Creating student-to-student connections at Marymount Manhattan College

The challenge

Marymount Manhattan College was looking to boost their yield. With many of their applicants coming from a great distance, getting prospective students onto campus is a challenge, but they still wanted to give everyone that personal experience.

As John Versaci, Admissions Counselor, puts it: “What was also important for us was meeting our prospects at the places where they’re at and giving them that direct response from a student ambassador.”

Not only that, but prospective students were asking questions that would be best answered by a current student.

The solution

Marymount Manhattan College launched Unibuddy in March 2019. Just two months after launching, there were already 180+ conversations.

Versaci said: “It’s reduced the workload of our admissions counselors, and it’s giving students a digital link to a current student that is increasing their connection to the school. It’s also a lot more personable. For example, an ambassador answered a question about Open House, and the ambassador could check-in after the event to see how it went.”

As a smaller institution, Marymount was able to secure buy-in from across the college: with many faculties involved in implementation and running the platform.

The results

Unibuddy is making an impact: 29% of Unibuddy users have now deposited—higher than the institution’s average.

The college also ran a Unibuddy Live chat, which had a noticeable impact on deposits. “One student asked a question, got an answer, and half an hour later they deposited.