From Stealth to Seen: Building the College Recruitment Journey Students Want

I still remember the first time I “reached out” to a college. I was sitting at the kitchen table, carefully filling out a paper form, absolutely convinced my entire future depended on my handwriting.

Today, the form is digital. And “reaching out” rarely means raising a hand anymore. Now it might look like a midnight website visit, a TikTok follow, a quick search on a planning app, or a question typed into an artificial intelligence tool.

Students are not waiting for an invitation; they are already in the process. The problem is not that they are silent. The problem is that we only listen for noise.

The new front door is quiet and always open

Only three in 10 students say they fill out a form when they want information. The rest? They are exploring and checking out websites, planning platforms, search tools, and social media, often long before they ever introduce themselves (RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus, 2025).

For them, a click is a conversation, a follow is a signal, a scroll is a question. To us, they are invisible, until suddenly, they are not. This is not disengagement. This is self-direction.

Where students actually begin

Nearly 64% of students start their college planning on a college website, the most used resource of all (Butt, 2025). Butt calls institutional websites “the primary gateway” and “the central hub” of the search process.

Students are not starting their relationship with our emails, events, or inquiry forms. They are starting with our digital world. If personalization does not begin there, it does not begin at all.

Students want options, not funnels

Today’s students are not relying on a single channel. They are building their college knowledge across an entire ecosystem of college planning platforms, institutional websites, social media, and now, AI and voice search (RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus, 2025; Butt, 2025).

And they are starting early. About 30% of 9th graders already follow colleges on social media. By 10th grade, nearly 60% have used AI or voice search to explore their options (RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus, 2025).

They are not skipping steps; they are designing their own path.

What students are really asking for: clarity, not pressure

When students do reach out, they want reassurance, not escalation. They expect immediate email (68%), text (40%), and confirmation with clear next steps (RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus, 2025). Speed is not just about service, it is about safety.

Zhou et al. (2023) found that without real-time, conversational systems, students experience confusion, stress, and delays. They are not passive; they are overwhelmed. What they want is clarity, not a mountain of content. Silence does not mean disinterest; it means the system did not help them move forward.

Personalization is not persuasion, it is permission

Students want personalized experiences (61%) and control over what they see (45%). They’re not asking to be targeted—they’re asking to be understood. (RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus, 2025)

Cordero-Gutiérrez and Lahuerta-Otero (2020) found that personalized communication increases acceptance because it feels relevant and useful. Students are not resistant to personalization; they are resistant to irrelevance. As such, the right information should not push them forward, but rather help them realize they are ready.

When personalization feels human: the role of video

Personalization does not have to mean algorithms and dashboards. Sometimes, it simply means seeing a real face say, “We see you.” That is where personalized video changes the experience.

In the 2025 Marketing and Recruitment Practices Report, institutions rated personalized video as one of the most effective digital engagement tools available, with effectiveness scores ranging from 96-100% across institution types (RNL, 2025).

For students who have been quietly researching for months, a short, personalized video does not feel like a push. It feels like an invitation. It says, “You belong here when you’re ready.” And that is exactly the kind of readiness we should be designing for.

Students still value human support

Even in a digital world, students still rely on people. High school counselors remain one of the most used and trusted resources (Butt, 2025). Today’s resource mix reflects a balance of in-person, hybrid, and digital pathways. Technology does not replace relationships; it just makes them reachable when students need them most.

The shift: from forcing steps to designing readiness

Students are no longer “stealth.”They are visible, just not always where we have been trained to look.And it’s important to temember that our job is not to move them, but rather to build environments that help them move themselves.

What next?

If we want to design for readiness:

• Audit your presence beyond your website
• Respond quickly and personally
• Use AI to listen, not just talk
• Let students filter and self-select
• Keep human touchpoints visible
• Bridge online and offline pathways
• Revisit your strategy often

In the end, every interaction should be a doorway, not a dead end.

References

• Butt, M. (2025). Tech-Driven Transitions: Investigating College Applicants’ Resource Utilization in the Digital Age. Strategic Enrollment Management Quarterly.
• Cordero-Gutiérrez, R., & Lahuerta-Otero, E. (2020). Social media advertising efficiency on higher education programs. Spanish Journal of Marketing – ESIC, 24(2), 247–262.
• RNL. (2025). 2025 Marketing and Recruitment Practices for Undergraduate Students Report. Ruffalo Noel Levitz.
• RNL, Halda, & Modern Campus. (2025). 2025 E-Expectations Report.
• Zhou, Y., Yin, W., Wei, L., Lv, J., & Dou, X. (2023). Research on college student development planning platform based on intelligent Q&A mechanism. Academic Journal of Computing & Information Science.