The Role of AI in Modern School Admissions

It all starts with one question: Is this the right school for my child?

A mom opens a browser and searches for K-12 schools in her area. She wonders if the academics and extracurricular offerings will work for her child and if the social dynamics will be a good fit. Meanwhile, a dad across town searches for a school that will truly get his child’s behavioral needs and his family’s financial situation.

For K–12 school leaders, enrollment begins in these moments. In today’s digital world, brochures and open houses aren’t enough to reach families. You need insight and agility, which you can achieve by leveraging AI.

The 2025 Future-Proofing School Communications report by NSPRA underscores this shift. Their survey results show that 91% of school communication professionals are already using AI to create personalized content, automate email responses, answer parent questions via chatbot, and forecast enrollment.

AI doesn’t replace the human work of connection; it enhances it. As the competition for family attention grows, schools using AI aren’t just keeping up, they’re standing out. Here are a few ways AI tools can transform your school’s enrollment and admissions process.

When considering integrating AI into your enrollment and admissions process, a simple place to start is adding an AI chatbot to your school’s website. Chatbots are nothing new, but AI chatbots have come a long way since their first iterations. They now use natural language processing to hold conversations that feel real, answer questions 24/7, and even sense hesitation or confusion. Adding a chatbot to your website can also give you valuable data to inform user segmentation and personalized outreach.

There are many AI chatbot options on the market. Here are a few to consider in your search:

• K12 Insight is designed for K-12 and helps districts provide effective customer service and create internal efficiencies.
• Bloombreach isn’t built specifically for schools, but it offers value in its focus on personalization, which can help you give each family the attention and information they need.
• MagicSchool.ai offers various AI tools for K-12 schools, including a customizable chatbot.
• Halda delivers personalized student engagement across channels, including dynamic website chat and automated outreach to help schools break silos and guide prospects.

Enrollment success begins with understanding what families actually care about. Traditional segmentation looks at broad demographics such as age, gender, or ethnicity. While this information is useful, AI can help you go even deeper, analyzing behavior, emotional cues, and preferences to group families by motivations.

Every family has different priorities when searching for a school. Some look for a school that is flexible enough to fit into their schedule, while others focus on academic rigor, college readiness, or extracurricular offerings. AI tools don’t rely on surveys alone. They learn from:

• Browsing behavior: What pages a parent visits on your school’s website, how long they stay, and what content they revisit
• Email engagement: What topics they open and click on, and when they do it (e.g., evenings vs. mornings)
• Chatbot interactions: The questions they ask, the tone they use, or even the urgency they express
• Form submissions: Fields like job role, child’s age, or language preference

Once you know what families care about, the next step is delivering relevant content without overwhelming your staff. AI makes it possible to do both.

For example, if a working parent repeatedly opens your emails at 9:30 p.m. and visits the extended care page on your website, that might indicate that they are a working parent who prioritizes flexibility. You can then leverage generative AI tools like Chat GPT, Grammarly, or Canva’s Magic Write to send them personalized content about your aftercare program, early drop-off options, and accessible communication options like SMS or app-based updates.

Or, if another parent asks your chatbot about kindergarten programs, you can add them to a stream of nurture emails (that you pre-made with your favorite generative AI software) that walks them through a step-by-step guide for applying to school and specific programs or classes of interest, easing their worries.

This type of responsiveness keeps families engaged and moves them closer to enrollment, all while reducing your team’s manual workload.

Want a more comprehensive list of AI software that can speed up your content creation process? Explore 10 AI tools for K-12 schools in our recent blog post.

Not every inquiry will lead to enrollment, but AI can help schools focus their energy where it matters most. Lead-scoring tools like Glide AI and Warmly AI are explicitly built to analyze digital behavior, which can help schools identify the families most likely to take the next step. These tools enable your admissions staff to:

• More accurately prioritize high-interest families
• Increase enrollment by reaching the right families at the right time
• Continuously improve processes as your school evolves and families’ needs change

For example, suppose a parent opens multiple emails, visits your admissions and financial aid pages, and signs up for an open house through a form on your website. AI tools like these can flag them as a high-potential lead and recommend a timely follow-up, like a tailored email from a counselor inviting them on a one-on-one tour.

Glide agents are designed for education, and they focus on streamlining admissions tasks and identifying top leads through engagement data. Warmly is not specifically tailored to the K-12 environment, but it offers predictive modeling that can recommend next steps and improve conversion over time.

Regardless of the tool you choose, the result is fewer missed opportunities and more meaningful conversations with the families most likely to enroll.

AI isn’t just helpful in the here and now. It’s a game-changer for long-term enrollment strategy, allowing schools to look beyond this year’s goals and start planning for the next. By leveraging predictive analytics to analyze historical enrollment data, schools can:

• Identify where prospective families tend to drop off, whether after submitting an inquiry, before attending a tour, or just before the deposit deadline.
• Pinpoint bottlenecks in the admissions process
• Spot patterns based on timing, demographics, or engagement
• Project enrollment trends earlier, allowing for more responsive outreach

For AI tools to do their job effectively, they need access to clean, connected data. That means achieving data interoperability across your SIS, enrollment portal, financial aid software, and communications tools. If your data is disconnected, AI insights remain siloed, and you’ll lose the full potential of prediction.

AI has the potential to reshape K–12 schools’ enrollment approach, making it more personal, efficient, and responsive to families’ needs. From identifying motivated parents to delivering tailored content and forecasting trends, AI gives school leaders the tools to build stronger relationships and effective strategies.

Need even more tips for admissions strategies that work for tight budgets? We’ve got you covered!