Here’s the truth about fall and winter in enrollment: you’re an air traffic controller managing multiple runways simultaneously. Your seniors are landing, juniors are lining up behind them, and sophomores are just starting to show on your radar. Transfer students are already asking for priority treatment.
You can’t shut down operations on one runway to focus on another.
And yet, that’s exactly what happens when institutions treat sophomore and junior outreach as something to tackle “when things calm down.” Things don’t calm down, they just shift.
As fall turns to winter, another shift is happening in enrollment management as it becomes time to begin strategizing and planning your sophomore and junior search.
A Changing Flight Pattern: Why Your Radar Looks Different Now
The airspace you’re navigating today isn’t the same one you were flying five years ago. The days of filling your enrollment funnel with prospects from high-volume search name purchases are behind us. Test optional policies and broader skepticism of the value of higher education are resulting in fewer test takers. This means fewer potential students, and the ones who are there are less receptive to cold outreach.
At the same time, the plethora of online and digital resources available for college search has transformed the process from the student and parent perspective. The college search has become increasingly customer driven as students are charting their own course by proactively seeking information rather than simply responding to whatever schools happen to seek them out.
In other words:
The airspace has become more customer-driven and more selective.
This means colleges can’t rely on old flight plans. A modern sophomore/junior search requires diversifying your routes by combining the traditional names purchase model with a robust digital marketing strategy, including search engine marketing and social media, as well as video and audio streaming advertisements. The goal is simple:
- Reach both proactive flyers and those waiting for guidance.
- Ensure your institution is visible where students already are so you are ready for engagement the moment they are.
This new reality isn’t a disruption. It’s an opportunity to fly smarter.
Establishing the Holding Pattern
Sophomore and junior search isn’t about bringing students in for an immediate landing. It’s about making early contact and establishing trust so you can guide students and families into a comfortable holding pattern until they’re ready for final approach in their senior year.
This means your spring campaign should focus on two things:
Be the helpful voice on the radio. Sophomores and juniors (and their anxious parents) are just beginning to understand the complexity of the college search process. Position yourself as a resource that helps them navigate this process, and not just as a destination demanding they land with you right now.
Earn your spot in their flight plan. By the time these students enter senior year, they should already know your institution, trust your guidance and see you as a top choice worth serious consideration.
This is why your calls-to-action need to match the altitude. “Learn more” and “visit campus” are secondary to the primary messaging: “We understand what you’re going through, here’s how we can help, and here’s why students like you thrive here.”
Reading Your Radar: Territory Strategy That Works
The best air traffic controllers know their flight paths intimately. They know which corridors have the most traffic, which have the clearest conditions and where unexpected opportunities might emerge.
Your territory analysis should work the same way:
Double down on your primary flight paths by taking an honest look at where you’ve had consistent recruitment success. These feeder markets are proven corridors where a heavier investment makes the most sense.
Then it’s time to identify new routes with similar conditions. Look for secondary and tertiary markets that share characteristics with your successful territories. Similar demographics, academic profiles, family income levels or cultural indicators are just a few keys that might suggest student mobility to your campus. These are your emerging corridors.
Coordinate your ground and air operations. Search where you plan to travel, and plan travel where your search occurs. Your digital outreach and your physical recruitment presence should be working in tandem to amplify your efforts.
The Landing
Here’s what we know: the institutions that will thrive in the next few years aren’t the ones working harder on one recruitment cycle at a time. They’re the ones who’ve mastered multi-cohort strategy by keeping multiple runways active while building relationships years before decision day.
Your sophomore and junior search campaign isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the difference between scrambling for students every fall and having a healthy pipeline of interested, informed, pre-qualified prospects who already know your story and see themselves in it.
The planes are already in the air. The question is: when do you start guiding them in?
When You Need a Co-Pilot in the Tower
The most efficient enrollment teams know when to bring in experienced support. An expert partner can handle research, messaging analysis and digital campaign execution while your on-campus team focuses on what they do best: closing the deal with seniors while delivering the personalized recruitment experience that converts interest into enrollment.
Think of it as having a trusted co-pilot in the tower during peak traffic. You’re still in command. You’re still making the critical decisions. But you’re not trying to manage every single aircraft on your own.
At AccessU, we partner with enrollment teams to add bandwidth and expertise during your busiest seasons. Our award-winning team specializes in multi-cohort campaign strategy and execution, allowing your on-campus staff to focus on what matters most. Let’s talk about how we can support your spring sophomore and junior search efforts.