Date of Award

6-2015

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Economics

First Advisor

Tomas Dvorak

Language

English

Keywords

website, applicants, deadline, traffic, decisions

Abstract

This paper examines the behavior of admitted regular decision applicants on Union College’s website. I focus on the period between the announcement of admission decisions until after the deadline for deposits. I find that website traffic surges following the release of admission decisions, and falls sharply after the deadline for deposits. Traffic comes from applicants who end up enrolling at Union, as well as those who ultimately enroll elsewhere. The share of traffic from applicants who enroll elsewhere gradually declines from about 75 percent at the beginning of our sample to about 60 percent by the deposit deadline, declining to 50 percent in the week after the deadline. In terms of destinations, traffic flows to admissions information (visit campus, financial aid). There is also strong interest in the academic part of the website including information on majors and minors. Perhaps surprisingly, visits to a variety of offices including the registrar and student activities are fairly common throughout the period. Overall, the pattern suggests that applicants use the website extensively to make decisions whether or not to enroll. Moreover, I find that frequent visits are strong predictors of enrollment, suggesting the potential to use website engagement for enrollment management purposes.

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