What An Agile Admissions Team Actually Looks Like

If there’s one thing the start of this fall cycle has made clear, it’s that agility isn’t just a talking point anymore. It’s the core characteristic of enrollment teams that are responding effectively to the realities of student behavior, counselor workload, and mid-funnel uncertainty.

This week’s video podcast with Robert Nowak, Dean of Admissions at Lawrence University, gave us an opportunity to explore that idea through the lens of leadership. Robert shared how his team is thinking about agility—not as a vague ambition, but as a practical system. And while every campus is different, the core challenge is shared: how do we help our teams make smarter decisions, faster, when the ground is already shifting?

One of the key takeaways from our conversation was that agility doesn’t require a radical rebuild. It requires a rhythm. For Robert’s team, that means daily visibility into what students are doing—not just what stage they’re in. Applications, visits, and inquiries still matter, of course. But what often matters more is how those milestones are followed by action—or by silence.

The ability to detect early disengagement, for instance, is something many schools are still catching too late. A student who submitted an application but has not responded to outreach in ten days is not just paused. That’s a signal. And it’s one that often gets missed when strategy is built on monthly reports or counselor memory. Robert talked about how their team makes use of updated insights each day to decide who gets a call, who needs a nudge, and which follow-up efforts can wait.

That kind of prioritization is where agility shows up. It’s not about reacting to everything. It’s about knowing what deserves attention today—and having the confidence to focus on that, even if it means changing course from the plan written a few weeks earlier.

Another important thread from the discussion was the role of leadership in setting the tone for agility. Systems can surface signals, but it’s leadership that creates the permission structure to act on them. At Lawrence, that means encouraging staff to shift their effort when student behavior justifies it. It also means giving teams the space to test, revise, and try again—without needing to justify every change against last year’s plan.

One of the more relatable moments in the conversation came when Robert talked about how their team adjusted travel plans early in the fall—not because something failed, but because something else showed more promise. That kind of pivot isn’t always easy. But it’s the kind of move agile teams are increasingly willing to make.

As we look toward October, the middle of the funnel is beginning to take shape. The students who applied early are now deciding how serious they are. The students who visited once are deciding whether to return. The students who haven’t replied to outreach in two weeks may not be quietly deciding. They may already be drifting.

Agility in this moment means keeping your team focused on movement, not milestones. It means knowing which signals matter—and having the infrastructure in place to act on them while the window is still open.

That’s what an agile admissions office looks like. It’s not about speed. It’s about fit: matching your team’s time to the students most likely to respond to it. And it’s about creating the kind of operational clarity that lets good counselors stay focused without having to guess.

If you missed the video podcast, we encourage you to watch the full conversation with Robert Nowak. It’s a smart, candid look at how real agility is built—and what it makes possible.

Watch the full video podcast here: crowdcast.io/c/vprobert