Holy Ghost Prep

The Challenge: Finding a System to Keep up and Keep Track

The number of families interested in Holy Ghost Prep is consistently high. The admissions team communicates with anywhere between 500 to 600 new inquiries each year. As many as 300 of those inquiries complete an application, and just 155 of those inquiries were accepted last year. However, Holy Ghost Prep aims for more than just meeting its enrollment goals. The admissions office’s most recent focus has been on re-enrollment, increasing retention and seeing its students return each year.

Ryan Abramson, the Director of Admissions at Holy Ghost Prep, knew his team needed admissions and enrollment software that was able to keep up with the high volume of information they processed and that could help simplify their outreach. They needed a system that could manage and track emails, perform mass uploads, provide important statistics to increase retention, make teacher recommendations less demanding and time-consuming, and provide reports on the fly.

The Solution: Admissions and Enrollment Software to Increase Retention

“I appreciate the ease of the software. When I’m sitting in a meeting and somebody says to me, ‘How many kids was that? How many applicants did we get from this grade school over the last three years?’ I can pull up the information and run a report without even thinking about it because it’s really quick,” Abramson expressed.

Holy Ghost Prep implemented the software five years ago, and Abramson was an integral part of the buying and decision-making process. The school administration was impressed by the ease of use, data retrieval capabilities, and the advanced features, like the customizable internal checklists that it offers.

The admissions office manages mass amounts of information and thinks proactively to ensure their team performs to the best of their ability. “There are so many features that allow you to keep track of all your information. If you have the desire you can do it yourself,” Abramson explained.

Internal notes and checklists allow Abramson to assign personalized tasks to each team member. These notes ensure everyone knows exactly what to do and who to reach out to each day. The admissions team has also increasingly used the product to document each touchpoint within an inquiry’s profile. By choosing to display only the most pertinent information to each team member, their process remains clean, clear, and organized.

Holy Ghost Prep has also reduced the burden on their teachers and made information more accessible to parents by using Finalsite Enrollment. As Abramson voiced, “If you make the application process easy, parents will do it. If you make the recommendation form easy, people will do it. If you make uploading easy, people will do it. I think that, for us, is the benefit, especially in our competitive environment. Our process is very straightforward.” Teachers can ensure that recommendation forms are filled out with ease and in a timely manner by completing the entire process online, and parents can see updates in real-time.

In addition, Abramson was enthusiastic about the support he and his team regularly get from the team. He added, “I feel like the company is engaged in a true partnership with the customer. Our interaction with the developers and customer service team make us feel like we aren’t getting lost in a big company.”

The Results: Increased Retention and Increased Ease for Parents, Teachers, and Administrators Alike

“The benefits of using the product have been huge. It’s definitely impacted our ability in terms of retention. For me, being able to know at any moment how many students we have, where the opportunities are for transfer students, and where there is room for us to fill in some gaps is huge,” Abramson communicated.

Abramson demonstrated just how well they are doing by saying, “When I tell people from other schools why it's valuable, I often ask them, ‘What’s your retention? How are you doing in terms of re-enrolling students?’ Because most schools don’t do well at that. We’re very lucky that we don’t have a lot of attrition. I always tell them the value is you can keep track of not just who you’re getting, but also who you have and see that they are staying.”

With so much knowledge at their fingertips and an accessible and straightforward way to track their long-term relationships, the admissions team has been able to increase re-enrollment, provide a positive experience for parents and teachers, and remain at the top of the market.