Your Inquiries Are Ghosting You Because

It happens every fall. You have a bunch of inquiries who seemed really excited and engaged at a college fair, high school visit, or when they visited campus, but they haven’t taken the next step and they’ve also become unresponsive.

Prospective students avoid like we avoid – it’s normal human nature.

But, when I look through my survey research with thousands of prospective students, the five most common reasons for ghosting a college are:

1. Your emails feel impersonal and they end the wrong way. Messages that feel like they just got sent to thousands of other students and repeat the same information that’s on your website while also telling the student apply now does little to peak their interest, alleviate a concern, or answer a question they may have about your school. Ending an email with the phrase “Let me know if you have any questions” is also not helpful because oftentimes students don’t know how to word a specific question, and/or they don’t want to ask something that may sound silly or possibly offend you because it’s a concern.

2. You’re using the wrong communication channel. A student’s Inbox can fill up really fast and create information overload. Try sending a short, informal text message instead.

3. They’re busy and overwhelmed. Senior year, homecoming, clubs or sports, possibly a part-time job, and they need to hurry up and figure out exactly what they want to do after high school ends. It can all be exhausting.

4. They’re interested but they don’t know which application to fill out. In my article last week I talked about common fears during the college search process. Would it surprise you to hear that if you’re a Common App school a lot of students aren’t sure whether they should fill that out or your institutional application… seriously. Fear of doing the “wrong thing” causes the process to stall.

5. They’ve decided your school isn’t a good fit and they don’t want to tell you “No”. A lot of young people have a hard time telling adults “No.” Instead it’s easier for them to ghost you, avoid a tough conversation, and hope that eventually you just decide to move on.

   
   

If one or more of those hits home for you, your one and only goal should be to simply figure out the why. You need to uncover what concern has developed or what’s holding them back if you’re going to attempt to persuade those who are still interested that it’s worth taking the next step.

Here’s a strategy that continues to work well for a lot of admissions counselors. Ask a direct question that gets the student to picture what they’re thinking and then describe it to you. Let me give you two examples:

Instead of asking, “Can I get you more information on anything?”, ask, “<First or Preferred Name>, what are you still trying to figure out when you imagine yourself being a student here?” That phrasing takes you inside their head, and gives you a picture of what they’re visualizing.

Or, instead of asking, “Are we still on your list?”, ask, “If you were going to decide not to apply here, what do you see being the #1 reason why we wouldn’t be a good fit?” Again, that gets them to visualize and then relay the feedback to you.

Whenever an inquiry has had multiple opportunities and ample time to take the next step (but hasn’t), don’t ask them to apply for the eleventh time. Focus on creating an authentic message and an environment where they feel comfortable sharing and engaging. Connections will help you convert.  

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