Marquette hosted record number of prospective student visits, again hit application benchmark with Class of 2030

As May 1 approaches and high school seniors finalize their college decisions, Marquette continues to welcome a record number of visitors to campus. This spring, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions hosted more prospective students and families than ever before.

The increase follows a rising trend for Marquette as it received over 20,000 applications for the Class of 2030, marking the second consecutive year hitting that milestone. It also underscores Undergraduate Admissions' efforts to provide enhanced visit experiences for prospective students and their families.

"We're all very much student- and mission-focused, and that's what drives us to serve families," says Kate Bracciano, director of visits and special programs.

On two Saturdays each spring, the university hosts Admitted Student Days for families to explore campus through tours, information sessions, college department visits and complimentary bus tours of Milwaukee. Both typically held in April, the admissions team chose to move the first Admitted Student Day to mid-March this year to align with the traditional high school spring break period. The result was the highest attended admissions event in Marquette history, with about 450 families and over 1,200 people on campus - nearly double the attendance compared to three years ago. The April event was equally popular, with over 400 families again on campus. The two days combined saw nearly 2,500 visitors.

With other events such as Discovery Day in February, daily tours and Find Your Fit Fridays - six Fridays in the spring when admitted students have an elevated weekday visit experience that includes lunch in a dining hall and an academic session - Marquette hosted about 4,000 visitors in spring alone.

Cura personalis is really the cornerstone of our visit programs, and the tour guides live that out.

Those events wouldn't be possible without collaboration with academic departments and university programs, Bracciano says.

"Our campus partners have been so accommodating with doing individual visits, especially for our admitted students," she says. "We get students here, but we give the departments the autonomy to sell and highlight their programs, because they're the experts in that area. I believe those interactions really resonate with families."

Some of that feedback has been heard through a survey being piloted this spring that is sent directly to students via text message after they visit, versus emailed surveys that are commonly only answered by parents.

"We feel like we're missing the students' perspective sometimes," Bracciano says. "We're always trying to get that feedback, and the initial response rate to the new, shorter survey has been really positive."

The visit team has been able to improve and expand its programming by adding Caitlin Heinrich and Jeff Farina-Morelos as visit coordinators to help manage events and student staff, and John Ingemann joining the admissions staff to improve visit-related communications and the digital experience. They've been key additions to the recipe that makes admissions run smoothly, along with staff in other areas such as communications and recruitment.

"It's allowed us to not just keep pace with what we've done in previous years but actually be more innovative because we now have the bandwidth to do that," Bracciano says.

The ability to grow and improve visit events and programs, she says, is thanks in large part to the staff of nearly 80 student tour guides and welcome desk ambassadors, as well as Marquette's admissions counselors.

"A lot of the feedback we get regularly through campus tours and events, it's about our student staff and our admissions counselors, because they're the ones leading presentations, greeting families and showing them what Marquette has to offer," Bracciano says. "The tour guides have an hour and 15 minutes with these families, and we would not be as successful with our enrollment efforts without the care, attention and energy that they put into each family. Cura personalis is really the cornerstone of our visit programs, and the tour guides live that out."

As the Class of 2030 recruitment period closes, the admissions office is already welcoming prospective students for the Class of 2031 and beyond. For visit and application information and to see upcoming events, be sure to explore the Undergraduate Admissions website.