How to Build Affinity and Measure Interest Among Direct Admit Students

The Challenge: Direct Admissions Without Direct Connection

Direct admissions programs are reshaping how students access higher education. By removing traditional application barriers, institutions can reach more students and increase overall access. But while direct admissions expands access, it also changes the psychology of interest. 

Students who receive an offer through direct admissions often haven’t chosen your institution yet. They haven’t written essays and potentially never attended information sessions or followed your social media accounts. They may have no pre-existing ties or familiarity with your institution. They may not feel the same level of affinity as those who actively apply through traditional channels.

Admissions teams are challenged with understanding:

  • How do we nurture students who didn’t raise their hand first?

  • Which direct admits truly intend to enroll—and which are simply exploring options?

Why Traditional Yield Strategies Fall Short

Large scale research on the impact of direct admissions indicates that, on average, students were 12% (a 2.7 percentage point increase) more likely to apply (or accept a direct admit offer) to a four-year institution with direct admissions. In the study, this did not result in a statistically significant increase in overall enrollment.  

Standard yield tactics such as emails, admitted student events, and counselor outreach rely on students who already have a base level of engagement. For direct admits, these approaches may assume a certain level of pre-existing interest from students in the funnel.

Without indicators of genuine interest, universities risk misallocating resources and focusing on students who were never likely to enroll while overlooking students who are quietly enthusiastic about the opportunity.

We have identified a two-pronged solution to this challenge. The first is creating a low-pressure, organic environment for students to build community. The second is using novel data and predictive analytics to identify students who, even with lower affinity based on their enrollment pathway, are more likely to enroll. 

Turning Direct Admissions into Connection through Social Media

According to MeetYourClass’s annual enrollment survey, 58% of students find it most valuable to meet other students before making an enrollment decision. While on-campus and in-person events are fantastic ways to build community and facilitate connections between peers, it may be more challenging to get direct admits to attend these events or go on campus tours. Many students are turning to social media, for a low cost and low pressure way to meet others and get a feel for the campus environment. According to the same survey, 83% of respondents indicated that campus vibe was an important factor in their enrollment decision. 

MeetYourClass helps students connect socially with others who’ve been admitted to the same institution. The platform integrates with popular social media sites like Instagram, so that students can connect through the apps they already use daily. Students on MeetYourClass make 51 new connections on average, after getting posted to Instagram. It provides a lightweight, engaging space for students to discover peers, chat, and form early communities before setting foot on campus.

For direct admission cohorts, this platform becomes both a connection engine and an affinity builder:

  • Increases sense of belonging: Students begin to visualize themselves as part of your community when they meet others who share their intended major, interests, or region.

  • Builds emotional connection early: By making their “yes” feel social, MeetYourClass shifts the experience from transactional (an automatic offer) to relational (a community they want to join). Additionally, students often repost where they plan on attending college, acting as a virtual yard sign to their social circles and creating a network flywheel.

  • Amplifies student voices: As students share content, interests, and questions, admissions teams can see what matters most to them and tailor outreach accordingly.

  • Facilitates more touch points: The institution has the opportunity to share information about events, deadlines, and more, through the channels students use daily compared to emails that may never be opened.

Social Data Combined with Traditional Indicators as a Signal of Real Interest

Beyond engagement, MeetYourClass provides a unique data layer that helps admissions and enrollment teams identify true intent among direct admits, as well as the rest of the cohort.

Prospective students can join MeetYourClass throughout their enrollment journey. Many join when they are still evaluating their options and join multiple communities. This provides valuable information about the different institutions each student is considering and where they might be in their decision process. 

Up to 20% of students using MeetYourClass directly share on the platform where they plan to enroll before paying a deposit. Additional engagement data within the platform offers powerful behavioral signals that correlate with yield likelihood for students who don’t directly confirm their enrollment on the platform. For example:

  • A student who joins your college community, indicates in their profile that they are 100% committed to enrolling, and says they are looking for a roommate, shows high social intent—even if they’ve never attended an official event.

  • A student who joins multiple college communities, including yours, comes on a college tour, but then later unfollows the community page on Instagram, may be lost from the funnel and would need targeted follow-up to build interest.

Additionally, if students leave the community on MeetYourClass, they fill out an exit survey, to gain a better understanding of why they lost interest or what challenge may be keeping them from committing to your institution. This provides a fuller picture of why and how to re-engage with a specific student. 

These signals, combined with more traditional enrollment data from the institution, can help institutions segment their direct admits into tiers of likely engagement or enrollment probability through predictive modeling. 

This social data-to-insight pipeline gives enrollment teams a leading indicator that’s earlier and more human-centered than traditional CRM engagement metrics.

The New Direct Admissions Playbook

To succeed in a direct admissions era, institutions need both a human connection layer and a data intelligence layer. Human connection builds affinity, belonging, and excitement while data intelligence reveals which students are truly leaning in.

MeetYourClass communities, combined with predictive modeling, provides both. It turns a list of automatic admits into a community of future classmates, while giving your team the insight to focus resources where they’ll matter most.


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