Increasing graduate yield with a transmedia campaign

Abstract

In higher education admissions, yield is the percentage of students that enroll in the university once they have been admitted, and many universities, including Ball State, struggle to increase their yield each year. Due to a lack of connection, information, and guidance, students often never enroll with a university after they are admitted. This creative project aims to connect prospective students with current students at Ball State University, leading to an increase in yield among graduate programs. This project used competitive analysis and empathy research to better understand national trends related to yield in higher education. Then, design thinking was implemented to generate ideas for the development of a transmedia campaign meant to build affinity among prospective students by allowing them to build relationships with current students. The transmedia storyworld consists of a website, social media campaign, and Cardinal ambassador program that together strive to build deeper connections between a university and its potential students.