Our February 2021 admissions research focused on prospective and admitted student and parent admissions conversation for 4-year colleges and universities from August 1, 2020 through October 31, 2020. We also wanted to analyze that same conversation for 2-year institutions to see what unique characteristics emerged. While there are many overlapping trends, our findings may inform tailored recruiting strategies and messaging for this specific audience.
The overall 2-year admissions conversation volume for prospective and admitted students was far lower than that for 4-year programs.
Despite this disparity, several trends remained consistent between the two audiences.
Admitted students talked about college admissions roughly three times more than prospective students, whether they were considering 2- or 4-year programs.
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A look at where 2-year college admissions conversation occurs aligns with trends in admissions conversation for 4-year colleges.
However they additionally participate in forum conversation more often than admitted students, with roughly 45% of their conversation on Reddit and College Confidential.
When we look at 2-year admissions parent conversation, parents contributed minimally regardless of whether their child was a prospective or admitted student, approximately 1% of all 2-year admissions conversation. The volume of 4-year admissions conversation from parents was much higher, but still only represented 2% of total 4-year admissions conversation. Within 4-year admissions parent conversation, 59% of mentions came from parents of prospective students, and 41% from those of admitted students.
When comparing sentiment between 2-year and 4-year students, we uncover one significant difference at the prospective stage of the admissions process. Prospective students applying to 2-year colleges expressed negative sentiment in 42% of their conversation, compared to only 22% of 4-year applicants. Once they’ve been accepted, the numbers more closely align regardless of whether they’re pursuing a 2- or 4-year degree.
We get a better understanding of the trends in sentiment in 2-year student conversation when we look at the topics within their conversation.
Positivity among 2-year students is driven by athletics for admitted students who are excited to continue their athletics career. Prospective students want to go to college, or have a specific purpose or skill they’re looking to acquire, but the stressors of time and money are consistent factors in their conversation. Negative conversation from 2-year prospective students is driven by financial concerns, school loans, working, uncertainty about fields of study. The undercurrent is an element of risk: If I do this, will it be worth it?
Generally it appears that 2-year students talk about the programs they’re considering as a means to an end—that is, they’re looking for skill acquisition for a specific career path or eventual admission to a 4 year program. For 4-year students, achieving admission into the program of their choice is the goal they discuss publicly.
Athletics is one significant area of alignment between 2- and 4-year students. Specifically, athletics stands out as a driver of positive conversation among admitted students regardless of whether they plan to attend a 2- or 4-year program.
Athletics presents a significant opportunity for both 2- and 4- year campuses to build on student-athlete enthusiasm to develop additional positive conversation around the student experience, academic strengths and outcomes, and campus brand values.
2-year students may not share their college journey to the same degree as their 4-year peers, but the conversation is not inconsequential. Further, these students have some unique concerns and motivations that campuses should consider in their messaging and engagement. Think about recruiting strategies that: