This year’s AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education took us to Washington, D.C., a place that immediately set the rhythm for an energizing and productive week.
Even though we have walked these same routes in past trips, the city still has a way of stopping you. The Capitol always does that. You think you have seen it enough times for the excitement to fade, but it never really does. Being there brings a mix of steadiness and motivation that is hard to describe.
Once we stepped inside the venue, with our booth set up and our chocolates ready to share (a great conversation starter!), conversations started flowing immediately. The energy in the room was contagious, and everyone seemed genuinely excited for what was about to unfold throughout the day.
Ready to share insights from our work and highlight the projects and ideas we’re most proud of, the day started. Equally exciting was learning from others’ experiences, hearing their challenges, and discovering new perspectives that could inspire our own approach.
Between laughs and sugar-fueled chats, we finally got the chance to meet, in person, people who are incredibly important to us. One highlight was meeting Beth, Director of Market Research and SEO Strategy at Ohio University, who had teamed up with Granit on the webinar “How to Get ChatGPT to Recommend Your School” just a few weeks earlier, during which they shared insights and strategies that resonated deeply with the audience. Meeting her face-to-face turned a virtual interaction into a memorable connection, making our time at the event feel even more rewarding.
Session Highlights
One session after the other, AMA proved its value to the industry once again. From addressing different marketing challenges to presenting actionable strategies, each speaker provided insights of exceptional relevance.
Here are a few sessions that left the strongest impression on us.
Todd Henry – Times of Uncertainty Require Creative Bravery
His keynote, Times of Uncertainty Require Creative Bravery, Todd Henry explored what it truly means to generate bold ideas under pressure. He acknowledged how unrealistic it can feel when someone tells you to “be creative” or “show courage” on demand, especially when results are expected immediately. Instead of relying on inspiration to strike, this session brought to attention that bravery must be cultivated long before high-stakes moments arrive.
Attendees walked away with practical habits to strengthen creative thinking, accelerate idea generation, foster healthier collaboration, and build the kind of everyday courage that drives innovation and momentum for any team.
Mallory Willsea with Jaime Hunt, Carrie Phillips, and Safaniya Stevenson – Leading with Vision
The panel moderated by Mallory Willsea, host of The Higher Ed Pulse, and featuring Jaime Hunt, Carrie Phillips, and Safaniya Stevenson, was one of the most grounded and honest leadership conversations we’ve heard in a while.
This dynamic panel explored how institutions are leveraging AI, data-driven insights, and cross-campus collaboration to elevate their work and build more authentic, student-centered experiences. The discussion offered a forward-looking perspective on what’s possible when marketing teams lead with vision, embrace innovation, and remain deeply connected to today’s learners’ needs.
Bart Caylor & Steven Rutt – Leading AI Change: Upskilling Your Team and Institution
In this session, Bart Caylor (Caylor Solutions) and Steven Rutt (Abilene Christian University) examined what it truly takes to prepare marketing and enrollment teams to create an AI-ready culture.
Rather than focusing solely on tools, the session emphasized the leadership mindset required to guide teams through continuous transformation. Insights into ACU’s institutional AI journey offered a direct look at the challenges and opportunities that come with large-scale adoption.
Brian Mitchell – How Students Use AI in the College Research and Admissions Process [Report]
AI is reshaping how students approach college research and the admissions journey. This session, delivered by Brian Mitchell, focused on unveiling new survey findings that shed light on how undergraduate and graduate students use AI at key points in their decision-making.
The study, presented publicly for the first time at AMA Higher Ed, revealed how students are applying AI to refine college searches, strengthen essay drafts, and simplify application tasks. The session expanded further on students’ perceptions of the technology, highlighting both the opportunities it creates and the ethical considerations institutions must navigate.
Building on the insights outlined in our State of College Search 2025 research series, their new findings further validate the trends we identified around students’ increasing reliance on new tools, especially AI, to navigate the college discovery and application process. Together, these aligned results strengthen our understanding of the evolving student journey and highlight the need for institutions to adapt an AI-ready marketing strategy.
Dayana Kibilds & Bridget Campolettano – Reimagining Access: How Student Journey Maps Transform Outreach
Traditional higher ed outreach often relies on the assumption that students already have some guidance through the college process, whether from counselors, community networks, or family members familiar with higher education. But for many students, that built-in support simply doesn’t exist.
To better understand and serve these learners, Amherst College partnered with Ologie to take a closer look at the student experience. Through the development of four detailed student journey maps, this session uncovered key moments where strategic outreach can make a meaningful difference. The session explored how journey mapping not only reveals gaps in support but also helps institutions design earlier, more intentional touchpoints that meet students where they are.
Laura Rudolph & Kristin Nichols – Clarity Is Equity: Building Trust Through Student-Centered Messaging
Clear communication is more than just a good practice. When colleges rely on dense language, institutional jargon, students who are new to higher education often feel unintentionally excluded. This session examined how thoughtful, student-centered messaging can remove barriers and create a more welcoming, trustworthy experience.
Drawing on decades of collective experience supporting first-generation students and their families, Laura Rudolph and Kristin Nichols shared real-world examples and practical tools that help institutions communicate with greater empathy and purpose. This session introduced a straightforward messaging framework that any team can adopt, along with techniques for auditing communications through an equity lens.
Emerging Trends & Strategic Insights
Instead of simply confirming what we already knew, this year’s sessions pushed us to rethink our work through a wider lens. We walked away with ideas we want to test, conversations we want to keep having, and a clearer sense of where students are headed next.
Here are some of the takeaways that we brought home:
1. Students use AI to search but trust people to decide – Many students now begin their admissions search with tools like ChatGPT. Roughly half of them ask AI for information about colleges and universities. Even with this growing reliance on technology, human influence still matters. Six in ten students speak with friends, family members, or counselors before making an application decision.
Takeaway: Make sure your institution appears accurately in AI results while also strengthening the human voices that guide students. When AI points a student toward your school, the people they trust should reinforce the message.
2. Your admissions page matters more than ever – AI tools prioritize clear factual information. They gather details from your website to shape the answers they provide to prospective students. Confusing navigation, outdated information, and broken links can cause AI to overlook your institution entirely.
Takeaway: Keep your admissions page simple and easy to understand. Provide clear deadlines, GPA requirements, tuition details, and links that work. If AI cannot read your information, it cannot recommend your school.
3. Parents are becoming a core marketing audience – Campaigns that communicated with both parents and students performed four to five times better than campaigns that focused on students alone. Families want to be included in the search, and they have a strong influence on final decisions.
Takeaway: Create messaging that speaks directly to parents while still engaging students. Treat families as key partners in the decision-making process and reach them early.
4. TikTok is becoming a primary search tool for students – Students are not only searching on Google anymore. They are exploring institutions on TikTok, YouTube, and Reddit where real people share real experiences.
Takeaway: While you cannot control everything students post, you can shape what they discover. Share honest student stories and give prospective students a look at daily life on campus.
Until Next Time
As we reflect on AMA 2025, the ideas, discussions, and connections we experienced continue to inspire and energize our work. Beyond the panels and sessions, it was the conversations and the chance to reconnect with old friends and meet new ones that left the most lasting impression.
Hearing firsthand how other marketers are navigating challenges and exploring innovative strategies reminded us that progress in higher education marketing comes from shared learning and curiosity. The conference reinforced the importance of staying open to new approaches, testing ideas, and learning from both successes and failures.
We can’t wait to reconnect in Denver next year and continue influencing the evolution of higher education marketing through these meaningful conversations.
To everyone we met this year, thank you for the conversations.
To the speakers, thank you for the inspiration.
And to AMA, we’ll meet again in 2026 in Denver, Colorado.
