Students decide earlier than ever — and the window keeps shrinking

The old assumption — that the choice journey peaks during application season — no longer holds. Research from Encoura, a leading US admissions-research firm, found a significant shift in decision timing: a large share of prospects decide where they'll go well before the "official" season opens.

And this isn't a single data point but an accelerating trend: since 2018 there's been a 24-percentage-point increase — more than a doubling — in the share of students who say they knew where they'd go "in the fall or sooner." In other words, the window in which the decision forms opens earlier and closes faster.

"Since 2018 there has been a 24-percentage-point increase — a more than doubling — in the proportion of students who said they knew where they would enroll in the 'fall or sooner' timeframe."— Encoura, Timing Is Everything, 2024

The implication for an institution: presence only during application season is late presence. When a candidate forms a view in the fall — or earlier, facing an AI answer at 10 PM — the institution needs to already be there, with an answer to their question. That's why PULSE works in two layers: constant presence where the consideration set is built, and response speed in the window where the decision falls.