While summer might feel like a quiet season on the college campus, for admissions professionals, it’s a strategic goldmine. Without the hustle and bustle of students on campus and classes in session, summer is the perfect time to dig deep, optimize workflows, and prepare for the upcoming recruitment season.

Here are three core focus areas admissions teams should prioritize during the summer months:

Prepare for Fall Travel

Fall recruitment season is around the corner. Make sure you have a solid plan for fall travel to set your counselors up for success.

• Review Travel ROI: Dive into historical data in Slate to evaluate which high schools, fairs, and regions generated the best applications and enrollments. Cut low-yield stops and focus on high-impact ones.
• Integrate Counselor Outreach: Plan outreach to high school counselors with updated materials and travel schedules. Building relationships in the summer pays off in the fall.
• Organize Materials: Ensure print and digital materials are updated and ready for production. Think brochures, travel handouts, presentation decks, and any mobile-friendly resources you’ll need on the road.

You should also make sure your counselors understand what’s expected of them as they engage with students throughout the year. Waybetter’s Counselor Command Center™ could be the secret weapon your team needs to succeed!

The CCC offers a centralized hub where counselors can go to review prospect information and insights, and be triggered to take action. Check out our demo here.

Plan Your Fall Visit Events

Summer is the ideal time to map out your fall event strategy. From open houses to daily visits, laying the groundwork now ensures your team isn’t scrambling in September.

• Plan Your Fall Open Houses: Set dates for your fall open houses and prep landing pages and communications to encourage prospective students to register. Make sure your messaging is clear, compelling, and aligned with your recruitment goals. Skip the fancy names–just use plain language students can easily comprehend!
• Pre-Build Event Templates: Set up your fall visit and event templates in Slate now. Include automated confirmation and reminder emails to reduce your manual work later. Use personalization where possible to increase engagement.
• Coordinate with Campus Partners: Secure involvement from faculty, student ambassadors, and key campus departments early. Align on expectations and roles to create a seamless visit experience. Student recruitment is everybody’s job.

See more tips on how to drive and manage visits in our webinar! We covered how to create event templates that only collect must-have data points, event form communications for both pre- and post-event messaging, and more.

Slate Prep for the Next Admissions Cycle

Summer is the time to clean, configure, and optimize. Here’s what you can do you make sure your Slate instance is ready for the new cycle:

• Audit your Deliver mailings, rules, translation codes, liquid markup, and snippets
• Refresh your communication populations
• Update your applicant portals 
• QA and clean up your application logic 
• Audit and update scheduled queries and key YOY reports 

Check out our blog post for more tips on how to clean up your Slate instance!

Let Waybetter Handle the Cycle Prep For You

Need help with cycle prep? There’s still time! Get in touch with the Waybetter team to schedule a ten-minute discovery call so we can build your customized plan.

Remember, summer offers admissions teams a rare opportunity to step out of reactive mode and lean into proactive planning. Whether you’re reducing summer melt, fine-tuning Slate, or organizing your fall schedule, the groundwork you lay now will make a huge impact during peak season.

Make the most of the quiet months—your future self (and your team) will thank you.