March 7, 2026

Dr. Kyle Brantley
Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Communications

On many campuses, enrollment and academics operate in silos. The often unspoken understanding is that enrollment handles the front-end work of bringing the students in to the point of registration, and then hands things off to academics and student affairs. It’s a division of labor that’s familiar. It’s also limiting.

Academics plays a major role in a student’s college decision. When recruitment goes beyond selling the institution and begins selling the program a student actually cares about, the likelihood of enrollment goes up. The question isn’t whether academics matters in recruitment. It’s how intentionally it’s being integrated into the process.

Most admissions teams can confidently promote flagship programs. Pre-med, nursing, business—these are often easy to talk about, complete with strong statistics, fancy facilities, and outstanding outcomes. But if the response to “How’s your computer science program?” or “Tell me about English” is a vague (e.g. “It’s great!” or “It has small classes; lots of personal attention!”), that’s a signal worth paying attention to. The issue usually isn’t program quality; it’s a lack of usable, up-to-date information.

Below are practical ways to better integrate academics into recruitment—many of which apply to both undergraduate and graduate enrollment.

1. Launch a cross-functional committee.

Wait, wait, hear me out. The last thing anyone wants to do is serve on another committee. But when there’s little crossover between enrollment and faculty, a structured forum can make a real difference.

Start small: with a handful of enrollment leaders and faculty already engaged in recruitment. Or go broader with one representative from each academic department to create wider buy-in and a consistent feedback loop. The purpose is to set up a consistent channel for cross-pollination of information and ideas.

This gathering of minds can:

1. Help educate faculty on the recruitment cycle, student questions, common objections, and expectations.
2. Equip admissions with clear, current program selling points.
3. Brainstorm meaningful ways faculty can participate in recruiting new students.

Pro-tip: If you want to formalize it, a name like the Academics & Admissions Recruitment Committee (AARC) gives the group purpose and visibility.

2. Incorporate face-time with faculty.

Your faculty can be one of your greatest recruitment advantages. Many students feel naturally intimidated by professors, but this is your chance to show them that, hey, professors are people too! Introduce your students to faculty early so they can become familiar with the potential professors they’ll be learning under if they enroll.

1. Campus Visits. Students with a declared academic interest should be offered one-on-one time with someone in their field.
2. Admissions Events. Include faculty at open houses, receptions, and scholarship interviews. This could look like departmental marketplaces, faculty greeting guests, or simply being available during downtime.

These moments humanize the academic experience and build excitement about the program.

3. Develop program-specific communication flows.

Take your general comm flow to the next level by creating new program-specific tracks based on academic interest. Email is the easiest and most economical way to do this and you can start with 3‑5 emails per program. If that’s too daunting, start with your top five programs by volume and scale up when you’re ready.

Helpful additions:

1. Faculty-provided program selling points provided via the AARC
2. Short videos highlighting faculty, facilities, and student outcomes
3. An Undecided series that normalizes exploration and highlights advising support for those who aren’t certain about their future major.

4. Treat academic webpages like storefronts.

Think of program pages as storefront windows. Students are browsing—and deciding quickly—whether to step inside or to keep on walking.

Best practices:

1. Keep pages clean, attractive, and easy to scan
2. Use a consistent format across programs
3. Include sections like Program Distinctives, Courses You’ll Take, Career Paths, and Graduate Outcomes
4. Highlight the student as the hero of their journey, not your institution

Departments may retain ownership of their full pages, but consider creating single-page storefronts managed by admissions or marketing (with academic approval, of course). These pages can prioritize marketable content while linking to deeper academic details elsewhere.

For graduate programs especially, make it easy to find:

• Program length – how long will it take?
• Format – online, in-person, or hybrid
• Cost – how much will this cost?

Nontraditional students often decide whether to stay on a page in just a few seconds, so take care to curate a positive experience on your academic webpages.

5. Create academic program sheets.

A well-designed one- or two-page program handout can go a long way. Use them for campus visits, college fairs, and email follow-ups (as PDFs). Consistent templates make it easier for students to compare options and reinforce credibility. Use QR codes that take the student to the program webpage for additional info.

6. Share recruitment lists for faculty follow-up.

Deploy your faculty as co-recruiters by providing them with targeted lists for personal outreach. A brief, welcoming email from a faculty member can be incredibly effective.

A few guidelines:

1. Skip cold calls—email works better with Gen Z (and let’s be honest, nobody answers a call from an unrecognized number any longer)
2. Set a cadence that makes sense: provide updated lists weekly, monthly, or at key cycle moments like summer melt
3. Focus on inviting the student to a next step: schedule a visit, a conversation, or invite questions

7. Take faculty on tour.

If you have a feeder school within reasonable distance, consider bringing a faculty member along for a special presentation or lecture. For example, a pre-med professor may attend a local high school visit with an admissions counselor and give a lecture to their AP biology class on a special topic. Or maybe you can bring an Art professor with you to the school’s Art Club monthly meeting for a special demonstration.

Tips:

1. Leverage alumni connections (teachers and administrations) to open doors
2. Keep presentations short and engaging. Challenge faculty to create 5‑8 minute TEDTalk-style presentations for these venues.
3. Focus efforts at feeder schools where ROI is highest

On Your Marks, Get Set, Synergize!
These are just a few tangible ways to move to the head of the class—from transactional transfer to intentional collaboration between academics and enrollment. One cannot succeed without the other. When these areas operate in true partnership, the recruitment experience becomes more compelling, more credible, and more personal for the student. And when that happens, everyone wins.