Personalizing the admissions process through a peer mentorship program can positively impact yield and summer melt, according to Jackson Boyar, founder and CEO of Mentor Collective, and Karen Dunston, Vice President for Enrollment and Undergraduate Admissions at Pacific University in Oregon.
Boyar and Dunston presented a session at the AACRAO 2021 SEM Conference highlighting Pacific University’s work with a mentoring program over the last year. Pacific was looking to better engage students during the admit process of the admissions funnel. “There were some things we were missing and some things we couldn’t do ourselves,” said Dunston. “So we were glad to partner with Mentor Collective.”
“Mentoring and who you know has as much impact on your success as what you know,” Boyar said.
About 65 current Pacific University students were chosen to be peer mentors with the pilot program and completed synchronous and asynchronous online training. Mentors matched with more than 2,000 admitted students through a survey tool. Throughout the program, mentees and mentors exchanged more than 17,000 texts in addition to larger conversations over phone and video calls, Boyar said.
“As the students started to meet their mentor and communicate with them, we started to really see those who were engaging and those who were not,” Dunston said. “The mentorship program allowed us to get insight into what we needed to do next. We didn’t have that information before.”
Because the program fosters trust between students and mentors, students sometimes share sensitive information with their mentors, Boyar said. Examples include questions about financial aid, quality of an academic program, and student experience questions. In such cases, Dunston said that mentors “flagged” the conversations for review by university counselors to steer students towards appropriate resources when needed.
According to data gathered in fall 2021 after the pilot program, students who engaged with a mentor through the program had a 26 percent higher yield rate than those who did not. And first-generation students who engaged with a mentor were 32 percent more likely to enroll than if they did not. All admitted students had the option to have a mentor, noted Boyar.
Mentees reported a greater sense of belonging and understanding of the university, Boyar said.
Dunston added: “I really feel that the program is propelling Pacific University forward when it comes to summer melt.”
In addition to benefiting new students and the campus, the program allowed mentors the opportunity to give back to the institution. “Being a mentor actually increases your own self-efficacy because you are passing on what you know,” Boyar said.
“[The mentors] really enjoyed it; they really do want to give back, “ Dunston added.