NC Central University sees exponential growth in applications
By Elyse Armstrong, Common App Data Scientist
May 30, 2024
Applications to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) used to be inconsistent. “One year we might get 14,000 applications, another we may get 18,000, then the next we might get 6,000. It was all over the place,” says Michael A. Bailey, the director of undergraduate admissions.
Then, in 2022, NC Central joined Common App’s Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) program - and things changed quickly for the better. “The first year we deployed Common App, we had our largest freshman class in a decade,” Bailey says. “The year after that, we experienced exponential growth.”
Indeed, on April 10, 2023, Bailey noted the university had 6,977 applicants. By the same date the following year, that number jumped to 9,941. That exposure also helped boost admittance numbers. By April 2024, admitted students had grown to 8,348.
Over the last decade, Common App has made a concerted effort to improve equity in higher education by extending membership to Minority Serving Institutions at a lower cost. Since the program launched in 2021, MSI membership has grown significantly, now boasting more than 150 MSI members, including 35 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
In attracting more diverse member institutions, Common App is increasing the diversity of the applicant pool as well as the number of students connecting with HBCUs like NC Central. In fact, Common App has noted a 175% increase in applicants identifying as an underrepresented race or ethnicity (URM) in the Southern US from 2015 to the 2022 application season.
Immediate recognition
Established in 1910 as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua for the Colored Race, NCCU is one of a dozen HBCUs in North Carolina. It is one of two public universities in the state with a law school and is based in Durham, part of the state’s thriving Research Triangle. It recently added a business degree and opened a new School of Business building earlier this year.
Bailey attributes much of NCCU’s application growth to the instant recognition Common App provides. “Common App has made us more mainstream with our peer institutions,” he says. Calling Common App a “portal of opportunity,” Bailey says high school guidance counselors have remarked that it has made the school part of the typical admissions cycle.
“It’s helped our brand when we go out to high schools,” he says, noting that students who may not know anything about the university may find it via Common App’s portal and choose to learn more.
Rising tide lifts all ships–and enrollments
Common App is part of NC Central’s efforts to both increase applications at the top of the marketing funnel and better steward potential students as they flow through the system.
“When the tide rises, all ships rise,” he says. “If we can get more applications at the top of the funnel, our admits will rise, our deposits will rise and our enrollments will rise.” In fact, between 2023 and 2024 the university saw its number of confirmed deposits from Common App applicants grow to 938 from 351. “We just had to figure out how to get more applications at the top of the funnel to raise the tide,” he says.
To that end, NC Central is focusing on recruiting in-state students, particularly through Common App. This strategy is partly due to the cap the state places on out-of-state students. “We need to increase our market share in North Carolina,” Bailey says, noting that he wants to ensure he has a footprint in all 100 of the state’s counties. Common App's publicly available state reports provide applicant and application trends at the state level, offering institutions even greater regional insights into their admissions process.
In the Southern US, 92% of Common App applicants applied to at least one in-state college, while 42% applied only to in-state institutions.
Strategic communications
Bailey and his team are working more effectively, efficiently, and consistently with students in the admissions pipeline to usher them through the process. They are laser-focused on both what and how they communicate with prospective students and their families. “We are very intentional about our messaging–it must be clear, precise, and very direct,” he says.
The content of their communications centers on NC Central’s degree offerings, like its popular business and criminal justice programs as well as its focus on community service, global relevance, leadership development, and career readiness. The university’s admissions communications team also heralds its Eagle Promise, which is NC Central’s commitment to students and their parents—that the university will do all it can to help them graduate on time.
NC Central attracts a large number of first-generation college students, and Common App has helped drive an increase in first-generation applicants across the Southern United States, seeing an 172% increase to 101,702 applicants in 2022 from 37,322 in 2015.
Bailey also believes it’s critical to communicate with applicants and families as though they are first-generation students. As a first-generation college graduate himself, he personally reviews communications with an eye to his own parents. “My father has a sixth-grade education, and my mom got her GED at 35. And I ask if we’re communicating with prospective parents in a way that they will understand so they can help their students matriculate through this process.”
By combining that kind of intentional messaging with the increased flow of new applicants from Common App, Bailey and his team are confident their efforts will ultimately result in the steady, consistent growth of new students.
Elyse Armstrong is a Data Scientist on Common App's Data Analytics and Research (DAR) team, supporting our data operations, visualizations, and reporting efforts. She is dedicated to creating equity in the college admissions process and using data to transform student experiences and outcomes.