Your Higher Education Marketing Link of the Week… University of the Pacific: Online Admissions App… 19 April 2019

Fast, Easy-to-Complete Online Admissions Application from The University of the Pacific

The University of the Pacific Online Admissions ApplicationHow many of your admissions applications are completed on a smartphone? Might more people do that if it were easier to complete?

The University of the Pacific first reported on the success of an online admissions application for new freshmen at the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education in 2010. Back in those ancient times almost nobody in the room thought that it was possible to put an admissions application online and make it easy to complete. Until they heard that the university had received 10 percent of 2010 freshman application via mobile phone.

Revisiting the online freshman admissions application in 2019 shows that it still ranks better than most similar efforts.

Two strong notes to start…

  • Note that right at the start visitors are told that “This application has three easy steps and can be completed in one sitting.”
  • Even better: You can move from one page to another without completing anything. That’s a genius move that let’s people see what’s expected before they start to complete the app. You can indeed “Take a look or get started filling it out right now.”

Scroll through the pages on mobile or large-screen device and you’ll immediately see that the text block headings are very easy to read. Spacing between the blocks adds to the feeling that this application was created with a visitor-friendly experience in mind.

On Mobile… a “fast” 0.8 seconds to download

Google in March made major changes to the “Test My Site” tool. Among other points, speed is now rated using a 4G standard rather than the 3G level that Google told us until March 70 percent of people are still using to access mobile sites. Comparison with past Link of the Week mobile speed reports isn’t valid. Speed expectations are higher now than in the 3G world.

The University of the Pacific is the first site we’ve tested under the new system to get a “fast” rating for a mobile download of less than a second.

Competitive comparison… Google now gives you the ability to add up to 9 URLs from competitor sites for comparative speed ratings. Do that. If the result shows that your site is slower than your key competitors that might give you new internal leverage to increase attention and resources to the need for a faster website. How does your admissions app on mobile compare to the 0.8 seconds of the University of the Pacific version? If you’re also under 1 second, tell us here with a link.

Follow the Link of the Week…

Review an admirable online freshman admissions application when you visit “Pacific Online Application.”

Top Tasks Website Content Group on LinkedIn

Join 700+ people on the Top Tasks: Higher Education Website Content group on LinkedIn.

4 Comments

    • Hello Joey… No, I don’t. But a good question. I’ll reach out to them tomorrow or late today and see if I can get an answer. Check back Wednesday and see if there’s more info then.

    • Hi Jason… Interesting points… didn’t come upon the .edu myself; did note the .org part. Sent a note to admissions office at the university re the earlier question… no response yet.

Leave a Reply to Joey Mejia Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *