From Search to Selection: How Changing Student Discovery Is Shaping Admissions
Summary
The way students discover, compare and choose courses is changing fast, and admissions thinking needs to evolve alongside it. From AI overviews and social search to Reddit recommendations, geo-location discovery and peer-led decision-making, today’s applicants are navigating online choice in fundamentally different ways. This high-energy opening keynote explores how students in the UK and globally are now searching, shortlisting, validating and deciding. The session will connect these shifts to admissions practice, highlighting where teams may need to rethink assumptions about visibility, influence and timing - from how courses are presented and compared, to how trust is built, questions are answered, and decisions are shaped across the student journey.
