In August 2015, Boston University Admissions launched Early Decision 2, a new way for high school students to apply to the university. Our marketing team was tasked with increasing the number of applicants to both Early Decision and Early Decision 2 and increasing the quality of those applicants (in terms of class rank, GPA, standardized tests scores, etc.).
To help meet these goals, I developed the #BUEarlyBirds campaign for social media. This was a weeklong initiative that ran on all of our social media channels. It highlighted some of our current students that applied through the Early Decision program and offered messaging about the value of a Boston University education and the benefits of applying early.
The first year we ran this campaign, in 2015-16, the number of Early Decision applications – 3398 – doubled compared to the previous year. In 2016-17, we ran the #BUEarlyBirds campaign twice – once in October and once in December – and had more than 4,100 students apply Early Decision – up 22 percent from the previous year. The quality of students applying to the program also went up in all areas.
Examples from the campaign: