Kent State University’s creative recruitment initiatives bring campus to life for many prospective students in a variety of ways. One of the new, most transformative experiences combined with Kent State’s distinctive outreach efforts has application rates on the rise.
One of the ways universities reach out to prospective students is at large events like the National Association for College Admissions Counseling (NACAC), which holds in-person and virtual college fairs across the United States every year. This February Kent State introduced an innovative booth at the Cleveland and Pittsburgh NACAC fairs to bring some Golden Flash energy to prospective students.
Usually, college recruiters stand behind a table and present prospective students with informational pamphlets. Rich Greene, director of recruitment, and Brian Crescenzo, senior assistant director of admissions, thought otherwise.
The new Kent State booth focal point is a large welcome desk. Behind that sit two large, double-sided LED panels, which prospective students can walk between. The panel behind the desk displays Kent State’s logo. The other panels display the arch on the Lester A. Lefton Esplanade and a slideshow of experiences prospective students will encounter on campus.
The booth also has interactive components. Visitors have the opportunity to create their own custom viewbook that delivers them a personalized virtual Kent State experience and take a virtual tour of the campus. One prospective student related the experience to walking into an Apple Store.
Between the screens, recruitment team members were poised, ready to answer questions. The pictures, customization and natural foot traffic allowed prospective students and their parents to feel like they were experiencing Kent State’s campus.
The recruitment team came up with this new idea for the booth at the NACAC conference for admissions professionals in September 2022.
“During the time between sessions, we have the opportunity to go to an exhibitor hall,” Greene said. “These displays are to attract people to vendors' products, Brian and I were passing by, and we were like ‘why don’t we do that for recruiting students?’”
“The tabling approach in our opinion is kind of becoming obsolete,” Greene said. “We know students are more pragmatic in their decisions. So instead of having a table setup we wanted to have an actual exhibitor set up.”
With the help of University Communications and Marketing, the booth came to fruition.
“The point in doing this was twofold. Not only to build this awesome display to attract students to our area but then have the opportunity for students to speak with our recruitment team,” Greene said. “The reality is that students want to speak to those within their majors or colleges. So from a strategic perspective, we invited some of our college partners.”
The booth created an open area for prospective students and recruitment team members to strike up a natural conversation. It allowed Kent State to stand out in a positive light, attracting individuals.
“Our display made it a welcoming experience,” Greene said. “You can enter at any point, you could walk between; it's just an organic experience that I don't think you get with the simplicity of standing behind a table.”
The new booth is just one of many recruitment initiatives admissions is doing to grow our Flash family.
Collin Palmer, associate vice president of enrollment management for admissions, touched on application and admission rates.
“We are seeing a 7.5% increase in applications over last year at this time. That’s an additional 1,500 applications for a total of just under 22,000,” Palmer said. “But what's really exciting is we are seeing a 12% increase in admitted students. That’s an additional 1,764 admits over last year.”
Kent State is visiting area high schools routinely, talking with students and putting emphasis on building relationships. There are also regional recruiters in Columbus, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, North Carolina. These efforts are working to extend Kent State’s reach beyond Northeast Ohio.
“I think recruitment teams across the country do a lot to fit in and really the whole team at large is wanting to think of ways that Kent State can stand out,” Greene said.
Learn more about Kent State Admissions.