Is it time for your school to upgrade its admissions software?
Online “shopping” for new software solutions can be a fun challenge, but before you start scheduling product demos, ask yourself these questions:
- How are the different teams at my school currently using this software?
- What problems do I need this tool to solve?
- What features would be important to us if we were designing admissions software from scratch?
Remember, admissions software impacts just about every part of your institution: recruitment, enrollment, registrar, financial aid, student communications, reporting, and more.
Many trade and career-focused schools are using outdated software tools that have limitations and are time-consuming and cumbersome to manage.
If you’re considering new options for admissions software, here’s a quick checklist to keep handy so that you don’t miss out on any essential features.
Buyer’s Checklist: 6 Must-Have Features for Admissions Software
There are a few non-negotiable features that all admissions software tools should have, whether you’re a small technical college or a large university. These include, among others, the ability to easily manage your contacts and a streamlined system to deliver quality leads from your landing pages to your CRM.
But what about beyond that? What features are less discussed, but just as important.
Here are some features you should absolutely be checking for when you shop for Admissions software. Keep this checklist nearby before your next product demo!
1. Centralized Lead and Application Management
Many schools, particularly career-focused institutions that are still operating on legacy software, often rely on outdated tools that require manual, time-consuming work just to keep the engines running.
For example, contacts created from a virtual webinar, an on-campus event, and through website content downloads are all entered into completely different systems. Contacts are created in one place, applications are managed in another, and it falls on the Admissions staff to manually organize and ensure that all of their data is aligned across their different tools.
This is the reality for quite a few schools that I’ve worked with, so if this sounds like you, you’re definitely not alone.
If you’re on the search for new admissions software, be sure that it’s totally in sync with the CRM. All departments across the school—including Admissions, Financial Aid, Marketing, Registrar, and more—should be totally aligned with a single source of truth.
When that happens, your CRM actually becomes an asset, not a drain on the school’s resources. The CRM can tell you precisely how your applicant pipeline is performing, where the gaps are in their student journey, which channels are delivering the best results, and more.
READ: 6 Common Features of the Best Higher Ed Enrollment Management Software
2. An Automated Communications Platform
Your admissions software shouldn’t be completely disconnected from your marketing platform; it should be integrated with it. That way, you can send emails, build workflows, and segment contacts all in one place.
So ask yourself, how are you managing this process today?
Does your system automatically move students out of one pipeline and into the next, even if there hasn’t been direct contact, to ensure your communication workflow continues as intended?
Timing is everything when it comes to prospective students, and the cadence of your communication can make or break your conversation. If your software systems aren’t aligned or there are gaps in the data, you either have to rely on your team members to do that work manually or you risk losing out on prospective students because of these bottlenecks.
With communication workflows, you can automate touchpoints across multiple channels so that you never let a single prospect fall through the cracks.
3. Real-Time Dashboards and Reporting
This is definitely a must-have feature for all admissions software.
A school’s ability to make decisions about students, classes, and the admissions process is only as good as the information it has. Without reliable data and lots of it, school leaders don’t have the ability to make data-driven decisions.
That’s why reporting is essential.
While you explore software solutions to determine which tool is right for your institution, make sure that real-time reporting is one of your non-negotiables.
Every day, your leadership team should be able to log into their dashboard to get real-time insights into your applicant pipeline, lead generation, enrollment, payments, and more.
4. Compliance and Document Management
Compliance and document management are critical, especially when it comes to Title IV accreditation.
For example, schools need to ensure that every section of their required institutional and programmatic documents is fully completed, accurately filled out, signed, and reviewed by all necessary parties before the student begins classes.
Well, what happens if these documents aren’t complete, submitted, and organized?
So many of us who work in higher education have been in situations where there was an audit or review for which our school was totally unprepared. Suddenly, we’re all shuffling through SharePoint sites for documents or digging through filing cabinets in search of specific paperwork. It’s a chaotic, stressful time.
With the admissions software on the market today, you can make sure that documents are easily accessible yet secure. You deserve easy compliance and no-stress audits, and your admissions software should help you get there.
CASE STUDY: How Unitek College Improved Compliance with Portico Attendance
5. Mobile-Friendly Design
Being mobile-friendly used to be a nice-to-have.
Today? It’s essential.
College students are always on their phones, and they expect to have a clean mobile experience every time they interact with a brand or business.
Why should that be any different for your school’s software?
Admissions software should have a mobile-friendly component for students, Admissions reps, administrators, and everyone else who uses it.
As you consider your software options, make sure they all meet these mobile-friendly requirements. If they don’t…keep shopping.
6. Integration Flexibility
Your Admissions software can’t exist as a silo. It’s that simple.
Most schools already have a CRM, an SIS, marketing automation, and financial aid software in place. That’s not the issue—it’s getting these different systems to communicate with each other.
Schools that have this connected software infrastructure in place can operate more efficiently and deliver better student experiences, which is why they’re more profitable and able to scale more quickly.
However, if you’re stuck using outdated software that doesn’t integrate well with other systems, you’ll run into a lot of manual, repetitive, duplicate work that frustrates both your team and your students.
Integration flexibility isn’t just nice to have; it’s foundational to institutional stability and growth.
Read: Why Consolidating Your Tech Stack is Key for Career Education Success
Why Career Schools Shouldn’t Overlook These Essential Features
In general, higher education as an industry tends to be late to adopt technology. That’s starting to change—particularly with career-focused institutions—but many are still relying too much on outdated processes.
How are these schools impacted by not updating their admissions systems?
- Time lost due to manual data entry
- Low conversion metrics in their applicant pipeline
- Poor data visibility that limits their growth potential
- Compliance issues that make them vulnerable in an audit
- Poor brand credibility with prospective students
But remember: software is only as good as the support that comes with it.
We’ve all been frustrated by long phone queues and poor customer support. That’s why our team at Portico created real-time expert support that’s designed to help our clients succeed and keep the engines running on time.
Portico was built for higher ed professionals, by higher ed professionals. It’s what sets us apart.
If you’re ready to be our next success story, let's talk.