Attracting College Candidates: The Impact of Perceived Social Life

This paper explores how perceived attractiveness of the social life at a college/university influences potential applicants' likelihood to request information from, visit and apply to (decision approach actions) that school. Results obtained from a study of high school juniors indicate that attractiveness of social life, defined in terms of characteristics of the people and experiences to be found at a school, is at least as important as quality of education in determining the likelihood of a candidate undertaking decision approach actions toward a school. The implications of these findings for colleges'/universities' recruitment efforts are discussed.