By Chris Rapozo — Apr 13, 2023 11:00 AM
For many students, choosing the right academic program is a crucial decision that can profoundly impact their future career prospects.
As such, universities and colleges must make it easy for prospective students to find the programs that best fit their interests and goals.
One essential tool that can help with this effort is a program finder, a feature on university websites that allows students to search for specific programs and find relevant information.
In this week's blog post, we'll showcase 10 program finders from our clients' websites to help you draw inspiration and inspire you to create a well-designed program finder to help students make informed decisions about their academic paths.
Please note that we listed the following program finders at random and not by popularity or the author's personal preference, except the first one since Southern Utah University won the coveted 2023 Cassie Award for "Most Creative Use of Cascade CMS" for their program finder, which SUU built entirely with Cascade.
Index
- Southern Utah University
- Emory University
- Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
- Dakota State University
- Geneva College
- Regis University
- College of Charleston
- Cuyahoga Community College
- Del Mar College
- Eastern Connecticut State University
Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University put its program finder front and center on its homepage, where it belongs. SUU did a fantastic job providing an overview of the different degree programs prospective students may be interested in, including the delivery format, whether online or on campus.
To learn more about what the web team at SUU did on the backend to make it one of the most recognizable functions the team put on their website, watch the team's 2023 Cassie Award acceptance speech video below.
Link to program finder: https://www.suu.edu/programs/
Emory University
In his best-selling book, "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," Dr. Stephen R. Covey instructs readers to start with the end in mind to maximize their potential.
Emory University embodies this concept by presenting prospective students visiting the program page with a banner image covering the engine top page of graduating students walking toward their commencement ceremony.
Besides this powerfully encouraging picture, Emory allows students to find their program by filtering it by degree, frequency, school, program level, and format.
Link to program finder: https://www.emory.edu/home/academics/degrees-programs.html
Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University is a graduate school without boundaries, using the latest analytical methods to solve problems at the critical nexus of technology and society.
Heinz College's program finder page features an elegant banner image atop the page, setting the stage for what to expect when joining their program: "an education for intelligent action."
The program finder offers an easy-to-navigate page that's aesthetically pleasing and filterable by degree type, academic interest, location, frequency, whether full or part-time, years of working and program experience in a particular field, recognizing that their audience includes non-traditional students.
Link to program finder: https://www.heinz.cmu.edu/programs/
Dakota State University
Prospective students interested in Dakota State University can filter their search by the usual degree programs and various interests.
However, Dakota State also offers an option in the degree/program section to find endorsement programs that will help students demonstrate their commitment and passion to deeper learning in a particular area of interest that they prefer.
Dakota State University even uses the power of personalization to help prospective students find the right fit for their needs. Once visitors personalize their journey, the school provides a tool to estimate a scholarship and gives a more tailored visitor experience.
Link to program finder: https://dsu.edu/academics/majors-degrees.html
Geneva College
Geneva College appreciates the power of white space and offers prospective students a crisp user experience through an easily navigable program finder page.
If students know what they're looking for, they can simply enter a keyword that fits their interest, and the page serves degree programs in nanoseconds.
For those who are not 100% sure what fits their needs, Geneva's program finder offers drop-down menus tailored to academic interests and program types.
No enrollment marketing tactic is complete without a call to action.
Geneva strategically placed a "tell me more" pop-up on the bottom right side of the page that moves along with the visitor as the prospect searches for a degree program.
Link to program finder: https://www.geneva.edu/academics/programs/
Regis University
Regis University stays on brand throughout the entirety of its website, including its program finder.
Users can filter degree levels, disciples, and course formats via a drop-down menu, and the size specifications of rectangular images dedicated for each degree program are small enough to utilize four rows each of the program finder page's covet real estate and big enough to give visitors a visual reference of what each entails.
One should note the course format drop-down menu, which helps prospective students identify degree programs from on-campus vs. online format.
This a particularly appropriate option as more and more students identify as non-traditional learners, as mentioned during a recent blog post about the upcoming enrollment cliff.
Link to program finder: https://www.regis.edu/academics/majors-and-programs/
College of Charleston
Branding and storytelling are paramount to helping prospective students choose one institution over another.
Effective storytelling, using engaging content, compelling imagery, or videos, can show prospective students what it's like at an institution without having to set foot on campus while they're looking for a school to call home.
The College of Charleston embedded a virtual tour on top of its program finder to help prospective students understand what it's like to walk the grounds of this historic university.
Aside from the virtual tour, prospective students can find the usual suspects on the program finder page, including the various majors, minors, certificates, and special programs the institution offers.
Link to program finder: https://cofc.edu/academics/majorsandminors/
Cuyahoga Community College
Cuyahoga Community College, a public community college located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, puts the word "community" in community college and gives a non-threatening user experience to individuals regardless of background or age.
Cuyahoga's program finder highlights the school's corporate college, which provides professional development and corporate training opportunities to the people of Cuyahoga County.
Its community programming for adults and youth offers a variety of affordable and convenient community programs. These programs are designed to promote individual development for non-traditional students.
Link to program finder: https://www.tri-c.edu/programs/index.html
Del Mar College
During the 2023 Cascade User Conference, a panel of higher-ed web experts led by Hannon Hill's Kat Liendgens, Bradley Wanger, and Brad Kazmer discussed how colleges and universities could show their value more in 2023.
"Transparency is key when it comes to showing the value of an institution" was one of the key takeaways.
Del Mar College offers this transparent insight on its program finder page by providing a career coach assessment and a tutorial video to help students identify interests and strengths to help them make the best choice for their education and career.
Link to program finder: https://delmar.edu/degrees/
Eastern Connecticut State University
The program finder on Eastern Connecticut State University's website is created with the modern website visitor in mind.
Eastern welcomes its visitors with a breathtaking shot of a campus square followed by a grid of 40 majors, 60 minors, and more than 60 concentrations for prospective students to choose from.
The part that stood out was the "concentrations" option for some majors, which provides groups of courses with specialized instruction in a focused career area or academic subject. This option is relevant for people who still decide what major they want to study but have an idea of what they like.
Link to program finder: https://www.easternct.edu/programs/index.html
Conclusion
A program finder is an essential tool that every university website should have. It is a powerful resource that helps prospective students easily navigate the university's academic offerings and find programs that match their interests and career goals.
With a program finder, universities can attract and retain more students by providing relevant and comprehensive information about their programs.
If the program finders in this list inspired you to update yours, fill out the form below and schedule a call with our professional services team to help you implement your new program finder today.
