Admissions and Enrollment Management Software Features
Admissions software typically contains a diverse feature set that may include, but is not limited to, the following features.
Lead Nurturing – A key aspect of admissions and enrollment management software is lead nurturing, which involves cultivating strong relationships with individuals during the application process. Lead nurturing enables admissions staff to personalize messages at every step in the process, from prospective applicant to enrolled student. This personalization manifests in the personalized email outreach that is available within the software and the granular level of communication between admissions staff and applicants, which can reach as far as SMS messaging directly to students’ phones.
Event and Interview Scheduling – Admissions software often contains interview scheduling capabilities, which admissions staff use to schedule interviews and campus visits with the appropriate staff members. This feature keeps admissions professionals within a single tool and drives more engagement with prospective students. Some solutions in this category offer event scheduling tools in addition to interview scheduling. This feature can be used by staff members to send invites, organize staff, and schedule out campus events, typically based around recruiting prospective students.
Appointment Scheduling – Admissions and enrollment management software often contains appointment scheduling features, including an interactive calendar for parents and students to schedule appointments with school staff. These calendars will commonly include automated email reminders, which helps to reduce the number of missed appointments.
Applicant Funnel – A useful feature for admissions staff seeking a detailed overview of all applicants in the process, the applicant funnel shows exactly how many individuals are in each stage of the admissions funnel. The staff members can then focus on advancing each student in the process.
Application Acceptance or Rejection – Admissions staff can make decisions regarding individual applicants directly through the application and issue those decisions. This feature enables admissions officers to consolidate the number of disparate programs they use and ensure that the proper decisions are being released at the proper times.
Fee Payment Gateway – Admissions and enrollment software often contains a payment gateway so that admissions departments can accept application fees directly through the software, eliminating the need for integration with a separate payment gateway software.
Applicant Scoring – With applicant scoring functionality, administrators have the ability to score applicant documents directly in the solution. Admins can create custom scoring frameworks, write extensive notes on each document, and ultimately issue a score for every applicant in the system.
Registration Management – Most solutions in this category contain registration management features so admissions officers can complete the process for accepted students who decide to enroll in the school. This feature closes out the entire funnel, as an individual at this stage has gone from prospective student to enrolled, tuition-paying student in a single application. The registration features may include contract creation and signing, deposit payment, and online registration forms.
Reporting – Admissions management software may include reporting features which will enable you to compare year-over-year results, set enrollment goals, and measure performance based on preset goals.
Mobile Application – The number of mobile website visits is rapidly increasing as mobile devices become more powerful and more widely used for important tasks. To enable the visitor who wants to use the software on their mobile device, some admissions management software vendors are creating mobile versions of their applications. These are full-featured versions of the respective solutions available entirely on mobile devices.
Integrations and Data Migration – Each admissions solution will contain slightly different tools in this feature category. Depending on the solution type, these may include bulk file imports, data migration capability, integrations with other systems, and API integrations with select partner systems.
Messaging – Admissions management solutions typically contain messaging features that connect admissions officers with parents and students. These messages can be sent via email or SMS and can be sent as bulk messages or personalized one-off communications.
Recommendation Portal – Recommendation letters are a sticking point in the application process for many students. Certain admissions solutions contain a portal through which teachers can submit recommendation letters directly.
Forms Creation – Most admissions software provides users with online forms creation features that they can use to make admissions related forms specifically for their educational institution. These forms, which can be saved and reused over and over, save offices time and money.
