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Cottey College Case Study

Institution Overview

Cottey College, located in Nevada, Mo., is a two-year, independent liberal arts and sciences college for women. The college was founded in 1884 with the firm belief that women deserved the same quality of education as men. Cottey’s residential student population of 350 women typically represents 40 states, Canada, and 10 to 14 countries.

Challenge

After a change in leadership, Cottey College became more proactive in its institution’s growth. It established a five-year growth plan that required immediate results in the first year. Cottey wanted to increase enrollment, enhance communication with prospective students, and reduce summer melt. Cottey College believed a more compelling and interactive admissions web site would help. The goals for the site were to minimize summer melt, ensure maximum conversion for the fall 2005 recruitment class, and enhance the overall e-marketing and communications with prospective students for future classes. The site would also be used as a tool to tell about the unique qualities and history of Cottey College.

Solution

Cottey College chose James Tower and its AdmissionsGenie product. James Tower worked with the Cottey College admissions team to implement the AdmissionsGenie site in only nine weeks. The web site was immediately put to use to reach out and retain currently enrolled students. Students began using the site extensively, creating profiles, asking questions on the message boards, and developing relationships with Cottey admissions representatives as well as each other. Many used the site to establish friendships and find and meet roommates before arriving on campus.

To help drive traffic to the admissions site, James Tower also created a dynamic CD presentation. The CD tells Cottey’s story through its students, faculty, and staff. The presentation also provides students with an eye-catching and informative program that helps students discover everything Cottey has to offer and includes links to Cottey’s web site and Admissions site.

Results

Cottey College saw immediate results with its AdmissionsGenie site. In the fall of 2005, Cottey had its second largest enrolled class — a 30% increase — and an overall decline in cancellations. The college's summer melt was at its lowest level in 10 years. For this year’s fall class, Cottey focused on managing primary e-mail communications to connect with students on an individualized basis while funneling them through the personalized AdmissionsGenie process.

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“We were hoping to lower our summer melt by having students build relationships through AdmissionsGenie before coming to campus. We succeeded! Our paid cancels were 5 percent less than last year—the lowest percentage in the past decade.”

Marjorie Cooke
Dean of Enrollment Management
Cottey College