Exactly 10.6% on Web site and other electronic formats (e.g., e-mail, text messaging) and 24.1% on printed materials (e.g., viewbooks, brochures, letters) according to The Chronicle Survey of Undergraduate Admissions Officers published in its May 2 issue.
The survey results which are only available to subscribers of the print or digital versions (but if you really want to pick and can’t find the issue on campus, you can always get a Web pass for less than $7) give a good snapshot of the state of Admissions offices in the US (.
It was completed online by 461 admissions officials from all 50 states and the District of Columbia between February 26 and March 10, 2008.
Out of the 30 or so questions asked as part of this survey, I found the following one really interesting (and I’m sure you won’t be surprised by my choice).
Which of the following electronic or Web-based tools does your office actively employ in recruitment and communications?
- Admissions-office Web site 98.0%
- Virtual campus tour 56.2%
- Blogs by current students 43.6%
- Online chats 36.7%
- Instant messaging 35.8%
- Personalization of the college’s Web site according to prospect’s preferences 23.0%
- Text messaging 18.7%
- Live Webcam from one or more campus sites 17.1%
- Podcasts 15.4%
- Blogs by faculty members 6.5%
- E-mail 5.0%
- Social networking 3.9%
- Interactive features on Web site 3.5%
- Other 6.9%
- Not reported 1.5%
I was actually surprised to see that student blogs made it to the top 3 most used electronic tools. But, this is coherent with the results of another survey about social media use in Admissions conducted last year by Dr. Barnes from the Center for Marketing Research of the University of Massachussets at Dartmouth (if you want to find out more about the results of this previous survey, you can check out the recording of the free 30-minute webinar Dr. Barnes presented for Higher Ed Experts.)
And, I find hard to believe that podcasting is used 3 times more than email as a digital recruiting method. Have admissions offices just tossed email?
Can my dear readers working in Admissions offices weight in on this one?