2020–21 Independent School Inquiry Survey
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, The Enrollment Management Association (EMA)
has been conducting special analyses and collecting data through a series of surveys, in an effort
to provide empirical-based insights to schools regarding a variety of admissions and enrollment
issues, such as Chinese students studying abroad, application trends to independent schools,
2020–21 school enrollment, etc.
The most recent survey that EMA conducted was the 2020–21 school inquiry survey.
EMA is hearing from many admissions and enrollment professionals that this is a year "like no
other." In October 2020, EMA conducted its 2020–21 Independent School Inquiry Survey,
asking if schools' inquiries were lower this year, aiming to put data behind that statement.
Participants
The survey was sent to 1,000+ EMA member schools via the EMA newsletter on October
15, 2020, and closed in late November. In total, 291 schools responded to the survey,
representing a response rate close to 30%.
Day school vs. boarding school . Figure 1 presents the breakdown of the 291 schools. As
can be seen from Figure 1, the majority of responding schools were day school only (68%),
followed by 14% identifying as primarily day school with some boarding students. Together, day
schools accounted for 82% of the participants. Boarding schools, including those identifying as
boarding school only (2%) and primarily boarding school with some day students (13%),
2
