The College Search: General Enrollment Recruitment Trends

How are prospective students navigating their college search today? OHO’s new report “General Enrollment Recruitment Trends” explores student’s usage of websites, social media, discussion forums, and artificial intelligence chatbots for college research, as well as the impact of traditional forms of media. The report presents findings from a 2024 national survey of 530 prospective and current college students and a series of one-on-one interviews and focus groups. The survey reveals the latest trends for 17-24 year olds who are currently researching or have recently researched for their college options. 

Young people are increasingly using digital resources to determine their higher education options and find their best-fit institution. Prospective students want to quickly find practical information like costs, financial aid and academic program details, and also seek to understand campus life, social dynamics and the community feel via current student narratives on social media and discussion threads.  

Our annual survey results over a 10 year period confirm that prospective students are increasingly digitally immersed, gravitate towards video content and utilize many channels and platforms to gather information. We found that in-person experiences such as school tours, college fairs and meetings with high school college counselors are less influential than school websites, social media and online discussion boards.  Traditional marketing channels are declining in importance: print materials including brochures, billboards and signage were not influential to our survey participants. 

When asked which sources most influenced survey participants, these stood out: 

Advice from family and friends - 43%

• Social media - 34% 

• School websites - 33% 

• Online discussion boards - 25%

• Emails from schools - 25%

• High school guidance counselor - 20%

• School tours - 16%

• College fairs - 12%

• Brochures - 8%

• AI chatbots - 8%

• Print - less that 4 

• Outdoor - less than 4

Online discussion boards have been growing in importance among participants over time.  24% of all of those surveyed use Reddit regularly, and many participants shared during interviews that they use it to learn specifics about a college they are interested in and to read abundant commentary from current and former students on the threads.  

Prospects are relying less on search engines. Their influence is down 10% from last year, although we have qualitative evidence that AI chatbot queries are replacing search for some users.

One third of participants didn’t use third-party ranking and comparison tools at all, and only 13% stated that they were influential. Only 6% cited the importance of rankings from U.S. News and World Report and similar entities. 

Social Media is Central to College research

In interviews and open-ended survey responses participants cited informal, fast-paced social media video posts from current or past students as highly influential. Content including virtual tours, event videos, and interactive content were most desired. Prospects view this content primarily on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, however, young people are present on Facebook, Linkedin and many other platforms. Institutions’ official social media accounts were the most popular for prospective students to visit while researching college options, followed by accounts of students attending the school, and then accounts of clubs or organizations within the school. Participants told us that they used social media to get an honest look at campus life.  In open-ended responses they described the content they felt was most useful:

I find the student opinions helpful."

Current and past student reviews, as they are the least biased."

Daily vlogs from students because it shows food, dorms, activities, and more."

AI Chatbot Use is on the Rise

The use of artificial intelligence chatbots and assistants (such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity) has become ubiquitous, especially among members of Gen Z. Chatbots have seen explosive growth since their launch in 2022; OpenAI reports that ChatGPT usage doubled from 100 million to 200 million users in less than a year’s time. Recent advances in chatbot capabilities and accuracy are making these tools more useful for prospective students.  Over a brief period, these tools have emerged as new resources shaping the way students gather and process information about higher education. 60% of our survey participants report having used a chatbot at least once. Compared to our findings in 2023, participants who use chatbots are using them more frequently. 30% of respondents reported using chatbots for help with researching college options — up from 17% in 2023. Additionally, 60% said they use chatbots to compare multiple colleges.  

What This Means for Colleges and Universities

• Invest in official social media channels — ensure the content is resonating with students and provides the inside look into the campus and program experience that prospects are looking for
• Ensure website is prospective student focused – with an emphasis on storytelling and student voice
• Investing in quality visual content is essential
• Monitor social channels, reviews, and discussion groups to understand the perception of your school