This time of year, admission offices are focused on the families who are moving forward. They’ve toured, they’re applying, they’re scheduling interviews and shadow days. That’s where your attention should be, and between now and March there isn’t much left over for anything else.
But some of the most useful information you have right now is about the families who aren’t moving forward. Your overall numbers are likely incomplete, since applications aren’t due for most schools and plenty of families are just taking their time. The individual families who stalled can tell you a lot.
Here’s a quick exercise you can do this week. Pull three short lists:
Families who inquired more than two weeks ago and haven’t scheduled a visit
Families who toured more than two weeks ago and haven’t started an application
Families who started an application but haven’t touched it in a while
You don’t need percentages. Just look at the lists. Is one a lot longer than the others? Are there names on any of them that surprise you, families you were sure were interested?
For example, maybe your inquiry list is short, but twenty families have toured and haven’t started an application, including a few who seemed like a great fit and asked lots of questions. I’d want to know what’s happening after those visits.
Depending on what you find, here are a few places to look.
If families inquire but don’t visit
Check for ease. Can a family pick a tour time right from your first email, or do they have to go back and forth with your office? How far out is your next available date? If every tour is on a weekday morning, you may be losing working parents who would love to come but can’t. An evening event or a Saturday option can make a real difference for those families.
If families visit but don’t apply
Make sure the next steps are clear. Families often walk out excited but unclear about what the application involves, when it’s due, or how financial aid works. For a lot of families, cost is the real question, and they won’t always bring it up on a tour, so point them to where they can find answers about affordability.
If you tried last month’s idea of asking families what they’re hoping to learn at the start of a tour, your follow-up note is a good place to use what they told you, too.
If families start an application but don’t finish
Try your application yourself. Go through it as if you were a parent, ideally on your phone. How long does it take? Is anything confusing? Then look at where your incomplete applications are stuck. If most of them stall at the same spot, like teacher recommendations, the parent statement, or the fee, that’s probably your problem, and it’s often an easy fix. Is a fee waiver available, and do families know about it?
Keep it small
I’m not suggesting you overhaul anything in the middle of the busiest season of the year! Pick the list that worries you most and try one change. Then pull the lists again in a few weeks and see if they’ve gotten any shorter.
If you can, bring this to your next team meeting, too. Whoever answers inquiry emails, your tour guides, and whoever handles applications are each seeing a different piece of the family experience. When you put those pieces together, you often notice things nobody would have caught alone.
Families rarely tell you they’ve lost interest. They just stop responding. Fifteen minutes with these lists might help you catch a few of them before they’ve moved on.
