Understanding Student Motivations: Ethical Admissions Strategies

Understanding what drives prospective students is essential for ethical and effective admissions decisions. Simple tools like resumes, interviews, and essays can provide valuable insights, ensuring students receive the right guidance while universities uphold their commitment to informed enrollment practices.Edu's friend Edurne, a sales professional at an edTech startup, is eager to advance her career. While she enjoys her current role, she feels disadvantaged compared to colleagues with business-related degrees. Her undergraduate background in Pharmacy, though valuable, has become an obstacle to promotion. Having realized early on that traditional pharmacy careers weren’t for her, she switched to sales.

To bridge the gap, Edurne decided to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Digital Business online over the next three years while continuing to work. However, at a recent industry networking event, a university admissions expert suggested a Master’s in Digital Business instead, making her question her initial plan.

Now, with an August start date approaching, Edurne must quickly decide: Should she invest in another undergraduate degree, or would a Master's be the smarter, faster route to career growth?

Deciding on further education is an important decision. It is one of life’s milestones that can’t be turned back. You might get divorced or change your partner, but your education will stay with you for the rest of your life. The university and you are creating a never-ending connection. For this very reason, this comes with a responsibility.

A university should help every prospective student make the right decision on the program. The following three drivers should be part of every admissions process:

1. Academic and professional backgrounds,
2. Motivations for further studies,
3. Objectives and goals

There should be an alignment between these three factors and the intended program. As an educator, there is a moral obligation to ensure that their students make the right choices. It might even backfire when they ignore it. Non-advised graduates might end up with a reasonable amount of tuition debt. Because they made the wrong study choice, their career progression is limited. Those students might be vocal about their failed experiences, which could become a headache for the university.

How to identify the drivers?

You can incorporate simple yet effective elements into the admissions process to uphold ethical standards and support prospective students. These measures will provide deeper insights into each student's motivations. If a student chooses a different path despite the guidance, the university can be confident that it has fulfilled its responsibility in offering well-informed direction. These elements are:

Resume

A resume can easily be shared with the Admissions Team. It can be uploaded to the online application or shared by e-mail with other required documents. The resume provides insights into previous academic experiences and their professional development. It might not state the motivation or the goals. If the intended program is totally off the current trajectory, a quick call or e-mail might help to provide a deeper understanding. It’s not about judging but getting the entire picture.

Interview / Pre-recorded Interview

A brief interview of 15 minutes or less is probably the fastest way to capture all the drivers in one conversation. If there might be resource constraints, a pre-recorded video with the respective questions can be an even faster solution.

Essays

You can request the applicant to write a short essay stating exactly these three drivers. As it might require some more dedication, it can delay the process, but it adds to the perception of the rigor of the admissions process. Alternatively, you might ask these questions directly in the application form.

These elements can boost your understanding of the applicant. You can combine them as you see fit into your admissions process.

Returning to Edurne, here is our advice:

As she likes what she is doing and is keen to get a promotion, a Master's in Digital Business will speed up this process. Graduating with a BA Degree, she qualifies for a Master's Degree. Some Master's Degrees might require work experience, but Edurne also complies with this requirement. A Masters Degree typically has a lower tuition fee, so Edurne can save money and time on the way. She has personally experienced many of the concepts explained and can connect to them immediately. A BA Degree would start with basic theories that might seem too trivial for working professionals.

If you wish us to future-proof your admissions process, contact us or explore our Service page.  

About this blog: EDU, short for Eduardo, is a great guy! He is your lead, candidate, student, and alumni. He helps you see things from his perspective. You will understand why things matter to him. On his blog, he will pose questions to which you hopefully have answers - or we help you to find them! So, go ahead and explore more stories at Eduardo, or get the latest stories directly delivered to your inbox by subscribing here.