This session is presented by Young Shin, President of Princeton Review Marketing Services.
3rd annual national survey of webite use in undergraduate and graduate school search.
Survey made during the active search (3hr/week) phase
20,000 students over past 3 years during winter.
When did you start your search?
Before 28% in junior year of HS
40% during junior year (from 34% – +6% increase)
Active search starts well ahead of 12 months before application.
Stealth applications (application as first contact with school) on the increase
43% will submit an app before any prior contact with the school. They spend a lot of time researching on their own.
Top sources for grad school research
75% websites of college
71% admissions websites
69% third-party portal college websites (61% last year)
33% Printed pieces from colleges (38% last year)
30% third-party printed materials (28% last year)
Less paper is better.
However, responses vary greatly depending on the type of schools (Law School, MBA, Medical School, etc.)
How frequently do you visit the website?
Over half visits at least 2 different grad school websites per week.
75+ of those surveyed spend at least 15 minutes per visit (4% increase compared to last year)
Top sources for undergrad school research
83% portal websites
79% college website
66% admissions website
49% printed pieces (60% last year)
41% email communications from colleges (61% last year)
75% + of sensiors spend at least 15 minute per visit (+4% increase)
Top features for grad school students
Admissions requirements
Financial aid, tuition
Academic program section
Scholarshop section
Students blogs went down from 2.9 last year to 2.1 this year
Top features for ungrad school students
Admissions requirements
Financial aid, tuition
Scholarship section
Students blogs went down from 2.7 last year to 2.2 this year
Seniors find the printed materials to be the more valuable
Top enrollment factors for grad school
School accreditation
Reputation in filed of study
Over reputation
Quality of faculty and instructions
Top enrollment factors for undergrad school
Reputation in field of study
Overall reputation
Programs
Quality of facutly and instructions
Lack of information and bad navigation are among the top frustration sources for students searching for schools.
Lessons learned
- Everyone is online, the website is the most valuable research source for students
- Students continue to search early, but not earlier
- Make sure critical information is readily accessible
Karine, great post. Thanks for the great information. We always try to talk to our students about how best and how early to reach them, but this is a great resource. Thanks!
Glad it helps, Billy!
[…] AMA Symposium: How undergraduate and graduate prospective students use the Web in their school searc… […]
hi there. I saw this presentation at AACRAO SEM last week also. I had questions on the validity of the data and it wasn’t presented… for example:
Top sources for undergrad school research
83% portal websites
79% college website
66% admissions website
Who was surveyed, and how? Was it a survey from the Princeton Review portal? If so, wouldn’t that skew the results toward “portal websites?” Just wondering about full disclosure…
Thanks!