Indian School of Business saw an opportunity to utilize the GMASS marketing tool to reach the following goals:
- Use the GMASS database to attract candidates with high GMAT scores and strong profiles into their pipeline
- Increase international enrollment – a more diverse cohort brings different perspective
- Prove the brand equity of the school outside the country
Increasing International Applications to a “Non-Traditional” Destination
Sanjay Dhingra was facing a major challenge.
As Associate Director for Admissions and Financial Aid at the Indian School of Business, Dhingra had a goal to increase international enrollment for the school’s full-time, one-year post graduate programme in management at both the Hyderabad and the Mohali campuses.
The challenge: India is not traditionally considered a study abroad destination for business school. Dhingra and his colleagues wanted to change this for a variety of reasons: increased diversity in a business school class leads to students graduating with a more “global-ready” perspective, and increases the reach and network of the school worldwide among candidates, alumni and employers.
“If we look at India as a country, it’s not been a study abroad destination,” said Dhingra. “But as the economy starts attracting more focus, we as an institution believe that India is going to move towards the center of the world and a lot of business is going to take place here, making India’s market more relevant to international students.”
Thinking Beyond “Preferred Region of Study” to Cast a Wider Net
Rather than filtering the search of the GMASS database by preferred region of study, Dhingra used the database to target students with strong GMAT scores and profiles. These prospective students had not directly indicated an interest in studying in India, or even in greater Asia. An email campaign from ISB let these students learn about the school, its rankings and reputation, and the growing business opportunities in India, and interest from foreign candidates increased.
The email campaign included an initial communication followed by a series of emails over the following months to engage candidates. The call to action was a link to request more information, or set up a call with ISB, in which case the interested candidate would be diverted to a more targeted outreach stream. ISB would continue to have follow up discussions with interested candidates and applicants throughout the application cycle.
Using the GMASS Database Contributed to a 5x Increase in International Students – in Just One Year
Said Dhingra: “A majority of our international applicants coming in this year are from the GMASS database names that we purchased. When we looked at their profiles for their Preferred Region of Study, Asia didn’t figure into it at all. But when we started telling them about India and about the school, they found they could apply here as well.”
How Can the GMASS Global Database Help You?
Find the right mix of candidates to recruit for your program.
GMASS is an easy-to-access database that connects admissions professionals to the largest global source of qualified candidates interested in graduate management education.
With 500,000+ prospects who want to hear from business schools and more than 2,000 unique combinations of search parameters in 37 categories, you can target searches specifically for your recruiting and marketing needs.
- Create awareness about new programs
- Set up recurring searches
- Find the right mix of candidates anytime, anywhere
- Recruit early, before candidates have taken the GMAT exam
- Enjoy a cost-effective way to reach candidates