Hunter College grows student affinity with Unibuddy Community

Hunter College is a top-ranked and affordable public college in New York City, offering progressive undergraduate, graduate and professional programs. With a student population of 20,000+, it’s important that new students feel a part of the community.

The challenge

Feeling that they had “grown out” of their previous community platform due to its incapacity to create separate communities, Irina Ostrozhnyuk and her team at Hunter College were looking for a new solution. They needed something that would not only allow them to create a hub for all their admitted students but an exclusive community for their honors students too.

Having trialed and tested a few platforms, they found that “virtual college” platforms that emulated a college fair environment led to students discussing less than ideal topics, such as their displeasure and grievances with the application process. Not the “good vibes” Hunter College was hoping to foster.

Having struggled through the muddy waters of virtual orientation during the pandemic years, Hunter gained insight into the importance of community for conversion, particularly around the US deposit deadline of May 1st. Ostrozhnyuk explained, “It was important for us to have a community established before the May 1st deadline, as part of our big push to ensure that those who were admitted converted into deposits.”

Following the deposit deadline, it was crucial to Hunter College that their community activity did not stop—“for the students who have already indicated that they’re coming to Hunter, the job now is to ensure there’s no melt* over the summer.”

* “Melt” refers to students who commit to attending an institution but then don’t ultimately enroll.

The solution

Enter Unibuddy Community. As a long-standing partner, Hunter College was excited to try out Unibuddy’s “shiny new product.”

As per their needs, Ostrozhnyuk and her team created two main communities: one for all of their admitted students and another for their honors students. The latter is an exclusive community for high-achievers and scholars.

These students have a separate orientation, so it made sense for them to have their own individual community. Historically, these honors students “yield really well” and don’t pose much of a challenge, so the team’s focus for Unibuddy Community was more centered on the general admitted student community.

Integrating Community into their conversion and orientation strategy, the college has been inviting all students once they’ve been admitted in a bid to convert them to enrolled students. Ensuring these students feel part of Hunter’s existing community is an important ingredient in supporting their arrival on campus on the first day of term. “Our goal is to have this community waiting for them the moment they’re admitted so that they know they’re already a part of something.”

Within Hunter College’s existing Unibuddy product suite, Community became a welcome addition to their student outreach and orientation. “We also have a whole communication plan built out where the idea is: ‘I’ll match you with this current student who’s like you, check out their content on Unibuddy, or chat with them directly,’ and now we have the option of directing them to this group to meet the people they’ll be studying with.” Students had a variety of channels to connect with and build meaningful bonds with the college, its current students, and their classmates.

The results

Hunter College saw more than 3,000 students join their “Fall 2022 Admitted Students” and “Fall 2022 Freshmen Honors Scholars” communities, equating to a quarter of all their admitted students. 2,500+ messages were exchanged across both communities.

The most popular group in Hunter’s main community was “Student Life, Student Clubs, & Student Activities,” which, with its all-encompassing title, became the main hub for most questions. As time went on and students felt comfortable and confident in the community and with the information they had gathered, they started answering each others’ questions.

They saw a great peak in March and April, as students compared and connected in preparation for their May 1st deposit deadline. This coincided with their in-person events also hosted in March and April, like their “open house” for admitted students. They promoted their in-person events and virtual events through their Community for those who couldn’t get to campus—making for a pretty comprehensive hybrid approach. Conversations during these in-person and online events were also used to inform the content shared on Community.

Out of 12,000 admitted students, Hunter usually sees around a quarter (3,000) enroll in the fall, on average. Interestingly, the number of students engaging with their Unibuddy Community also sits at this 3,000 number. Looking at their funnel of students converting, Ostrozhnyuk commented, “I can’t clearly say whether or not it was due to the Community alone, but those students who bought into the Community were the students who went on to deposit.” Alongside their strong in-person and online events, Unibuddy Community seems to be an added bonus in continuing to engage students throughout the funnel.

The future

Ostrozhnyuk and her team are looking forward to sending another round of invites to deposited students who are not yet members of their Unibuddy Community to support their next steps toward orientation.

They’re also hoping to make the most of our recent “invite via link” feature by having counselors recommend Community directly to individual students, making the outreach feel much more personalized.

On the topic of personalization, to appeal to individual interests, they’re also keen to invite current Hunter students from active clubs and the student government to showcase their existing, bustling student community on campus.