Descriptor PLUS
Descriptor PLUS is a geodemographic tagging service that identifies and groups students according to neighborhood and high school. All you need to provide is a zip code and a high school name and Descriptor PLUS will create profiles of prospective students that reveal who these students are:
- Academically
- Financially
- Geographically
Built with College Board data from millions of students and thousands of high schools, as well as the U.S. Census, Descriptor PLUS will help you:
- Target your marketing
- Increase applications and admissions
- Save money
Stop wasting expensive recruitment materials on mass mailings. With Descriptor PLUS, you can identify the type of student most likely to apply to and enroll at your institution. Once you know students to look for and where they are located, you can market directly to those students.
Neighborhood and high school clusters
Drawing on a wealth of high-quality data, the College Board has created a group of 30 unique educational neighborhood clusters. Some characteristics used to define neighborhood clusters include:
- Mean SAT® scores
- Average acceptance rate at targeted colleges
- Percent of minority students
- Parents' average income and education level, and more...
The College Board has also assembled 30 descriptive high school clusters based on records from 4 million students in 28,000 high schools.
In addition to raw numbers, Descriptor PLUS also offers an analysis of each cluster that summarizes the schools' and students':
- Academic credentials
- In-state and out-of-state mobility rates
- Standardized test scores
- Number of AP® programs
- College-prep courses, and more...
Integrates with other College Board recruitment tools
Many colleges and universities have successfully used Descriptor PLUS in conjunction with other College Board programs, such as:
- Student Search Service® (SSS)
- Enrollment Planning Service (EPS)
Descriptor PLUS and SSS are an especially powerful combination. Student names available through SSS can be selected by neighborhood and high school clusters. This combined information gives you an accurate picture of a student's educational and cultural background and helps you focus your marketing to that student.
Helping you get started
When you purchase Descriptor PLUS, you receive full descriptions of cluster characteristics and a guide to having your student data tagged to help you utilize this important recruitment and admissions tool.