Southwark Consulting helps business school admissions offices improve their prospecting and admissions processes through a variety of services:
School Branding – Each school has a brand to convey to diverse stakeholders such as prospects, applicants, students, alumni, employers, and the broader academic community. By surveying these stakeholders and delivering both quantitative and qualitative data, Southwark can help a school understand how it is currently being perceived and discover actionable steps and potential partnerships in the social media space that can enhance its brand.
Prospect Marketing – Websites, print materials, and social media targeted towards the MBA applicant pool plays a critical role in attracting high-quality applicants. Southwark can collaborate with a school’s marketing and admissions departments to assess which marketing channels to focus on and to ensure that a consistent, appealing message is portrayed across each of them.
Applicant Service – Beyond a school’s overall brand, the admissions office also develops its own ‘customer service’ reputation among applicants. There are a variety of factors that play into an office’s reputation, including transparency, responsiveness, and organization. Southwark can work with a school’s admissions team to ensure that it is putting its best foot forward to the public.
Candidate Assessment – A school’s data forms, essay questions, recommender questions, and interview methods form the core of how it learns about applicants. Southwark can work with a school to make sure that these elements provide the cohesive, true-to-life understanding of each prospective student that is necessary for the admissions team to properly assess its applicant pool.
Admissions Operations – A school’s goal should be to organize its admissions processes such that the staff can efficiently process a high volume of applications while making informed admissions decisions. Southwark can review the components that impact an office’s efficiency—database systems, assessment protocols, and division of labor across degree programs, among others—and identify areas to refine and streamline.