Mission
The mission of the Office of Admissions is to recruit, admit, and serve a diverse student population by cultivating relationships with prospective students and partners on and off campus. Our goal is to educate, support, and guide students and their families through the admission process, while striving to make their transition to higher education a positive, exciting, and successful experience at UA Little Rock.
Summary Narrative
1) Enhance recruitment and retention efforts to increase enrollment
- Redesigned admit packets to include more information about onboarding such as their academic major, academic college, academic advisor, advisor contact information, parking permits, etc.
- Revised inquiry postcard mailout in an effort to make it more engaging. Also, set up a mailout schedule each month to ensure postcards are sent in a timely manner and to as many prospects as possible.
- Obtained graduation lists from two-year institutions to utilize for targeted transfer recruitment.
- Conducted communication campaigns with prospective students via phone, text, and email (personal invites to events, admitted but not enrolled, campus tour invitations, applied but not yet admitted, admitted but not registered, missing credentials, advising completed but not registered, etc.).
- Continued efforts in recruitment/marketing communication mailers to include inquiry postcards and handwritten thank you notes to tour participants.
- Created and implemented a summer melt communication plan.
- The Office of Admissions sent 926,000 emails to prospective students.
- The Office of Admissions sent 23,307 text messages to prospective students about events in addition to 428,443 next-step-related texts sent via Twilio.
- Continued the TROJAN2022 campaign which offered students an application fee waiver.
- Continued on-campus and virtual prospective student days for high school seniors and juniors, transfers, and non-traditional students.
- Purchased 50,000 ACT scores for seniors, juniors, and sophomores in Arkansas and Texas; uploaded new leads into the recruitment funnel, mailed postcards and began targeted communication.
- Renewed partnership with Cappex, a website profile, online marketing and lead generator partner, to gain additional leads in AR and TX.
- Collaborated with the Office of Records and Registration, Office of Transfer Student Support Services, and Financial Aid to continue the use of a front desk management system, QLess.
- Collaborated with Momentous again this year to produce a mutually beneficial publication called the Visitor’s Guide. It provides great information about UA Little Rock and the opportunities available, as well as ads for local businesses. Shared this publication with the campus and provide one for each campus tour participant.
- Began the process to implement a new CRM, Slate, beginning July 1, 2021.
- Developed and disseminated a viewbook that specifically utilized the new communications branding to target prospective students.
- Developed admit packets for returning, post-bac, and non-degree student types. The admit packets have important onboarding information needed for students to successfully begin their journey at UA Little Rock.
- Website updates include the addition of a counselor resource page, revised admission standards, announcements, new and improved visit link, quick guide revisions/updates, campus event and tour updates, and more.
- Worked with the Office of Communications on marketing efforts to prospective students to include print ads, email blasts, and social media posts.
- Participated and assisted campus units with on-campus events and presentations.
- Created recruitment publications for upcoming year.
- Admission standards revised (ATCC) and implemented for Freshman students.
2) Strengthen student-friendly operations and customer service
- Continue to update and streamline operating procedures.
- Continue to build and utilize the Admissions Team Resource website for staff. This in-house website contains training material and resources for our staff and is used to assist in training new staff members.
- Continue to update the Office of Admissions website to ensure accurate and beneficial information is being delivered.
- Continue to create, utilize, and disseminate event surveys to provide an opportunity for participants and attendees to give constructive feedback about campus events.
- Continue to create, utilize, and disseminate campus tour surveys to provide an opportunity for campus visitors and their families to give constructive feedback about their campus visit experience.
- Strive to provide students and their families a positive experience when communicating via text message, phone, in person, or virtual.
- Hold weekly office manager meetings to ensure accurate information is being disseminated, provide office updates, allow a safe space to discuss and resolve issues/concerns, and encourage a cohesive team environment.
3) Improve diversity and inclusion efforts to provide a safe and inclusive environment for students
- Director will be encouraging additional staff to attend Safe Zone training in the upcoming year once training resumes.
- The office promotes diversity and inclusion in recruitment materials.
- Our new social CRM, Slate, allows students to include their preferred pronouns.
- Student’s preferred name is now listed on all event communication.
- Provide training to staff that includes the process of updating a student’s name on University records and a map of gender-neutral bathrooms available on campus.
- Provide students registered for events with a map of single-stall restrooms if they do not identify as male/female in the CRM.
- For students who indicate the need for accommodations during an event on their registration, Admissions will work with the Disability Resource Center and utilize their own resources (like the office golf cart) to provide a safe and inclusive environment for guests.
4) Align financial and human resources to operate more effectively and efficiently
- Revisions to the recruiter’s territories have been made. We now have Arkansas divided into sections for NW, NE, SW, SE, and Central. This revision gives a better balance of the number of schools for each of the high school recruitment coordinators and better ensures their ability to communicate more frequently and effectively with the counselors and prospective students in each territory.
- Hired and trained five new recruiters.
- Hired and trained two customer service representatives.
- Collaborated with the Office of Records and Registration, Office of Transfer Student Support Services, and Financial Aid to maintain a front desk management system, QLess.
- Developed and implemented a virtual campus tour option for prospective students.
- Developed and implemented a virtual Counselors Check-In to assist the recruiters with communicating with high school counselors and two-year school administrators.
- Continued a combined Admissions and Financial Aid incentive outreach project to reach over 1,000 students who did not enroll during the Fall 2021 semester to encourage enrollment at UA Little Rock for the Spring 2022 or Fall 2022 semesters.
- Created and implemented six Trojans on the Go application days and invited prospective students to UA Little Rock to apply for admission, get admitted if requirements are met, and receive a merit scholarship if eligible.
5) Promote student development, engagement, and leadership
- Invited current students to participate in recruitment photo shoots.
- Showcased new and current students on social media platforms.
- Maintained an admissions ambassador program, in which ambassadors assist with admission and recruitment efforts on and off campus.
- All events hosted by the Office of Admissions have the goal of helping students feel confident and knowledgeable in their next steps in the onboarding process.
- Educate prospective students using social media, publications, email communication, and presentations about the University, opportunities available, onboarding, and next steps during campus tours, high school visits, college fairs, etc.
At A Glance
School Visits: 548
- 246 high school visits/application days/award ceremonies
- 74 ArkACRAO and TACRAO high school college fairs
- 23 ArkACRAO two-year college fairs
- 44 college fairs (hosted by schools outside of ArkACRAO)
- 6 two-year college fairs (hosted by schools outside of ArkACRAO)
- 48 two-year school visits
- 103 Homeschool, Adult Ed, and Community Outreach visits
Campus Tours: 8/1/2021-7/21/2022
- 707 registered for individual tours (traditional and virtual)
- 427 attended (60%)
- 53 group tours registered with an expected total of 1,486 guests
- 49 groups attended with an estimated total of 1,417 guests
On-Campus and Virtual Events:
Organized and implemented on-campus and virtual events for prospective students, admitted students, high school counselors and two-year administrators.
- Campus Tours
- Virtual Tours
- Transfer Fridays
- Saturday Spotlight
- Trojan Twilight Tours
- Trojans on the Go (application days)
- Counselors Appreciation Luncheon
- Counselor Trojan Check-In
- Discover
- Explore (HS junior open house)
- Trojan Drive-Ups
- Trojan Transfermation
- Admitted Trojan Kickoff
Other Information:
- 42,698 pages scanned and linked into ImageNOW
- 103 community outreach events
- 18,162 phone calls to the Office of Admissions main phone line
- 443 social media posts with over 60,000 impressions
- 14,951 emails received in the Office of Admissions email account, admissions@ualr.edu
- 926,000 prospective student emails sent via CRM
- 3,225 text messages sent via CRM
- 451,750 text messages sent via Twilio
- 102,313 inquiry postcards mailed
- 1,113 students were assisted face to face in the office
- 8,478 undergraduate admission applications received and reviewed
- 6,087 undergraduate students admitted
Please note that because of COVID related school closures, tours, events, school visits, college fairs, and students visiting the UA Little Rock campus decreased. The Office of Admissions created and executed many virtual items to continue its engagement and communication with prospective and admitted students throughout this time.
Assessment 1
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Student Learning: Knowledge acquisition / construction / integration and application
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
Prepare students for success
Activity or experience being assessed
Advertise the ambassador program on social media and through our recruiters. Select an estimate of 10 students to participate in the program. Train them on conducting campus tours and the opportunities the University provides as a whole. Students will gain soft skills in customer service, presenting to a group, and how to act in a professional setting.
Assessment artifacts
Pre- and post-survey of the ambassadors during each semester. The survey will include questions regarding what knowledge they currently have about the University and its opportunities and then what did they learn during the semester that they didn’t already know. Also, if they feel their knowledge and confidence have increased over the course of the semester.
Observations have shown that the retention and reliability of the ambassadors during FY22 have been insufficient due to a lack of:
- Incentives
- Enforcement of attendance requirements
- Regular communication.
Time period assessment was done
September 2021-June 2022
Results
- Ambassador tour attendance and attendance record-keeping were unsatisfactory by the end of the 2021-2022 academic year.
- Ambassadors were still shadowing the admissions counselors on tours well into the semester(s), instead of leading the tours themselves.
- Ambassadors were unaware of what was expected of them, and the upcoming tour information.
Continuous improvement process
Improvements to be made to the ambassador program in FY23 include:
- Scheduled and in-depth training with the Assistant Director.
- Enforcement of attendance requirements for tours and events.
- Meetings regularly scheduled with the ambassadors by the Assistant Director.
- Potential pay through Trojan Works program.
WHEN:
- In-depth training with the ambassadors will be scheduled for September 2022, after the application and selection process.
- Enforcement of attendance requirements, regular meetings, and potential payment will be implemented during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
The Assistant Director will work to implement the following:
- An improved training process with a new written manual dedicated to the ambassador program and in-person training after selection of the ambassadors.
- Regular communications with the ambassadors via email, a group messaging app, and meetings.
The Assistant Director will also work with the Trojan Works program as needed in order to provide payment as a monetary incentive for ambassadors.
Assessment 2
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Operational assessment
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
Strengthen and support the human resources and infrastructure necessary to fulfill UA Little Rock’s mission
Activity or experience being assessed
We will provide coaching to customer service representatives regarding policies, procedures, communication approaches, etc. Provide professional development opportunities that can be done in person or online. These opportunities will include topics on customer service, writing professional emails, communication skills, etc. Staff will also be observed by their supervisors to gauge knowledge and progress.
The Customer Service staff received training throughout 2021-2022 through the following activities:
- Individual meetings with their supervisor at least twice a month.
- Staff were also provided with an internal Google Site as a resource tool for training and as a reference.
- Additional training materials in SafeColleges and found online related to customer service assistance, communicating with others, and understanding diversity and inclusion were also provided to staff.
Assessment artifacts
Observation: Their supervisor maintained records of their training and provided updates on results when available.
Time period assessment was done
July 2021-June 2022
Results
- By the end of the year, there were significantly fewer complaints sent to the Customer Service manager and/or Admissions director.
- The Customer Service manager observed and recorded that the knowledge and skills provided during training were utilized when interacting with students, parents, and other stakeholders.
Continuous improvement process
The Customer Service staff received training throughout 2021-2022 through the following activities:
- Individual meetings with their supervisor at least twice a month.
- Staff were also provided with an internal Google Site as a resource tool for training and as a reference.
- Additional training materials in SafeColleges and found online related to customer service assistance, communicating with others, and understanding diversity and inclusion were also provided to staff.
- Continued training based on individual Customer Service staff’s needs will be provided at least twice a month.
- New staff will be given the additional training assignments provided this year as well.
- The Google Site will continue to be updated as a reference.
- Additional training will be provided to individuals as needed.
WHEN: July 2022
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
The Customer Service manager will continue to develop ways to continue training for staff knowledge-base, confidence, communication skills, and professionalism when speaking to students and their families.
Assessment 3
Type of assessment (learning outcome or operational)
Operational assessment
Alignment with UA Little Rock Goal
Serve as an active partner in the community
Activity or experience being assessed
Outreach to known community centers, churches, chambers of commerce, Girls and Boys Clubs, and homeschool co-ops. etc. to provide recruitment material, presentations, and participation in events.
Assessment artifacts
These efforts will be tracked in our CRM and compared to past statistics.
Results
The Office of Admissions attended 103 recruitment events that were focused on Non-Traditional Recruitment efforts. This included homeschool groups, churches, businesses, chambers of commerce, girl scout groups, and career fairs. These efforts resulted in a 22% increase in freshmen applications, 26% increase in admitted students, and a 29% increase in newly enrolled freshmen.
Continuous improvement process
Work closely with the Corporate Partnerships Coordinator. Attend recruitment events for corporations who have signed partnerships with the University.
WHEN: October 2022 and ongoing.
Stateholder involvement / Communication plan
Email, social media, and various other outlets to inform employees at corporations of our newly found partnerships.
