Graduate enrollment management (GEM) professionals often spend significant time in meetings, webinars, and strategic sessions focused on optimizing processes and improving recruitment outcomes. Yet, one crucial source of insight is too often underutilized: the students themselves. As institutions look to modernize and humanize their approaches, it’s imperative we shift from designing systems for students to designing them with students.

This article explores key insights from the Amplifying Student Voices session presented by Art Munin, Ph.D. (Liaison Senior AVP, Enrollment Management Solutions) and Angela Montgomery, Ph.D. (Drexel University AVP, Graduate Admissions) at the East Coast Summer GEM conference of NAGAP. Through in-depth focus groups with both domestic and newly included international graduate students, this work highlights the lived experiences of real applicants. Their feedback reveals not only pain points but also opportunities for transformation across the graduate admissions landscape.

Centering the Student Voice

Graduate admissions processes were not intentionally designed to be confusing or inaccessible. But over time, complexity has crept in with application portals, varying requirements, and siloed communication all contributing to an experience that can feel overwhelming. For today’s applicants, many of whom are balancing work, caregiving responsibilities, or navigating an unfamiliar education system, these barriers can be discouraging, even detrimental.

As the voices from our students in these focus groups exemplify, graduate education systems often reflect institutional priorities and legacy operations more than they reflect students’ needs. To counteract this, Montgomery and Munin argued for a philosophical shift, starting with a new “why.”

Start With Why: Understanding Before Recruiting

Inspired by Simon Sinek’s framework, the presenters urged GEM professionals to interrogate their core mission. Why do we do this work? And are our actions aligned with that purpose?

Their guiding mantra is powerful in its simplicity: We do not recruit and retain students when they understand us. We recruit and retain students when they see we understand them.

This mindset sets the stage for a student-centered redesign of the recruitment experience. It means going beyond demographic data and enrollment targets to understand students’ emotional journeys, obstacles, and unmet needs.

What the Focus Groups Revealed

The research team conducted two one-hour focus groups with 14 graduate students, representing a range of backgrounds. The discussions surfaced several recurring themes:

1) Application Requirements Are Overwhelmingly Inconsistent
Students reported significant difficulty identifying what was required for each application. Some had to piece together information across different websites or even contact human resources for clarification. The lack of standardization creates anxiety and unnecessary work.

2) The Process Impacts Mental Health
Several students expressed that the stress of navigating unclear or conflicting application systems contributed to burnout or mental health struggles. One quote summarized it well: “Graduate applications are much harder to complete than undergraduate. Tracking progress toward completion is stressful.”

3) Cost Is a Barrier
Transcript requests and test preparation costs add up quickly. For students applying to multiple programs, especially those with limited financial resources, this can be a substantial obstacle. This is complicated further for international students who must obtain foreign credential evaluations and language test scores.

4) Centralized Tools Make a Difference
When shown a centralized and integrated application platform (Liaison GradCAS), students were enthusiastic. Features that allowed filtering by interests, transparency in program details, and streamlined document submission were all praised.

As one student exclaimed, “Where was this when we were applying?”

Another international graduate student reflected, “I really wish I had this when I was applying to grad school because as an international student, it was difficult to navigate through the American college application process.”

A student with ADHD noted the relief of finding a centralized platform saying, “Everything being integrated into one website is amazing.”

What Can Graduate Enrollment Leaders Do?

The insights gathered weren’t just descriptive, they point directly toward action. During the sessions, participants were encouraged to reflect and identify concrete steps they could take back to their campuses. Here are a few that emerged:

  • Standardize and simplify application checklists | Wherever possible, reduce variation across programs. When differences are necessary, make them plainly visible to students.
  • Reassess requirements | Whether it be the number of letters of recommendation needed or requirements for supplying a transcript from every single institution ever attended, reexamine all such with a critical lens.
  • View communications through a student lens | Are emails written with clarity and empathy? Is the information timely and helpful or overwhelming?
  • Create feedback loops | Consider focus groups, surveys, or even informal coffee hours where GEM professionals can regularly hear from students on their campuses.
  • Evaluate technology | Ensure platforms support, rather than hinder, student navigation. User experience should be a key criterion in evaluating any new tech tools.
  • Support mental health through process design | Minimize unnecessary delays, clarify timelines, and anticipate anxiety points. Students should feel supported throughout, not worn down.

Recognizing Our Biases and Blind Spots

One of the most impactful moments in the presentation came when attendees were asked to reflect on their own assumptions. What do we believe about the students who apply to our programs? Do we understand their constraints, cultural contexts, or neurodiversity? Or are we unintentionally designing processes that only work for a narrow segment of the population?

By engaging directly with student feedback, GEM professionals can uncover blind spots and correct them. This is more than a compliance issue or a nod to broadening access. It’s about building a system that truly works.

The Call to Action: Make Student Voice Ongoing

The session concluded not just with a summary of what was learned, but with a challenge. Elevating student voices isn’t a one-time project. It should be woven into the culture of graduate enrollment.

Montgomery and Munin offered practical ideas, such as:

  • Hosting monthly listening sessions with current students.
  • Including student ambassadors in recruitment planning.
  • Creating anonymous feedback tools on program websites.
  • Sharing real student stories in marketing and outreach.

These steps not only improve processes, they build trust.

Final Thoughts

The Amplifying Student Voices initiative reminds us that while enrollment goals matter, they should not drive our strategy more than the humans behind those numbers. When we center student experience, we not only increase access, but also improve quality across graduate education.

In an era of demographic decline and increasing competition, listening to students may be the wisest enrollment strategy of all.