Customer stories

50% Increase in Application Completion Rate: How Harvard Student Agencies Transformed Admissions

Harvard Student Agencies (HSA) is the world’s largest student-run organisation, with over 900 undergraduates working across 10 different business units. The Academies division delivers impactful pre-professional programmes – both online and on campus – channelling every bit of profit back into student wages and Harvard’s financial aid fund.
Location

Massachusetts, USA

Products

Origin

Foundation

Website

https://academies.hsa.net/

The Challenge

The Challenge: Too Much Manual Work, Not Enough Time

The admissions experience at HSA Academies was shaped by manual effort and disjointed tools. Student managers – already balancing academic and leadership responsibilities – were left navigating complex workflows without a clear system to guide them. The impact? Time lost, data gaps, and a frustrating experience for applicants and staff alike.

Let’s face it – admissions should feel smooth, clear, and well-connected. But for HSA Academies, the experience was anything but.

  • Every offer, email, and payment had to be processed manually.
  • A new team of student managers stepped in each year, with little to no continuity.
  • Communications were split across five disconnected tools.
  • Application data was spread over eight different locations, making it hard to get a clear picture.
  • And when applicants were asked to pay via an external Shopify checkout, some questioned if it was even legitimate.
The processes that were done in the past were extremely labour intensive. There was little automation. It was mostly manual acceptances, manual emails, and manual purchase orders…
Colin Bligh
Managing Director @ HSA Academies

The Challenge

The Turning Point: Finding a Simpler Way with Full Fabric

Recognising the need for a more connected, intuitive approach, the HSA Academies team began exploring solutions that could ease the workload on student managers and create a better journey for applicants. They didn’t just need a better system – they needed a smarter way of working.

That’s when they found Full Fabric: a modular platform built for higher education. It brought everything together – CRM, applications, communications, and payments – in one place, enabling a seamless and fully connected admissions experience.

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The Results: More Submissions, Happier Applicants

The shift to Full Fabric didn’t just make internal processes easier – it directly improved applicant behaviour and satisfaction. With friction removed from the journey and clarity at every touchpoint, more students were completing their applications, and fewer questions were left unanswered.

The numbers speak for themselves:

  • A 25% uplift in submission rates, thanks to timely, automated reminders.
  • Half of all applications started are now completed.
  • A 3–3.5% conversion rate from paid website visitors to applications.
  • Applicants could apply, communicate, and pay through one seamless, branded portal.
  • Marketing, admissions, and finance teams began working from a shared workflow, eliminating silos.
  • Student managers were onboarded in days, not weeks.
  • Real-time dashboards offered instant insights, enabling quick, confident decisions.
  • Regular fortnightly checks catch any issues before they become problems.
  • No more duplicate emails—and no more concerns about the payment process.
Centralising and using one platform like Full Fabric made that turnover and that transfer of knowledge all that much easier in addition to the day-to-day operations, and the seamlessness of it.
Patrick Carroll
Strategic Consultant @ HSA Academies

The Turning Point: Finding a Simpler Way with Full Fabric

Recognising the need for a more connected, intuitive approach, the HSA Academies team began exploring solutions that could ease the workload on student managers and create a better journey for applicants. They didn’t just need a better system – they needed a smarter way of working.

That’s when they found Full Fabric: a modular platform built for higher education. It brought everything together – CRM, applications, communications, and payments – in one place, enabling a seamless and fully connected admissions experience.

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The Challenge

A Smarter Admissions Journey – Now and Into the Future

The transformation wasn’t a one-off fix. HSA Academies embraced a culture of continuous improvement, using Full Fabric to test, learn, and adapt. With performance data at their fingertips, the team now proactively identifies issues, makes quick adjustments, and ensures every applicant gets the best possible experience.

HSA Academies didn’t just make a change and move on. They’re now running fortnightly dummy applications and reviewing performance charts every week to keep things running smoothly. It’s a continuous cycle of refinement that ensures the experience remains efficient – for staff and applicants alike.

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Want to See the Difference for Yourself?

Book a strategy call and discover how Full Fabric can help you simplify operations, improve submission rate, and give your team more time to focus on what really matters – your students.

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