One of America’s most elite institutions, the U.S. Coast Guard Academy offers exceptional students a path to military leadership through its rigorous AIM summer program. This intense week-long immersion serves as the crucial gateway for high school juniors considering the Academy. But how could this selective federal institution use AIM to attract a cadet corps that truly reflects America’s diverse population?
Underrepresented minority inquires and applicants
+61%
Sophomore inquiries
+28%
Junior inquiries
+34%
AIM applicants
+19%
USCGA applicants
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy wanted to diversify its small corps of 1,069 cadets. The Academy struggled to attract applicants reflecting America’s geographic and ethnic diversity. A key component of their recruitment strategy: the Academy Introduction Mission (AIM), an intense summer program giving high school juniors a taste of cadet life.
JPL’s multi-media, multi-touch national campaign helped the Academy achieve its enrollment goals and diversify its future student population. Our “College Exceeded” concept centers around the idea that the Academy is for students who want to make a difference, not just earn a degree. The segmented search and nurture campaign targeted underrepresented minority high school sophomores and juniors throughout the U.S. using variable data and personalization technologies.
By positioning the Academy as an opportunity unrivaled—where driven students rise to challenges rather than enjoy “lazy summers”—we delivered unprecedented diverse results of sophomore and junior inquiries as well as AIM and Academy applicants. This led to the largest underrepresented minority AIM applicant pool in the Academy’s history.
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