"Meeting the students where they are is one of the five pillars of UC Davis Undergraduate Admissions' social media strategy; which means that we have to constantly reevaluate the digital landscape, assess where prospective students are spending their time and make strategic decisions on where to put our resources.
After much research and many conversations with other campuses and students at UC Davis, in March of 2022, the UC Davis social media team strategically made the move to replace Facebook class groups, which have been declining in engagement over the years, with Discord class servers. Discord is a platform that students have been organically flocking to for instant messaging needs and community building.
We created two servers, specific to the incoming freshman and transfer classes. Customized subchannels and member roles helped students easily personalize their accounts and quickly connected them with other Aggies with similar interests to start building community from the get-go. Throughout the yield cycles, thousands of students engaged with each other and asked professional and student staff a myriad of questions ranging from why they choose UC Davis to housing and dining options to navigating financial aid."
From the Judges
UC Davis' Discord Server was an innovative way to engage students where they are which is highly regarded. The ability to ask and answer questions to the newly admitted and transfer students is key when building community among these groups and something that should be admired.
