Admissions Offices Need More Students and Less ‘Drudgery.’ Is AI the Answer?

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Taylor Swaak

November 1, 2023

This time of year is especially hectic for admissions staff. They’re visiting high schools and frequenting college fairs. They’re fielding questions from prospective students and beginning to sift through mountains of applications.

There’s a lot at stake, after all. Attracting and enrolling new students has become an existential priority as the proverbial enrollment cliff looms large — especially at public and private four-year colleges. Staff members who have the task of finding those students are also prone to burnout. Chronicle reporting last spring found that enrollment leaders experience panic attacks, anxiety, exhaustion, and “disillusionment.”

Artificial intelligence, then, is increasingly enticing to people who work in admissions and enrollment, both for identifying prospective students and tackling “administrative drudgery,” such as crafting messaging campaigns and transferring transcripts into databases that can be queried. One recent survey indicated that half of the 314 higher-ed respondents reported that their admissions departments use AI.

The heightened efficiency “has made us better admissions counselors to our students and families, because of the time we’re able to focus on them,” John Solewin, director of admissions at Rosemont College, a small, private Catholic university in Pennsylvania, told The Chronicle.

Tools that go a step further — like reviewing students’ applications — do exist. Student Select AI, for example, can scan essays and personal statements, and render scores on an applicant’s “noncognitive” traits, like positive attitude, or their “performance” skills, like leadership and analytical thinking. (It’s marketed itself as a key to a “holistic” admissions process following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down race-conscious admissions). But sources The Chronicle spoke with for this article are proceeding with caution, reaching first for what feels like lower-hanging fruit.

Continue Reading