Kansas State University—an R-1 institution and Big 12 Conference member—offers a quintessential college experience with its limestone architecture, rolling hills, and vibrant college town setting in Manhattan, Kansas. Yet, despite these strengths, the campus visit experience was falling short.
Post-pandemic, K-State had rebooted their visit program using a pre-COVID playbook. The experience leaned heavily on exhaustive customization and academic-focused interactions. While valuable, research showed that today’s prospective students prioritize more than academics—they’re eager to explore housing, dining, student life, wellness, community, and the surrounding area.
Services Provided
The Solution
Creating Immersive Experiences to Showcase Campus in a New Way
Following a two-day campus consulting visit, the team proposed a shift from a transactional to an experiential campus visit strategy:
- Centralized Campus Visit Operations: Consolidating visit logistics under the enrollment division for better consistency and oversight.
- Hybrid Walking-Riding Tour Model: Incorporating both walking and riding elements to showcase the full scale of campus and its surroundings.
- Branded Bus Tour: A dynamic narrated ride through key areas beyond central campus like Tigerville, a historic student neighborhood adjacent to campus, the stadium, arena, and the broader “Little Apple” (Manhattan, KS) community.
- Twilight Tours & Lifestyle-Focused Welcome Center: Enhancements to the visitor center and tour options to highlight student life, culture, and the unique rhythm of the K-State experience.
- Streamlined Visit Options: More concise tour times, updated information sessions, and restructured scheduling to improve the visitor experience and increase capacity.
K-State’s diverse colleges and schools partner to provide tours of their facilities, events with current students, and meetings with advisors.
Brand buses now reveal K-State’s robust R1 and student experience.
The updated tour includes their Big 12 stadium and arena as well as student recreation center.
Prospective tours get fully immersed cheering on the K-State Wildcats at the stadium.
Tour also now includes the historic Aggieville district, an iconic university feature.
K-State’s Welcome Center serves ice cream made on campus at the Animal Science dairy for delicious and memorable sensory engagement.
The Results
These strategic changes helped create a more authentic and memorable experience for prospective students and families. As a result, K-State began to see increased visit volume from primary, secondary, and tertiary markets, as well as improved engagement and higher yield across the enrollment funnel.
“Thanks for inspiring us to create a more relevant and impactful campus visit experience.”
Patrick Winter
Kansas State University
