Bishop O’Dowd High School

The Challenge: Maintaining a Personal Touch with Thousands

Years ago, Bishop O’Dowd recognized its paper-based process was no longer sufficient. To effectively process applications at scale while providing a streamlined and personalized experience for students and parents, the institution chose to partner with Finalsite Enrollment.

First, students and parents fill out a simple online inquiry form. This document allows interested candidates to share their interests and schedule an on-site campus visit. After submitting their inquiry, candidates and parents can also sign up for additional Bishop O’Dowd events.

Once they’ve shared their information through this form, the strategic enrollment management software helps organize the data into internal-facing, searchable student profiles. These profiles allow the admissions and marketing departments to begin customizing student and family experiences immediately, starting with personalized emails.

Next, parents can begin the two-step application process by filling out a quick and easy form with additional contact information, basic demographic information, and student grade-level, and complete their fee payment.

While the second phase of the application process is more complex, it can be completed over the course of several weeks with help from the Bishop O’Dowd team. And thanks to the user-friendly interface, parents can easily log in and fill out various pieces of the application at their leisure — including answering a questionnaire, requesting online recommendation letters, uploading learning difference documentation, and more.

“I love that I can do bulk uploads or downloads of documentation as we’re going through the application process,” says Kerryn Pincus Gallagher, Director of Enrollment at Bishop O’Dowd.
 

The Results: Seamless One-to-One Engagement

“We just did all of our new student immunization records and we were able to download them all from each student’s portal in a bulk download, which saved our main office a tremendous amount of time.”

Having a centralized system also makes it easier for the school to meet its minimum goal of 1 – 2 candidate touchpoints per month, as well as an addition 1 – 3 personal touchpoints through events, student visits, and more.

“(It) has made our admissions and enrollment process efficient and seamless, allowing us to communicate with thousands of people at scale and in a way that feels very personable,” Gallagher says. “Being able to have a one-stop-shop for everything is really fabulous.”

According to Bishop O’Dowd, the parents say the application process — and especially the interface — is simple and easy. And the admissions department is exceedingly satisfied by their partnership with Finalsite.