A Capture Checklist: Recharge Your Current Grad Enrollment Funnel

Unlike the traditional undergraduate population, graduate prospects are not constrained by an established recruitment timeline … and their motivations for attaining a graduate degree are not dictated by time. That means they can take a long time to decide on the right graduate program for them.

In fact, it’s not unusual for a graduate admissions office to have prospects sitting in inquiry status for months, sometimes years! How do you keep these long-incubating inquiries engaged? How do you identify who is ready to take the next step? How do you put some energy back into that cold and stagnant pool?

The new Capture Checklist — “How to Recharge Your Graduate Enrollment Funnel” — includes actionable tips and strategies for reengaging and recharging your current graduate enrollment funnel. How many boxes did you check? (How many boxes are you going to check?)

The Checklist

1. Warm Up Your Cold Inquiries
  • Engage dormant prospects with monthly, program-specific information.
  • Keep messaging simple with just a couple of links. (No need to be fancy!)
  • Ask faculty to provide you with at least one link each week.
2. Reach Out to Non-Responders on Purchased Lists

Communicate with them by focusing on:

  • Career Advancement Opportunities
  • Increased Salary
  • Career Change
  • Prestige of an Advanced Degree
  • Passion for Subject Matter
  • Examples of These Drivers (Students and Alumni)
3. Engage Your Young Alumni
  • Reach out to alumni 2-5 years after they’ve earned a bachelor’s degree.
  • Avoid generic emails. Communicate as if they are old friends. (They are.)
4. Get Back with Stalled Applicants & Prior Cycle Admits
  • Remind them of their status from the prior cycle.
  • Welcome them to engage with current admission cycle.
  • Re-extend their admission (if possible).
  • Tell the academic program story once more.
5. Enlist Recommenders of Current/Former/Prospective Students
  • Make them your influencers.
  • Provide them with more information on programs and student success.
  • Ask them to share your info with other potential graduate students they know.

Try to apply this Capture Checklist to your current graduate recruitment funnel to reengage and recharge your dormant prospective students.

Also, any good to-do or checklist should stay in your line of sight. Need a designed copy for referencing or sharing with colleagues?