Admissions Must Haves

I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for, but I'll gladly share our process.

We operate on an inquiry-based system. Since we have multiple campuses and grade availability varies by campus, this allows us to tailor communications based on a student's preferred campus and grade. When we receive an inquiry, it goes to one of three candidates lists: (1) we have space available, (2) we are close to full and can't guarantee consideration, or (3) we are full and are not considering applications. We send official notes based on which list the student lands on.

Since we are already emailing parents at this point, we do not send the BBID connection email directly. Rather, instructions are included in the official notes at the inquiry phase, and when they log in to complete the application, they are automatically signed up and connected to BBID. Next year, I plan to include a blurb on the inquiry asking parents who share an email address to only enter it for one parent; BBID won't connect to more than one parent account, so the duplicate just sits there forever and drives me nuts.

Once the application is complete, they have access to the rest of the checklist. We send another official note at this point detailing what's on the checklist, and the instructions are also on the checklist itself.

When the checklist is complete, the candidate is eligible for an interview. We schedule them through admissions, and parents need to contact us if they need to reschedule.

Decisions are sent within two weeks of the interview (we have rolling admissions). To complete enrollment, parents must log back in, accept the seat, and complete the enrollment contract. At that point they're enrolled.

From a parent perspective, they really just need to be able to follow basic emailed instructions. (You would think this is a basic requirement of existence in 2022, but you'd be surprised!) On the staff side, it's paramount that you have at least one person on staff with a deep understanding of databases, how they work, and – most importantly – how to translate them into English for non-database people. This can be an IT staff member, an admissions staff member, or someone else, but you will quickly find yourself sinking in quicksand if you don't have that resource available.

As I mention to our campuses repeatedly, Blackbaud is a database, not a spreadsheet. Databases will give you information, if you ask them for it in the correct manner, but you need to know what to do with that information to take action; by their nature, they won't walk you through it step by step. Anything that requires additional action above and beyond simple display or processing of information will require the use of some other program or resource (an Excel export, for example).

Good luck!