Use Student Mindsets^™ to Personalize Marketing

If you could use a proven, data-backed, easy-to-implement strategy for boosting your student engagement starting today, would you?

Each year, we collect feedback from the largest panel of college-bound juniors and seniors about the institutions they are considering and their perceptions about the quality of these institutions’ critical enrollment drivers and brand attributes.

Through this research, we’ve identified six distinct Student Mindsets that deepen your understanding of Generation Z’s motivations and expected outcomes for their college experience. These six distinct Student Mindsets can be categorized into three journeys—career, experience, and academic.

By using Student Mindsets, your institution can assess your entire enrollment process through the lens of a student and identify actionable ways to personalize your recruiting practices and communications.

This action plan is intended to help your institution understand what the Student Mindsets are, how to recognize students of each Mindset, and how to best communicate and support them throughout the funnel. We've also provided a checklist to set your team up for future success.

If you’d like added support, Encoura’s team of experts is ready to help you integrate the Mindsets into your existing workflows. Reach out to us for a discovery call to learn more about our enrollment services consulting, plus additional strategies to help your team execute the Mindsets.

Read on to learn more about each mindset and how you can put them into action!

Career-Related Mindsets

Experiential Interest:

• Wants to be hands-on in college—learns by doing.
• Internships and employment should mingle with coursework.

Career Pragmatist:

• ROI driven—the most affordability-minded of the Mindsets.
• Focused on landing a job upon graduation.

Experience-Related Mindsets

Social Focus:

• Thrives in extroverted campus activities and is focused on making lifelong friends.
• Wants to form connections by participating in internships, clubs, and study abroad.

Exploration and Meaning:

• Liberal arts minded and globally oriented—wants to do good for the world.
• Interested in study abroad opportunities.

Academic-Related Mindsets

Career Through Academics:

• Level-headed—wants integrated academic, career, and social interaction.
• Feels like college will enable success for a long and healthy career.

Grad School Bound:

• These are rare students who view their undergraduate education as a stepping stone.
• Focused on strong academics and connections to faculty–research driven.