Having been affiliated with nearly 10 institutions over the course of my higher education career, one theme that has been consistent at almost all places, is that the institution’s administration (and faculty) have expressed interest in enrolling more high achieving students. It is almost a broken record, “if the admissions office could enroll better students, we would be a stronger institution.” Sigh. The questions I invariably began asking as I became more accustomed to this line of inquiry were – how does the institutional value proposition support the enrollment of higher achieving students? Do you have academic programs that support the enrollment of higher achieving students? What investments are you willing to make in academic programs to support the enrollment of higher achieving students? These types of questions generally perplex an administration and faculty – you mean we have skin in the game too?
One of my good friends in higher education would pose the question – what research have you done that shows investments in a certain program or programs would result in the enrollment of higher achieving students? He would suggest – how do you know if you build it, they will come?
While I have not done empirical or quantitative research on the topic, given my experiences at different institutions, I can confidently say that one program that works towards enrolling higher achieving students is a robust honors program. The behavior of high school seniors (as well as the interests of their parents/guardians) can be reduced to a common denominator – I want to (or I want my kid to) attend a college where I (they) feel special, important, or valued. While a little perverse, the mindset is almost like pee wee soccer where everyone gets a recognition trophy.
A robust honors program is attractive to higher achieving students. First, from a behavior perspective, students feel special, important, and valued. Next, higher achieving students, for the most part, are interested in additional academic challenge or rigor based on their high school academic successes. I have experienced and engaged in conversations with countless students (and parents) who choose to attend an institution with a lower market position because of the opportunities associated with an honors program.
So how does an institution develop a robust honors program? Doesn’t this cost a lot? Surprisingly, my experience has been, building a robust honors program is more about packaging existing opportunities or infrastructure, versus having to invest in new programs. For instance, many institutions offer a first-year seminar to new students. Cohorting the highest achieving students into a few of these classes provides them with opportunities to engage with each other without additional expense. Providing students with the opportunity to live together in dedicated honors housing is another experience with no additional expense. Providing honors students with smaller interdisciplinary course environments is a value add to the program. Guaranteeing that honors students have the opportunity to experience a study abroad, internship, or research experience upon graduation simply builds on opportunities already in place at most institutions. Providing honors students with the opportunity to meet with visiting speakers independently is another easy value add. Last, most institutions have a dedicated post graduate fellowship advisor. Ensuring this individual devotes a certain portion of their time to honors students helps round out the experience. These curricular and co-curricular opportunities all come at little additional institutional expense.
My experience also has been that dedicated honors scholarships to admitted students beyond a high merit award have little influence in enrollment decisions. The simple offer of the honors program is enticing in and of itself. Even if the institution decides to invest in and offer an additional honors program merit scholarship incentive, these can be less than $5,000 per student.
Enrolling higher achieving students is not the sole work of the admission office. It takes commitment from the institution to build an academic product that is enticing to these types of students. From a pure marketing perspective, if a hotel wants to attract higher paying customers, what additional services are they going to offer to that attract these types of individuals? Free parking? Free breakfast? A nicer room? Special concierge service? Offering high achieving students additional academic and non-academic programs in a package that already exists is a cost-efficient way to attract these types of individuals to your institutions.
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