The Admissions Funnel Is Becoming An Admissions Conversation

It is 10:47 p.m. in Mumbai. A prospective MBA candidate has just finished work and begins researching programs. In Detroit, a manager compares Executive MBA options after putting her children to bed. In Mexico City, an engineer wonders whether eight years of professional experience make him a competitive applicant.

Not long ago, each of these candidates would have had the same experience. They would complete an inquiry form, wait for an email, and hope that someone from the admissions office would respond the following day. That process felt perfectly reasonable because it reflected how universities had always operated.

Today, it feels increasingly out of step with the expectations of prospective students.

The discussion around artificial intelligence in higher education has largely focused on efficiency. Can AI answer frequently asked questions? Can it reduce response times? Can it help admissions teams manage growing inquiry volumes? These are all valid questions, but they overlook a much more profound transformation that is quietly reshaping business school recruitment.

The real opportunity is not to automate admissions. It is to fundamentally rethink how institutions engage with prospective students.

At Michigan State University, that realization came quickly. What began as a technology initiative soon evolved into a broader effort to reimagine the candidate experience. We discovered that the real value of AI was not that it could answer questions faster than our staff. It was that it allowed conversations to begin whenever prospective students were ready, rather than whenever our offices happened to be open.

That may sound like a subtle distinction, but it changes the way admissions should be viewed.

RETHINKING THE FUNNEL

For decades, business schools have invested enormous effort in optimizing the admissions funnel. Marketing campaigns generate inquiries. Recruitment events encourage applications. CRM systems nurture prospects through carefully designed communication journeys before they eventually submit an application. Success has traditionally been measured by the efficiency of that funnel and by the conversion rates between its different stages.

Increasingly, however, that model no longer reflects how candidates make decisions.

Prospective students rarely wake up one morning and decide to apply. Their journey unfolds over months or years. They ask questions late at night after work. They compare programs while commuting. They return repeatedly to subjects that matter to them, whether those relate to scholarships, career outcomes, visa requirements, faculty expertise or return on investment. Their decision is built through dozens of small interactions rather than a handful of major recruitment milestones.

In many respects, admissions is becoming less about managing campaigns and more about sustaining conversations.

A CAPACITY PROBLEM

This shift has implications far beyond technology.

Across institutions, admissions teams face remarkably similar challenges. Candidate expectations continue to rise while recruitment becomes increasingly global and increasingly competitive. Teams are expected to handle increasing volumes of inquiries, organize events, evaluate applications, coordinate scholarships and maintain personalized engagement throughout the recruitment cycle. The issue is rarely the quality of admissions professionals. It is that even the most experienced team has finite capacity.

This is where AI changes the conversation.

MORE HUMAN, NOT LESS

One of the first concerns raised whenever AI enters higher education is whether it risks replacing the human relationships that have always been central to admissions. Our experience suggests precisely the opposite. The institutions creating the greatest value are not those attempting to reduce human interaction, but those using AI to ensure that human expertise is focused where it matters most.

Routine questions about deadlines, tuition, program formats or admissions requirements can be answered immediately, regardless of time zone or office hours. That allows admissions professionals to spend more time discussing career ambitions, understanding personal circumstances, advising candidates on program fit and helping applicants navigate one of the most important decisions of their professional lives.

Paradoxically, AI has the potential to make admissions more human because it gives admissions teams more opportunities to do what only people can do well: listen, advise, empathize and build trust.

THE CONVERSATION AS DATA

Perhaps the most significant consequence of this transformation is not operational but strategic.

For decades, admissions leaders have relied on traditional funnel metrics: inquiries, applications, offers and enrollments. Those measures remain important, but conversational AI introduces an entirely new layer of institutional intelligence. For the first time, schools can understand not only who applies, but how prospective students arrive at that decision. They can identify the questions that consistently create uncertainty, the information that builds confidence, the points where candidates hesitate and the moments that ultimately encourage them to submit an application.

The conversation itself becomes valuable data.

A LEARNING SYSTEM

That may prove to be one of the most important developments in business school recruitment over the coming decade. Every interaction provides insight into what prospective students value, what concerns them and where institutions can improve the way they communicate. Instead of simply measuring the output of the admissions funnel, schools can begin learning from the conversations taking place inside it.

Interestingly, this is also the pattern emerging across institutions adopting conversational AI. Schools often begin by asking how AI can answer more questions or reduce administrative workload. Within a relatively short period, the discussion changes. They begin asking how conversations can become more meaningful, how engagement can continue over longer periods and how admissions teams can intervene at the moments where their expertise creates the greatest impact.

That evolution reflects a broader shift taking place across higher education.

BEYOND ADMISSIONS

Universities have spent decades investing in systems designed to manage information. Customer relationship management platforms store prospect records. Student information systems manage enrollments. Alumni databases record engagement histories. Increasingly, however, competitive advantage will come not from storing information but from building stronger relationships throughout the learner lifecycle.

Admissions is simply the first place where that transformation becomes visible.

The same principles are likely to reshape executive education, career services, alumni relations and lifelong learning. In every case, the expectation is becoming the same: people want timely, relevant and personalized engagement that helps them make better decisions.

The institutions that succeed over the next decade will therefore not simply be those with the largest recruitment budgets, the biggest marketing teams or even the highest rankings. They will be the schools that make it easiest for prospective students to engage, ask questions and build confidence throughout their decision-making journey.

Business schools have spent the past twenty years optimizing the admissions funnel.

The next twenty years will be about optimizing the conversation.

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Kara Tripi is the Managing Director of MBA Admissions at Michigan State University, where she oversees admissions for the Executive, Online, and Full-Time MBA programs. Anthony Campisi is President of ReadyRecruit and President of University Partnerships at GPRS, where he helps business schools strengthen graduate recruitment and enrollment through the strategic application of AI, marketing, and digital engagement. Benjamin Stevenin is the former Director of Business School Solutions and Partnerships at Times Higher Education.

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