Creating a remarkable journey for new students

A thorny problem

At the University of the Fraser Valley, the Marketing and Office of the Registrar teams identified a problem: the admission process was confusing for incoming students unfamiliar with university lingo and processes. In short, high school applicants needed more support.

Navigating the wilderness

Capulet worked alongside UFV teams to redesign the journey for new students, improve the admissions experience and boost acceptance rates for incoming first years. With input from dozens of staff from three departments, we mapped the admissions journey and identified gaps and opportunities.

I think Capulet helped us figure out what it was we needed, without telling us what to do. [Capulet] helped guide us through a process to figure out what it was we wanted to or needed to do.

Daniel Goertz, Student Recruitment Coordinator

Out of the woods

The first in a series of initiatives was a new, student-centred welcome package. Unlike a standard acceptance form letter, a UFV welcome package celebrated the very real achievement of a university acceptance. The personalized package–complete with easy-to-understand acceptance instructions and fun UFV swag–pointed students to an accompanying digital experience to learn and accept their UFV offer. 

I think what we had been missing in the past was that celebratory moment. Now, we’ve created this moment of celebration in the middle of their graduating year. You get something tangible that celebrates this moment with you.

Daniel Goertz, Student Recruitment Coordinator

Offer materials were infused with youthful, energetic branding and within days of hitting doorsteps, unboxing pics were being shared on social media, albeit mostly by proud parents. On the results, Daniel says, “What we were going for, we’ve achieved.”

[It was] nothing like what we’ve done before.

Daniel Goertz, Student Recruitment Coordinator

The package was the first in a series of new onboarding initiatives including a regular email series to applicants, Zoom meet-and-greets with departments and current students and registration webinars.