St. John's University lifts Enrollment by 12% with student-to-student Connections

The challenge

St. John’s University in New York offers more than 100 degree programs, as well as professional certifications. But this much choice can be daunting for prospective students. As Corinne Gentile, Director of Enrollment Management Events puts it:

“As we approached the accepted students phase, there were a lot of questions about ‘majors.’ At 17 years old, students don’t always know what they want to do. They have questions like: What can I expect? What kind of internships are offered? What are the professors like? How big are the classes?” And so, Gentile was eager to find a solution where prospective students could connect with the institution’s authentic voice, and get answers to all their questions.

The solution

St. John’s University learned about Unibuddy’s peer-to-peer benefit, and decided to launch the platform as a recruitment and engagement initiative. “Now, we’re able to give them the opportunity to speak to our students, and ask questions to our student ambassadors—real people experiencing day-to-day what these future students can experience.”

To promote the platform, St. John’s shares the link in a weekly targeted email and displays the profiles of ambassadors with shared characteristics to those prospective students (e.g. sending a psychology student profile to their psychology prospects). Student ambassadors also created blogs with relevant topics, which the university shared on its main chat page. Gentile says, “We plan to blow it out of the water next year. It’s going to be a whole campaign, and promoted on everything we do.”

The results

In just 6 months, 655 prospects and applicants from 70+ countries have used the St. John’s Unibuddy platform. What’s more, around 28% of applicant users have now deposited—a major increase to the 16% institutional average. Since launching, more than 770 questions have been asked by students, and St. John’s had 82 ambassadors live on the platform during the academic year.

The data speaks for itself, and Gentile trusts that peer-to-peer will always deliver results, stating, “Any time a prospective student has an interaction with an ambassador, they are more likely to come here. That student-to-student connection always has that effect.” But it’s not just about the numbers. Ambassadors, staff, and prospective students at St. John’s have all found real benefits from Unibuddy.

Gentile says her ambassadors want to celebrate their successful conversations, and it gives them a renewed passion for the university. “Ambassadors come and tell me when they have had successful chats, and we can celebrate that. This is such a boost for them, and you can really see the passion in their responses. It means so much more coming from them, and it’s so refreshing to see how much they care.”

For staff, Unibuddy is simple to use and has opened up a much-needed channel for peer-to-peer connections that wasn’t available previously. “It makes it so much easier for us when we have a student who wants to make a personal connection, but can’t make it to campus. Previously, I’d give a prospective student an ambassador’s email address, which really isn’t ideal.” Now Gentile and her team are able to trust that their prospective students are properly engaged, getting answers to their questions, and more likely to enroll.