Students Choose Their Own (Admissions) Adventure

Background

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is a premier Jesuit university located in St. Louis, Missouri. SLU prides itself in providing an immersive, hands-on, and community-centric education rooted in giving students a strong foundation from which they can launch. The school’s mascot, the Billiken, heralds from regional and global lore and serves as a good luck omen, reminding those to continue to dream of what ought to be. 

Approach

Across a variety of initiatives, we wanted to provide ways for students to see the world as a Biliken, both figuratively and literally. As opposed to the standard admissions approach of over sending collateral that clogs mailboxes and is rarely read, we invited students to select their own admissions communications through a series of surveys attached to their application process. Students could select from a hand drawn poster map of the city, a customizable journal for composing all their aspirations, or a viewfinder with custom illustrations that revealed inspiration from alumni.

Results

By May 1, 2023 admissions applications had increased by 1,000 more over the previous year, with one week in April adding over 300 times more than the average week, leading to twice as many deposits in 2022. Additionally, following the launch of their EXPeriential Learning program, international student applications are coming in from over 100 countries and have doubled the number of graduate and undergraduate enrolled students.