Creating student-to-student connections at Marymount Manhattan College

of prospects on the Unibuddy platform went on to deposit

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.”