App for Prospective Students

For about two months now, a colorful and user-friendly Concord University Admission application for Android and iOS has been available for download. “The idea to create an app came about six months ago”, says Sarah Wambe, the Director of Admissions here at Concord University. Concord students were looking for a University application and this inspired the idea that an application might also be interesting for prospective students. “We wanted to have a greater reach to students not only in the United States, but internationally”, says Wambe.

    An additional push for creating the application was the fact that the third-party company which usually does all of the marketing materials for the Admissions Office has had experience working on such projects. Working closely with the agency, the application was designed mainly to help prospective students explore Concord better. It has important information about the University, such as details about the degrees and programs offered, potential scholarships and financial aid, CU admission requirements, student life information, etc., which would be useful for students both domestic and international.  The content was reworked from the main website with the addition of new marketing materials, including a complementary brochure.

    One of Wambe’s favorite features of the app is that it can be used offline. It was designed this way to give prospective students without wireless access at home an opportunity to show information about Concord to their parents. The problem of Internet access deficiency still exists in some parts of the world, including not only third-world countries, but sometimes even places in West Virginia. The Admissions Office always keeps in mind the fact that there are people without permanent Internet access who may be interested in attending Concord. This is one of the reasons why paper documents are still sent to applicants. In the case of the application, students can always download it at school or at a library and take the information about Concord University home with them.

    Currently, the app brings in two or three prospective student inquires per week. Through the app, prospective students can subscribe to the Admissions Office’s mailing list. It allows the staff to start communication with and see what programs prospective students are interested in. That is exactly what happened while Sarah Wambe was speaking with a representative from this very paper: she received a request from a prospective student to subscribe to the mailing list. Wambe believes that the app shows good results for an application which has been out for less than a month and had only a mild launch through Facebook and the Admissions mailing list.

    Going forward, the Admissions Office is planning to take advantage of push notifications. This feature is already used not only by students but also some of Concord staff. It is an effective way to notify people about news and upcoming events. It is planned to further promote the application domestically and internationally, especially because it works so well on the road.