How B-schools can increase their Applicant pool?

MBA is the most preferred Post Graduate degree/ Professional degree among students in India. Every other report suggests the same and hence its a matter of great joy for the MBA education fraternity.

But, this news also brings a cause of worry for several B-schools. The demand of MBA has resulted in several new ventures into MBA colleges, various reputed organizations have opened their own MBA University and new B-schools are coming up at a rapid pace.

As a keen management student and also as a B-school promoter, what one needs to look into is the ways these B-schools are increasing their applicant pool. Some use very innovative methods while some stick to old and tested methods of promotion.

This article aims to highlight some of the best methods to increase applicants pool for a b-school. Various new B-schools can adopt these practices to increase their quality and quantity of application for their MBA programme at their campus. Some of these methods are already being used by various Top B-schools to enhance their numbers.

1. From perfect student to Perfect class
Gone are the days when B-schools aimed to accept an extra-ordinary student only or in 90+/99+ percentile range. Since, the competition and number of B-schools both have increased, hence a new strategy has to be adopted.
B-schools everywhere now want more minority students, more out-of-state students, and more students from overseas. They do this as it serves the public interest and business, both. B-schools now dont rely on a single exam to fill their class, they are open to CAT, XAT, GMAT, regional exams, etc.
This has various positives too. The whole class becomes a unique place including students from diverse background, talent and knowledge. The rate of idea generation, information sharing multiplies in such a diverse conditions.

2. Revamp college websites
There are various B-school website which are quite boring. Most Business Schools websites are information centric. Although they provide information of the institute to the student, this information is not presented in an engaging manner. Unless a B-school is able to make a prospective student stay on its website, the chances of filling online applications will decrease.
To make students stick to your websites, one should use different innovative techniques, like posting stories around individual students, faculty, alumni, recruitment, student activity etc. to generate greater interest in the potential student. An easier navigation through different pages of the website, attractive & motivational design, quotes, make a student admire and desire that B-school.

3. No tall claims but Authenticity
MBA Aspirants are not fool to believe each and every claim of B-schools. 100% placements, Best Business School Award, ever increasing list of faculties, all these claims are made by each and every MBA college in India but all cant be right and student know that.

So how to make students believe in your claims? How to exclude yourself from the fake?

To make this happen, B-school website must act as a medium of change, a change in model of claims. B-school should rather focus on more in-depth information like detailed placement report, stories and declaration of alumni, current alumni positions, etc. This provides potential students with authentic information, where there is a real person related to the outcome instead of just the claims.

To get the authentic Placement data m Click Here Top B school Placement Reports 2014

4. Branding and Promotion
Usually in India, due to lack of branding & promotional activities on part of the B-school, an MBA aspirant from other corner of the country is unaware of the presence of a good B-school.
Aspirants of North India usually are unaware of many a good B-schools in Hyderabad, Mysore, Vishakhapatnam or Bhubaneswar and vice-versa. They are only aware of those B-schools who promote themselves with the help of MBA Portals, active participation in Social Media, Sponsoring Educational fairs or seminars or conclaves, organizing events in the campus or by giving it back to the society inform of various social awareness programmes.
Those B-schools who market themselves have a greater geographical reach than other and thus are able to attract applicants from across the country rather than relying on a particular region or state.

5. Easy Application Form
Filling long pages of Application forms is probably one of the most hated tasks of aspirants. B-school application forms seek details starting from school level to work experience to parents income. All these have to be clearly defined in terms of years, date, months, everything has to be correct or chances are that your application might get cancelled.

Owing to such a high pressure and time taking process, many students didnt feel like filling the form at all, while some start with great enthusiasm but slowly feel bored and log out of the website. Many B-schools have complained about incomplete application forms and the reason is obvious.

To enhance their application numbers, a very short and interesting Application form must be created wherein just the necessary information should be collected. Rest all the information can be obtained once the student arrives for GD PI at the campus.

Easy application forms also results in fast processing of data on part of the Admission team and thus better and early communication to the students.

6. Social Media Use
Role of Social Media in todays internet savvy world cant be denied. MBA Aspirants like any other students tend to stay for more time on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google+, official blogs, etc.

Hence, making yourself present on these websites will result in more eyeballs, more visits to your website and thus a word of mouth marketing. Several B-schools are already using social media for many different reasons. Most are using social media for student recruitment, alumni relations, student communication, public relations and student retention.

While B-schools are quick to adapt to social media techniques, very few tracks online buzz, posts, conversations and news using a monitoring tool or automated alerts. Those B-schools who are not monitoring their Social Media contents or comments/feedback are at a disadvantage if negative or inaccurate information is circulating online and goes unchallenged. It appears that the MBA Schools have embraced social media tools to help recruit, but may still be learning to master measuring, monitoring and tracking their online efforts. In addition, all schools should consider having a written social media policy given that so many schools have students help with their online efforts.

7. Investing for the Future
Money spent on promotions, marketing, Advertisements on social media should not be seen as quick result generation schemes but they must be treated as a future investment. There are B-schools who tend to do all types of marketing activities in one year but go nill in the next year. You wont find their ads or posters or anything anywhere. This is probably they dont have funds or their last year expenditure didnt yield expected results and hence they are forced to go unnoticed this year.
Thus, B-schools must make a proper marketing plan of the finances they have to invest and everything must be done keeping the future goal in mind. Creating awareness and positioning in MBA education fraternity is a slow task and it takes time. B-schools have to keep doing it every year to see a real difference in the quality of their Applications.

8. Regular communication with Aspirants
There are many B-schools who dont even bother to contact their prospective MBA students. They believe that their popularity and reputation is enough to attract MBA aspirants. While some find it below their stature to contact students and ask for Admissions in their institute. This egoistic approach has led to many vacant seats or significant decrease in applications of several b-schools.
B-schools must try to build a proper communication with the student with regular follow-ups with parents, institute visits, etc. Even if the students dont agree to take admission, he or she will always have an affirmative image of the B-school. He will always go ahead and suggest it to his peers. Regular mails from B-schools keep their name in the memory of aspirants while choosing the colleges to apply but there is a thin line between excessive mailing and regular mailing. MBA Aspirants must not be bombarded with excessive mails to apply now or last date to deposit fees when everyone knows that this will not be the last date.
Adapting some of the above measure will help B-school to boost their applications numbers and also gain quality students for the upcoming batches.

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