Improve Graduate Program Enrollment Through Design-Driven Intake Management
A free bi-weekly newsletter helping Deans, Directors, and Faculty build a design-driven intake system — delivered straight to subscribers via LinkedIn.
LinkedIn’s newsletter platform publishes the newsletter. You can subscribe with a single click through LinkedIn, bypassing signup forms, email verifications, and landing pages. LinkedIn will notifiy you each time I publish a newsletter content item.
Why Do Graduate Program Leaders Need an Intake Playbook?
Because their programs are struggling with:
1. Unpredictable enrollment outcomes |
2. Misalignment between learner expectations and program offerings |
3. Misalignment between employer expectations and graduates’ knowledge, skills, capabilities, and confidence |
4. Low conversion rates from inquiry to enrollment |
5. Difficulty demonstrating program ROI |
6. Difficulty demonstrating program ROI |
The Graduate Program Intake Playbook helps programs create a repeatable process for identifying learner needs, improving enrollment decisions, and strengthening long-term program outcomes.
Most graduate programs lack a playbook for intake management. Deans, directors, and faculty can jointly develop a graduate program intake playbook using this complimentary bi-weekly newsletter. Content includes templates, checklists, data collection plans, and workplans for developing a program specific intake playbook.
By providing modular, actionable ‘Plays’ in every issue, I help a community of practitioners transform transactional recruitment into collaborative partnerships—moving their programs from survival to flourishing through a shared commitment to professional excellence.
Dedicated to the architects of graduate education, The Graduate Program Intake Playbook is a hands-on workshop delivered to your inbox. My purpose is to help you build, refine, and implement your own design-driven intake management system. By providing modular, actionable ‘Plays’ in every issue, I help a community of practitioners transform transactional recruitment into collaborative partnerships—moving their programs from survival to flourishing through a shared commitment to professional excellence.
I apply the principles of Design Thinking—Empathy, Ideation, and Iteration—to the graduate program intake lifecycle, shifting from a transactional enrollment model to a Design-Led Partnership. Using our three-system framework (Learner Needs, Graduate Program Intake, and Learner Career Path), we provide Deans, Directors, and Faculty with the tools to build a resilient graduate learner ecosystem. Our focus is on empowering learners to self-direct their career paths and manage their own lifelong learning milestones. Join us as we bridge the gap between academia and the workforce, engineering a loop of professional excellence where the program, the student, and the employer all thrive together.
Intake Playbook Sections
1. Program Strategy & Foundation
This section defines the building blocks of a strong program, including:
- Program Mission Statement which articulates the program’s unique market value.
- Partnership Model which shifts the focus from one-time enrollment to lasting relationships.
- Stakeholder Analysis which clarifies the roles and aligns expectations for students, faculty, and employers.
Together, these elements lay the groundwork for the intakes lasting impact and meaningful collaboration.
2. Lead Collection
This section’s focus is on research and sourcing, including:
- Student Entry Points – which explores the key moments that inspire learners to seek education.
- Target Student Profiles – which dives into the professional backgrounds and goals of your ideal candidates.
- Workforce Skills Analysis – which maps current workforce needs to your recruiting efforts.
- Lead Qualification Criteria – which outlines clear criteria to help you identify high-potential program learner and partners.
Understanding these elements deepens your connection with learners and partners alike. Your reflections here will establish a strong foundation for meaningful outreach and collaboration.
3. Learner Conversion
This section’s focus is on admissions and planning, including:
- Admissions Consultation – shifting the interview from a “sales pitch” to a planning session.
- Career Milestone Mapping – aligning program requirements with the student’s professional goals.
- Enrollment Process Audit – identifying and removing technical or administrative barriers to entry.
- Enrollment Agreements – documenting mutual goals and expectations between the student and program.
These elements deepen your connection with learners and partners alike by clearly defining expectations. The expectations then beome the intake’s compass which determines intake and program success.
4. Fan Creation
A human-centered approach that prioritizes the person behind the problem by seeking to understand their behaviors, pain points, and learning needs; this begins with empathy, developed through researching learner needs, conducting interviews, and observing behaviors to gain deeper insight into their experiences. Defining the learner and their needs starts the process of designing the intake for a given learner audience.
5. Implementation Resources
At the heart of this stage is a clear definition of the learner your program aims to serve, alongside identifying the knowledge gap your learners are looking to bridge. Gaining this crucial understanding of your target learner sets the groundwork for everything that follows.