Assess and Make a Plan for Recruitment

• Evaluate the current composition of your graduate applicants and students to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement. The Graduate School Explorer offers graduate program applicant, admit, and matriculant data including application rate and yield rate. Demographic information is also displayed for applicants, admits, and new enrollments including race/ethnicity and sex. 

  • Do you notice that you receive a large applicant pool from a specific institution or area of the country?

  • Are certain applicants not matriculating into your program?

  • Identify where you are losing prospective students by analyzing the Admission Competitor Landscape.

  • How would current students describe the program’s culture and sense of community? See student surveys for climate related survey data.

• Assess your graduate program climate:  What initiatives, resources and support are in place to promote inclusivity and support underrepresented students in your program?
  
  
• Develop clear objectives and strategies to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in your recruitment efforts. Include a plan of how you will evaluate these efforts.
  
  
• Resources:
  • Graduate School Explorer

Recruitment Outreach and Engagement Activities (Pre-Application Phase)

• Develop partnerships & pipelines: Seek opportunities to collaborate with higher education institutions, including Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and professional organizations. While this is a long-term strategy, fostering mutually beneficial relationships and active engagement with partners can significantly lead to strong recruitment pipelines. 

• Virtual recruitment opportunities: Hosting virtual information sessions are a cost-effective, convenient, engaging and accessible mode to connect with prospective students. 

• Inclusion focused recruitment conferences & events: These events offer beneficial opportunities to recruit but require a well-structured recruitment plan and diligent follow-up to maximize their impact. They are most effective when faculty and graduate students actively participate, ensuring comprehensive and engaging interactions with prospective students. 

• Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP): UW-Madison provides numerous opportunities for undergraduate students from other institutions to complete a summer research experience. Engaging with these programs is an excellent way to recruit prospective students. 
  
  
• Prospective student databases & lists:  Develop communication to outreach to prospective students regarding program information, emphasize program mission especially if it aligns with DEI goals, invitation to upcoming prospective student workshops, events, and gatherings in order to build strong rapport. Transparent and responsive communications with prospective students can create a sense of connection to your program. Effective recruiting utilizing databases and lists requires consistency and timeliness in correspondence. Request access to the National Name Exchange, McNair Scholars Directory, GEM Directory via this form. 
  
  
• Resources
  • Calendar of Inclusion Focused Recruitment Conferences & Events 
  • Summer Research Opportunities Program at UW-Madison

Marketing and Communications (Pre- and Post-Application)

• Clarity and content on your webpage
  • How easy is it to find information on your webpage? How many clicks does it take to get there?
  • Ask for people not familiar with your program to navigate your page
  • Review your website periodically to ensure things are up to date and hyperlinks are still functioning.
  • Showcase what makes your program unique especially if your program emphasizes DEI or aspects of multiculturalism (e.g., courses, DEI committee, programming)
• Tips for communicating with prospective students
  • Be responsive in all of your communications with prospective students
  • Personalized and prompt outreach and follow-up communications are most effective
• Marketing materials
  • Use Graduate School Recruiting Resources & Templates
  • Develop your own - showcase what makes your program unique
  • Utilize relevant social media especially for program and events 
  • Collaborate with relevant campus partners and share social media kits regarding upcoming events
• Resources:
  • Fee Grant Application Overview with Screenshots
  • Graduate Recruitment Materials (Pre-application Phase)
  • Graduate Recruitment Resources (Post-application Phase)
  • Graduate School Recruitment Video
  • Program recruitment cards funded by the Graduate School
  • Graduate School Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Funding

Holistic Admissions in Recruitment (Post-Application Phase)

• Holistic admissions is a best practice process to ensure selection of a diverse cohort of exceptional students. Both quantitative and qualitative measures are used to obtain a more complete picture of each applicant’s attributes and potential to thrive in graduate school. Adopting holistic admissions best practices in your graduate program admissions is an important part of the recruitment process. 

• Resources:
  • Holistic Admissions Toolkit

Evaluation & Improvement of Recruitment Strategies

• To assess the effectiveness of your recruitment strategies, gather feedback (anonymous feedback may be most insightful) on the application process, campus visits, and interview experiences from current students, applicants, and those who opted not to enroll in your graduate program. Track the success of your recruiting efforts at outreach activities by monitoring the number of applicants, offers extended, and students who matriculate from your recruitment efforts and pipelines.

Contact Abbey Thompson (abbey.thompson@wisc.edu), Assistant Dean, Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Funding or Douachong Lee (douachong.lee@wisc.edu), Multicultural Initiatives Manager, Office of Diversity, Inclusion & Funding for additional information.