Student success is often discussed as something that begins after matriculation, yet leaders like Phil Verpil have consistently highlighted that the foundations of persistence, engagement, and completion are formed well before a student ever submits an enrollment deposit.
Many institutions invest heavily in retention initiatives, academic advising models, and student success frameworks once students arrive on campus. Their confidence, preparedness, sense of belonging, and understanding of institutional culture are already taking shape during recruitment, outreach, and pre-enrollment interactions.
The Pre-Enrollment Phase Shapes Student Trajectories
Before enrollment, students engage with institutions through websites, communications, campus visits, counselors, and digital touchpoints. These early interactions influence not only whether a student enrolls, but also how prepared and aligned they feel once they do.
Pre-enrollment experiences shape:
- Academic expectations and self-efficacy
- Understanding of institutional culture and values
- Perceptions of support, accessibility, and belonging
- Confidence in navigating systems and processes
When these signals are unclear or inconsistent, students may arrive misaligned with institutional realities, increasing the likelihood of early disengagement.
Recruitment Messaging Sets the Tone for Success
Recruitment communications are often designed to inspire interest and drive applications. However, when messaging prioritizes attraction without clarity, it can unintentionally create gaps between expectation and experience.
Institutions frequently miss opportunities to:
- Communicate academic rigor accurately
- Explain support structures realistically
- Clarify student responsibilities and agency
- Reinforce the skills needed for transition and persistence
An effective enrollment strategy balances aspiration with transparency, helping students self-select into environments where they are more likely to thrive.
Campus Visits Are More Than Marketing Moments
Campus visits are commonly treated as yield tools, yet they play a deeper role in shaping student readiness. The visit experience often represents a student’s first immersive encounter with institutional norms.
A strategically designed visit experience can:
- Introduce students to academic expectations early
- Normalize help-seeking behaviors
- Clarify pathways to involvement and support
- Reduce uncertainty about navigating campus life
When visits focus solely on promotion rather than orientation, institutions miss a chance to prepare students for the realities of the transition ahead.
Early Advising Signals Matter More Than Many Realize
Students frequently encounter advising structures before enrollment through academic interest sessions, information webinars, or outreach communications. These early advising moments influence how students understand choice, agency, and responsibility.
Institutions that integrate advising principles early help students:
- Understand program requirements and pathways
- Anticipate decision points and milestones
- Recognize the importance of proactive engagement
- Develop realistic academic plans
When advising is delayed until after enrollment, students may already be operating with incomplete or inaccurate assumptions.
Data Reveals Success Patterns Before Matriculation
Enrollment data is often viewed primarily as a recruitment tool, yet it also provides valuable insight into future success patterns. Application behaviors, engagement metrics, and inquiry interactions frequently correlate with persistence and completion outcomes.
Pre-enrollment data can inform:
- Identification of transition risk factors
- Targeted onboarding interventions
- Financial aid alignment and support planning
- Communication strategies tailored to readiness levels
Institutions that connect enrollment analytics with student success outcomes gain a more complete understanding of where intervention truly begins.
The Transition Gap Institutions Commonly Overlook
One of the most significant challenges facing institutions is the transition gap between recruitment and enrollment. Students often experience a drop in engagement once admission decisions are made, leaving them underprepared for the start of the academic term.
Common transition gaps include:
- Limited pre-enrollment skill-building
- Inconsistent communication across departments
- Lack of clarity around expectations and timelines
- Minimal reinforcement of academic habits
Bridging this gap requires intentional coordination between enrollment, academic affairs, and student services.
Student Success Is an Institutional Continuum
When student success is treated as a post-enrollment function, institutions fragment responsibility. A more effective approach views success as a continuum that begins at first contact and extends through graduation.
This continuum requires alignment across:
- Recruitment and admissions
- Orientation and onboarding
- Academic advising and support
- Student engagement and wellness
Leadership plays a critical role in ensuring that these components reinforce rather than contradict one another.
Why Institutions Struggle to Address This Early Phase
Despite growing evidence, many institutions struggle to invest meaningfully in pre-enrollment success strategies. Common barriers include:
- Organizational silos between enrollment and student success units
- Short-term enrollment pressures overshadowing long-term outcomes
- Limited cross-functional accountability
- Underutilization of pre-enrollment data
Overcoming these barriers requires reframing student success as a shared institutional responsibility rather than a downstream intervention.
Reframing Success as a Design Challenge
Institutions that improve student outcomes consistently approach success as a design challenge rather than a remediation effort. They ask how systems, messages, and experiences prepare students for success before problems emerge.
This perspective emphasizes:
- Clarity over complexity
- Preparation over reaction
- Alignment over optimization
When institutions design pre-enrollment experiences with intention, they reduce friction later in the student lifecycle.
The Long-Term Impact of Starting Earlier
Students who arrive with accurate expectations, early advising exposure, and a sense of institutional fit are more likely to engage, persist, and complete. These outcomes are not accidental; they are the result of upstream decisions made long before the first day of class.
By recognizing that student success begins well before enrollment, institutions gain the opportunity to:
- Improve retention organically
- Reduce equity gaps
- Strengthen student confidence and agency
- Align mission with measurable outcomes
Student success is not confined to classrooms or support offices. It begins with how institutions invite students in, prepare them for what lies ahead, and design systems that honor both aspiration and reality from the very first interaction.