USC Viterbi Sees 42% of Students Become Certified Applicants and 67% Deposit

Challenge: Featuring student ambassadors from various backgrounds to increase applications and enhance diversity

The University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering was eager to bring student ambassadors to the forefront of their recruitment strategy. They recognized a pressing need for a systematic way to connect prospective students with current students. At the time, this process seemed daunting and complex; staff would manually identify current students, obtain their consent to share contact information, and hope that meaningful connections would occur. There was no reliable way to ensure these conversations took place or to track their impact on prospective students’ decisions.

Jessica Raquel Stern, Assistant Director of Graduate and International Recruitment, explains, “When students are so far away, it’s crucial to make them feel connected to the institution. We believed that hearing directly from a current student would provide that personal touch and hoped we could simultaneously gather valuable insights on prospective students.”

Their primary goal was to increase applications and enhance student diversity. To achieve this, Stern and her team aimed to create an ambassador program featuring students from various backgrounds and implement a platform to host and showcase these ambassadors. This approach would create more touchpoints between ambassadors and prospective students who share similar experiences and academic interests, in hopes of improving conversion rates.

Solution: Real-time access to student insights throughout recruitment 

Stern had previously used Unibuddy at another institution and was eager to introduce it to the Viterbi team. She saw Unibuddy as a solution that could fill the gap left by previous attempts to connect students, such as using WhatsApp or private Facebook groups. These methods lacked the structure and sustainability needed, particularly as they weren’t run on a dedicated student platform.

William Schwerin, Director at USC Viterbi explains, “Unibuddy stood out for its ease of use, the valuable data it provides, and its ability to foster meaningful interactions. It filled a critical gap in our recruitment strategy, offering a space that eased the uncertainty and anxiety prospective students often feel.”

The institution was particularly excited about the real-time access to student insights. These capabilities allowed them to make informed decisions based on student feedback, conversations, and funnel stage data throughout the year, rather than relying on year-end summaries.

So after a detailed proposal and swift approval from the college, the Viterbi team was ready to implement Unibuddy. The onboarding process was smooth and well-supported, making it easy for the Viterbi team to transition from their previous methods, which relied heavily on spreadsheets and random student outreach. Unibuddy also provided comprehensive training materials, enabling the efficient setup of the first group of student ambassadors.

Result: 42% of Unibuddy users went on to apply and become certified applicants, while 67% of admitted students went on to deposit

Unibuddy became the go-to platform for prospective and admitted students to connect with ambassadors throughout the year, playing a pivotal role in the institution’s conversion efforts. “The platform’s impact is particularly evident thanks to the data it provides; we can analyze how ambassador interactions influence online events, confidence levels, applications, enrollment, and overall student engagement,” shares Stern.

Additionally, one of the key benefits Viterbi finds with Unibuddy is the ability to identify recurring topics and themes in student conversations. This information gets used to address common concerns and create marketing materials that directly speak to the needs of prospective students at various stages of the funnel.

“The depth of these conversations has allowed ambassadors to move beyond surface-level interactions, providing detailed guidance on living situations, student organizations, and ways to find community. This not only gives prospective students the confidence they need before arriving on campus but also eases their transition into the university environment,” says Paola Mejia, Assistant Director of Marketing & Graduate Recruitment.

In the first year of using Unibuddy, an impressive 67% of admitted students who engaged with the platform went on to deposit. Fast forward to the most recent cycle; by leveraging key funnel stage data, the team found that 42% of Unibuddy users who signed up, went on to apply and become certified applicants. This demonstrates that Unibuddy effectively translates initial interest into high-quality applications.

Mejia also tracks Unibuddy data and found that from January to April in the latest cycle, prospective students exchanged 1,634 messages, representing 17 different countries. “We’re very impressed with the correlation between Unibuddy and our diverse applicant pool.”