UCLA – Admission/Enrollment

Admission and Enrollment is the life blood for the university. To attract and enroll new students that eventually become alumni, supporters, and go on to contribute to the world in their own ways, it’s a critical piece. We recognized this and made a significant investment in developing a strong partnership with our enrollment division. We worked closely to create and implement strategic marketing plans that effectively communicated to specific audiences of highly qualified prospective students. We created a baseline of new recruitment tools/materials in the look, feel, and personality of the UCLA brand, and had more than 20 initiatives for strategic touchpoints in the recruitment funnel. Our priorities were to increase yield, especially among targeted populations: highly qualified, residents, non-residents, and students from diverse backgrounds (socioeconomic, cultural, first generation, etc.). Maintain access for all especially students with high financial needs, with a focus on excellence and diversity. We created a body of ongoing materials that were impactful, inspiring, engaging and effective. Students were excited to learn more about UCLA, motivated to engage, visited campus and ultimately applied. We improved yield and minimized melt by developing a holistic, compelling, relevant and cohesive experience that captured the attention, leveraged the emotion of the moment and drove home why UCLA was the right choice for them. Our efforts became a gold standard. The most applied to university in the nation, up 10% year over year. More quality students applied. The quality of students applying overall increased. We stole market share from other universities. We lead the UC system in the number of applications from African Americans, Chicano/Latinos, and American Indians. We increased in-state by 12% and out-of-state by 10%. Ultimately feeding the quality and perception of UCLA for years to come.