New RNL Data Seeks to Help Graduate-Level DEI Efforts

Since the publication of RNL’s first Graduate Student Recruitment Report, we have had numerous requests to present these data by racial or ethnic identity in support of institutional diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Next month we will publish Serving the Underrepresented, which will present the entire data set, organized by self-reported racial/ethnic identity of participants.

While working on the key findings, I was reminded of a previous conversation I had with David Cotter, assistant provost for graduate enrollment at Boston University, about institutional responses to the pandemic. David spoke eloquently about how institutions were confronting two pressing high level priorities: the pandemic AND the need to move DEI initiatives to the center of institutional attention after the murder of George Floyd. David spoke about how BU, which has a rich history of serving diverse populations, has made it a priority to “put its money where its mouth is” with substantial investment in support structures that will help students of diverse background succeed in addition to marketing and recruitment investments aimed at attracting more students of diverse backgrounds.

Watch the video below to see how my colleague Brain Gawor frames an insightful conversation on both what the data indicate about how the demands and preferences of students of diverse backgrounds compare with each other and the graduate population in the aggregate and how institutions may want to apply some of these findings to their own initiatives:

Brian Gawor: Boston University is doing some great things to further inclusion, diversity, and student success. Can you talk a little bit about your take on where you’ve been and where you are going?

David Cotter: BU has focused a lot of attention on our history to talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion. Martin Luther King was a PhD graduate and spent a lot of time on our campus. What became clear more recently, and sped up with the murder of George Floyd, is that we need to do more—to put money where our mouth is and take action.

BU is now focusing on the support structures necessary to effectively serve traditionally underserved and underrepresented students. We are trying to think through the changing nature of the student population within the United States, and how we as an institution can best support students, which involves looking at all facets. How do we retool and retrain folks so that they understand that the student population is changing?

Brian Gawor: Scott, what are some things that are important to all graduate students as they look at programs, and what things are even more important for traditionally underrepresented groups?

Scott Jeffe: All graduate students—regardless of their background—are very consistent in many core demands for a graduate program: they want accelerated study, online programs, hybrid programs, they select the same fields of study, and they also look for their programs using the same platforms and channels. When looking for contrasts, the data indicated more than 10 percent differences in that under-represented students are more female than the general graduate market and they’re more likely to enroll in a master’s program, rather than a non-degree program or a PhD program.

There are also some important nuances in what is important in their enrollment decision priorities: Asian students were more likely to put career and job opportunity issues on the top to cite that as one of the three most important aspects of their decisions. Hispanic/Latinx students were considerably more likely to indicate that plans, ongoing plans for dealing with the pandemic and such were among their three most important things. Black and African American students were considerably more likely to put flexible options in terms of how they take their courses in comparison to the other groups.

Brian Gawor: David, how do some of these findings resonate with what BU is doing? Did you see things that you were putting time and energy into really confirmed here?

David Cotter: This report shows us that the more information we can gather about a prospective student, the more relevant we can make our communication and our recruitment process. Today’s students want to feel wanted, and they want to feel that the place where they’re going to enroll is a place that is not only going to meet their needs, but also that they’re going to feel part of a community. And what that community is differs by student and differs by type of program. This report gave me and my colleagues more information to know how to talk with and how to best communicate with students who may identify as black or African American or Hispanic or Latinx or Asian.

Similar to how we have a communication plan for first-generation students, in which touchpoints tailored to the unique needs of such students, this report can help to inform additional plans to effectively and personally communicate with other underrepresented audiences. We might need more personal outreach, or phone calls, or texts, and certainly the messaging needs to be customized.

Brian Gawor: Can you talk a little bit about the importance of things like student success coaching and the resources that we give to our graduate students?

David Cotter: I think the old-school thinking was that graduate students didn’t really need a whole lot. What we’re seeing now is two things colliding. One is that the students in Generation Z are coming out of colleges having received a plethora of support services. Their assumption is that when they come to graduate school, they will have all of these same support services. BU realized that it is the right thing to do to provide support services that extend into the diversity, equity, and inclusion realm.

We also created a task force on inclusive pedagogy to help faculty understand how the student body is changing and growing, what the backgrounds of our students are at all levels. We’ve also opened a center for first-generation students, and that’s not just supporting first-generation undergraduates. It’s robustly supporting first-generation graduate students, too.

Brian Gawor: Scott, what would you tell a recruiter who wants to be more inclusive in today’s market? From what you see in the report what advice do you have?

Scott Jeffe: Customize, personalize, and be timely. It is the key to success across the board, and our underrepresented populations are really in need of that, just like the graduate market as a whole. One of the most important study findings is that THE most important enrollment factor—across students of each background—is the best match between the program’s content and my personal interests. Not so shocking considering we’re serving two generations —millennials and Gen Z—who have grown up in a customized world. But how can all programs be all things to all people? Well, they can’t. But electives, concentrations, optional internships, optional, different ways to do a capstone or a culminating experience, all of those things are ways to bring a program closer to matching a student’s areas of interest. It is one way that institutions can address and recognize the unique interests and backgrounds of students from underrepresented backgrounds.

Brian Gawor: So David, at the risk of giving ammunition for your competition, what’s your advice for recruiters?

David Cotter: It’s pretty simple. Listen to your students. Understand their needs, listen to your prospective students, talk with often with your current students. For those of you that aren’t typically connected to your current students, if you work solely in an admission environment, carve out a little bit of budget money to buy students coffee, hire your current students. Talk with them, run focus groups. Segment it by population if you want, but they’re some of the best folks to tell us how to advance what we’re trying to do. And they’re there for a reason, and they often want to talk if you want to listen.

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