Every enrollment leader I talk to right now is dealing with some version of the same problem. Direct admissions and affordability have colleges and universities seeing more applications than they’ve had in years. Students are applying to more places so they can compare aid offers, which makes yield harder to predict and a lot harder to win.
And the counselor team usually remains the same size as last year.
Most of these teams have a solid CRM, and a lot of them run Slate. But figuring out which 40 students out of 20,000 need a call today, and what to say when they pick up, is still really (really!) hard at that volume.
Johnson & Wales University is one of my favorite examples of a team that cracked it, and they shared their trade secrets in a Slate Dive Deeper webinar this past Spring. Let’s dive in.
30% more admits, same high-touch promise
JWU was up more than 30% in its accepted student pool last cycle across its Providence and Charlotte campuses. Great problem to have. But JWU built its reputation on counselors who know each student’s story, and that gets a lot harder when the list keeps growing and the team doesn’t.
Dawn Sweeney, Director of Admissions Representative Network, needed a way to show her counselors where to spend their time.
“We needed a data model that helped us understand timing, intent and engagement. And that’s where our shift really began,” she said.
How do Capture and Slate work together at JWU?
JWU’s counselors live in Slate, and Dawn wasn’t about to change that.
“I trust our Slate data completely. In our world, if it’s not in Slate, it didn’t happen,” said Dawn.
So that’s where Capture lives too. Capture picks up students while they’re still browsing JWU’s website, before they ever fill out a form, and syncs that activity into Slate. JWU’s team built it into the places counselors already look every day:
- The applicant dashboard, which has a Capture tab showing each student’s engagement score, top pages, visit frequency, and a link to their Student 360 Profile
- Slate queries, where counselors mix Capture scores with funnel stage, geography, campus visits, FAFSA status, and past outreach to pull a prioritized list
- Counselor notes, so temperature checks and appointment history sit right next to what the student is doing online
- Counselor dashboards they can sort by last outreach, engagement, FAFSA status, or visit history
Dawn was very intentional about who does the interpreting.
“I don’t want my counselors spending their time looking at scores and trying to figure out what they mean. That’s our job. Their job is to connect with students and families.” – Dawn Sweeney
What does better data look like for a counselor?
Lisa Francisco, Regional Enrollment Manager at JWU, shared a few examples that I love because they’re so practical.
One student was listed in Slate as a culinary major but kept going back to JWU’s health and wellness pages. Their counselor called with information on the program the student was actually looking at.
Another student told JWU they’d picked a different college and got marked “will not enter.” A month later, Capture flagged them trying to log back into their application portal. Their counselor reached out, and that student enrolled.
A third was set on Providence but started spending a lot of time on the Charlotte campus pages, which gave their counselor a pretty easy reason to call.
You’d never catch any of these from the Slate record alone.
How does JWU catch summer melt early?
The same approach works after deposit. JWU built a melt dashboard in Slate that pulls deposited students with low engagement to the top, so counselors can reach out in May and June while there’s still plenty of time to help.
“I would much rather address those issues in May or June rather than reacting in August. That significantly increases our chances of preventing melt and supporting student success,” said Lisa.
What should counselors say when they call?
Knowing who to call only gets you halfway. JWU surveyed its recently enrolled students, and they were pretty clear: skip the “just checking in” calls. They want outreach that’s relevant to them.
So Lisa coached her team to open with something helpful. A counselor might say, “I noticed you haven’t had a chance to visit campus yet. We have some great opportunities coming up, and I’d love to send you a registration link.”
That coaching took real work, and Lisa is the first to say so.
“The adoption of Capture didn’t happen by accident. We invested truly a lot of time in consistent training, one-on-one guidance, and really student-centered messaging,” said Lisa.
What can other enrollment teams borrow from JWU?
If you’re running Slate and your counselors are buried in names, here’s where I’d start:
- Get your behavioral data into Slate. If counselors have to log into something else to see it, they won’t check it every day.
- Build one prioritized query per counselor that combines engagement with the fields they already trust, like funnel stage and FAFSA status.
- Look for students whose behavior doesn’t match their record. A new major, a different campus, or activity after a “no” are all great reasons to call.
- Write a handful of opening lines with your team so nobody’s improvising.
- Pull your melt list in May. August is too late.
Dawn sums it up better than I can.
“We can’t work every student, but we can work the right student at the right time.” – Dawn Sweeney
Want to see what Capture looks like inside your Slate instance? Get a demo.
Frequently asked questions
How do Capture and Slate work together?
Capture tracks how prospective students engage with your website, then syncs that data into Slate through a two-way integration. At Johnson & Wales University, counselors see Capture engagement scores, top pages viewed, and Student360 Profile links in the Slate applicant dashboard, and use Capture scores in Slate queries to build prioritized call lists.
How do admissions counselors decide which students to call first?
Start with engagement and timing, then layer in the CRM fields your team already trusts, like funnel stage, FAFSA status, and campus visits. JWU counselors run Slate queries that combine Capture scores with those fields to get a prioritized list.
How can colleges and universities improve yield when applications go up?
Spend counselor time on the admitted students showing the most interest, and watch for changes in what they’re researching. Direct admissions and aid comparison shopping are driving application volume up faster than most counselor teams are growing, so prioritization matters more every cycle.
What is a melt dashboard?
A melt dashboard lists deposited students by engagement so counselors can spot the ones at risk of not showing up in the fall. JWU uses one in Slate to reach low-engagement deposited students in May and June.
How should counselors use engagement data when they call students?
Open with a helpful next step, like an upcoming visit day or information on a program the student is exploring, rather than referencing specific pages they viewed.
Do counselors need to log into Capture separately if we use Slate?
They don’t have to. Capture syncs engagement scores, website activity, and Student360 Profile links into Slate, so counselors can work their full day in Slate. At Johnson & Wales University, counselors see Capture data in the applicant dashboard, Slate queries, and their own counselor dashboards.
What is an engagement score in admissions?
An engagement score ranks prospective students by how actively they’re researching your institution, like how often they visit your website, which pages they spend time on, and how recently they’ve been active. Capture’s Priority Scores combine engagement, affinity, and conversion probability so counselors know who to contact first.
How do you get admissions counselors to use engagement data?
Put it where they already work and coach them on how to use it. JWU invested in consistent training, one-on-one guidance, and shared language for outreach so counselors could act on Capture data without having to interpret scores themselves.
How should colleges and universities prioritize direct admits?
Direct admits often yield at lower rates than traditional admits, so watch engagement closely after the offer goes out. Students who come back to research a specific program or your cost pages are showing real interest and are worth a counselor’s call.
Which CRMs does Capture integrate with?
Capture has two-way integrations with Slate, Element451, Salesforce, Anthology, Jenzabar, and TargetX.
Can Capture see students before they fill out a form?
Yes. Capture starts building a behavioral profile from a student’s first visit to your website. Once the student identifies themselves by filling out a form, clicking an email, or using chat, that history is matched to their record and synced into Slate.
