic/International • 18 NCAA Div I • 3500 Total Enrollment • SAT Avg 1250-1520 • Unweighted GPA 3.60

24. University of the PacificEnrollment Funnel & Demonstrated Interest • 200,000 • 35,000 • 13,000 Early Action/Regular Action • 8,400 • 1,100 • 1000

25. University of the PacificDemonstrated Interest • Holistic Review • GPA and test scores • Curriculum • Commitments • Leadership • Diversity • Special Programs • Circumstances • Pacific Connection • Demonstrated Interest • When did applicant show interest, where, how???

26. When Demonstrated Interest Matters

27. Janine Bissic, Director of AdmissionWhittier Collegejbissic@whittier.edu Kristy Collins, Dean of Enrollment Management Seaver College, Pepperdine UniversityKristy.Collins@pepperdine.eduChristopher Ferguson, Associate Vice President of EnrollmentOccidental Collegecferguson@oxy.eduChris Krzak, Assistant Vice Provost and Director of AdmissionsUniversity of the Pacificckrzak@pacific.edu Steven Mercer, Mercer Educational Consultingsteven@mercered.comJenny Umhofer, Colledgejenny@thecolledge.org Thank you!