Reading an enrollment table before open day season
A short checklist for admissions leads who inherit messy application-to-acceptance counts.
Application counts flatter. Acceptance counts sober. Withdrawals after offer tell you whether messaging matched reality. Before open day season, print three years side by side and mark any stage where definitions changed — for example, when “application” started including incomplete online forms.
Ask whether feeder primary schools are listed consistently. A renamed feeder can look like a collapse when it is only a label change. Note dual applications from the same household if your process allows them; otherwise intake risk gets double-counted.
If you need a structured walkthrough of scenarios, our enrollment forecast briefing is built for that conversation rather than for decorative funnel charts.