Lately, I have been reviewing a lot of reports regarding the rise of high school students’ level of stress and anxiety. College students too are experiencing similar levels of anxiety about their future and pivoting their academic and career plans. At Corsava, we have been able to quantify (in real-time) our students’ level of anxiety and frustration as they go through the process of building their college lists. Since September 1, 2019, we’ve collected over 1.7 million Corsava student college attribute preferences. By selecting what is important, students give more thought to their choices (often in partnership with their counselor), adding intentionality to the process. Our platform and data are very different from traditional data collection methods such as surveys, which take time to collect and analyze. Surveys can also be very biased in their methodology, distorting the final outcome.
Corsava helps students discover, embrace, and communicate their emotional preferences in a gamified way as they explore 138 aspects of college that are rarely considered, yet are known to lead to a fulfilling experience. As students click through the cards, they prioritize what they “Must Have,” what “Would Be Nice,” things they “Do Not Care” about, and those characteristics that are a “No Way.” In June 2019, I wrote a blog highlighting students’ top preferences when selecting a college. Now, seven months into the COVID pandemic, it is more relevant than ever to revisit these.
In order to better understand trends in how students are feeling, we opted to examine this data as a whole, as well as in two groups: 1) Pre-lockdown (September 2019 - February 2020), and 2) Post-lockdown (March 2020 - October 2020).
We have seen several shifts in top preferences, which we plan to share over the next few weeks. This week, we’d like to focus on our Campus Safety card.
It seems like a “no-brainer.” Who wouldn’t want a safe campus? As adults who care about our students, we likely assume Campus Safety is a Must Have. Who wouldn’t want a safe campus? A teen’s brain is a tricky place to apply straight logic though. So, what do they say??.
Families can breathe a sigh of relief, the majority of students are not ignoring safety in their considerations! Nearly three-quarters of students consider Campus Safety a Must Have or Would Be Nice consideration. Historically, the Campus Safety card has consistently ranked in the top 10. During the pre-lockdown period, it ranked 4th, and post-lockdown it has climbed to 2nd.
Figure 1: Campus Safety Breakdown
It is no surprise that COVID-19 brought a new perspective to what it means to be safe while away at school. Campus closures and the uncertainty of what campus life will look like in the new normal brought a new focus to Campus Safety. Out of 138 Corsava cards, Campus Safety saw the greatest percent increase from pre-lockdown to post-lockdown. Additionally, Corsava is seeing a downward trend with regard to students rating Campus Safety as a “Do Not Care” consideration. In the pre-lockdown period, 27% of students selected Do Not Care for Campus Safety, compared to 19% in the post-lockdown period.
Figure 2: Campus Safety Do Not Care Trend
Interestingly, over the last few weeks, we have seen a slight drop in the priority students are giving to Campus Safety, with students feeling more positive as they indicate other preferences in the selection process. We also saw Residential Campus appear in the Top 10 for the first time ever during our post-lockdown period. Perhaps this is a function of improvements being made by colleges to share their plans and improve their safety protocols, or it could simply be students seeing the pandemic as the new normal and something that they are just going to have to deal with.
Figure 3: Recent Must Have Drop Off
As Fall marches on, we will be digging deeper and sharing more of our findings, helping those who work with students focus on ways to best provide them with the support they need to think about their next steps.
Stay tuned for:
Top 20 Must Have and Would Be Nice cards and how they have changed over time
Insights into the most dynamic cards
AND student impressions of colleges on their list