Conversations about optimizing graduate program recruitment and enrollment processes often overlook the student perspective. To identify opportunities to improve the application and enrollment experience for students and graduate programs alike, Liaison recently gathered feedback from graduate student focus groups to understand the roadblocks individuals encounter when applying to graduate school. Students also offered opinions on how the process could be improved with GradCAS, Liaison’s centralized application service for graduate programs.

The five key themes that emerged from those conversations illuminate powerful strategies that graduate programs can implement to simplify the application experience, increase access to graduate education, and boost enrollment numbers.

Sharing New Insights

In December, I participated in a Liaison-led presentation at the CGS Annual Meeting in St. Louis to share those findings with an audience of deans, enrollment managers, and other grad school leaders. My co-presenters included Indiana State University’s Kenneth Games, Ph.D., (Director of Graduate Studies) as well as Liaison’s Art Munin, Ph.D., (Associate Vice President, Enrollment Solutions​) and Stephen Taylor (Vice President, Graduate Enrollment Strategy).

Together, we played clips from the focus groups, explored how those insights can inform new strategies, and highlighted the way GradCAS can simplify application management for all stakeholders.

Here are the top five themes that emerged when recent grad school applicants discussed their frustrations and how the process caused significant stress:

#1: Every application has different requirements.​

#2: Identifying application requirements is difficult.

#3: Tracking progress toward completion is nerve-wracking due to the number of application requirements and special instructions.​

#4: Graduate applications are much harder to complete than undergraduate.​

#5: Submitting multiple applications can be expensive.

How Should We Respond?

Given this feedback, are there aspects of the application process that we could change? Likely, but it is important to acknowledge that there also are components of applying to graduate school that are critical and should remain in place. Given that fact, what can we do to minimize the stress and anxiety in our applicants?

To identify what we might want to change, ensure that there are no unnecessary burdens in program requirements. At my university, we discovered that several programs were requiring Letters of Recommendation simply because they had always done so; they were not used to make admission decisions. As a result, they were eliminated. Other programs did use them as part of a comprehensive approach, so they kept them.

There are aspects of the application process that we do not want to change. It certainly is appropriate for different graduate programs to have different requirements, and this often involves asking the applicant to provide detailed descriptions of knowledge and skills and/or documentation of experiences. These expectations may indeed make applying to graduate school harder to complete than an undergraduate application. Also, there are benefits associated with application fees.​ Fees may guard against spending valuable processing time on applications likely to have a low yield by screening out less-serious applicants. They also can serve as an indicator of adequate financial support for attendance.

The good news is that GradCAS is a tool that can reduce the stress that students experience about the features of the application process that we need to keep.

  • It is a “one-stop shop.” Everything that needs to be done in order to apply to a program is contained in the GradCAS application.
  • Each program’s requirements and associated special instructions are clearly delineated in the application so there is no guesswork on the part of the applicant. They will know exactly how many and what items must be completed.
  • The applicant must respond to all elements required for a complete application in order to submit. This eliminates the uncertainty regarding whether the applicant adequately addressed each important aspect.

In Students’ Own Words

Don’t just take it from me. Here are some of the things recent applicants had to say about GradCAS:

  • GradCAS simplifies the applicant experience:​ “I really wish I had this when I was applying to grad school. This would have made it really easy.”​ – Julie
  • GradCAS gives applicants everything they need:​​ “I love how comprehensive it is and that you can see all the information there.” – Amy
  • GradCAS removes barriers for more applicants: “GradCAS can ensure a smooth application experience for international students.” – Zack
  • Applicants love GradCAS​: “As someone with ADHD, the fact that everything's integrated into the one website is amazing.” – Cassie

I encourage you to visit the Amplifying Student Voices Project page to view the rest of these focus group clips. You’ll gain valuable insights about overcoming applicant-perceived roadblocks to submitting graduate school applications while discovering opportunities to make your application and enrollment processes more accessible to students.