It wasn’t long ago that the typical college-bound student filtered through dozens of mailings, attended college fairs, and walked many campus tours on his or her way to finding the perfect college. Today, attempting to reach techno-savvy teens, admissions offices have adopted many new recruiting efforts, including live chat sessions, campus videos, virtual walking tours, online college fairs and, even more recently, student blogs.

Students find the features that provide the a genuine look at campus life to be extremely helpful in making their decision. Prospective students can get an inside-look at what to expect when they attend by reading the blogs of current college students over the course of several months. This creates a feeling of connectedness that can begin before an application is submitted and extend through the decision to enroll.

That length of time is what makes student blogs such a strong recruitment tool. A video, website, or even a campus tour is likely to connect only one or two times, but a blog, with new content provided on a regular basis by current students, can grow connections throughout the admissions process. So, consider adding student blogs to your admissions website, or make sure the blogs you have are being utilized to their full potential.