Build an Alumni Survey for Schools and Alumni Networks
Get an alumni survey that tracks graduate outcomes and reunion plans, with every answer saved in a database you own.
Build an alumni survey that collects every answer in a database I own.
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What Emergent Builds Into an Alumni Survey
Emergent builds the survey and the table behind it, and one more prompt changes either before the next class graduates.
Sections for what your office needs
Tell Emergent what you need to learn, such as career paths, reunion plans, or mentoring interest. It drafts a section for each, and a short prompt changes any question.
Answers sorted by class year
Each response lands as a row in a database you own, tagged with class year and degree. Put the class of 2025 beside the class of 2026 on the same question, line by line.
Matched to your alumni records
The app connects to the records system your office keeps through its API, so answers sync in and new contact details sync out. Nobody has to retype a graduate's new job title.
An email when an answer needs a reply
Set a rule on any answer, such as a graduate still job hunting. The app sends an email or Slack alert to the staff member who follows up, with the full answer attached.
Built for a phone, with no response cap
Alumni answer one question per screen on a phone, between other things. Emergent puts no cap on responses, so a class of 40 and an alumni base of 40,000 use one survey.
Your domain and your code
Host the survey on your own domain, included in Emergent and billed in credits. On paid plans, export the full code to your GitHub repository and reuse it for next year's class.
How Schools and Firms Run Alumni Surveys
118 of 151 graduates who answered are working
Quarrybank College's engineering school surveys all 212 graduates 6 months after commencement. Of the 212, 151 answer: 118 are working, 22 are in graduate school, and 11 are still looking. Each of the 11 gets an email inviting them to book a session with the career center.
window.awbMockup = { careerOutcomes: "Survey my engineering school's 212 graduates 6 months after commencement. Ask whether each is working, in graduate school, or still looking, with employer and job title for anyone working. Email everyone still looking an invitation to book a career center session, and show the count and share for each outcome.", reunionVote: "Build a vote for our high school class of 2016 to pick the weekend for our 10-year reunion: homecoming weekend, the Friday after Thanksgiving, or the July 4 weekend. Send it to all 340 classmates, accept one vote per classmate checked against our class list, and show the running count for each weekend.", mentorSignUp: "Ask our university's alumni whether they will mentor a current student and in which field. Compare mentor sign-ups by field with the student requests we already have, and show any field where requests outnumber mentors so the alumni office knows whom to recruit first.", formerStaff: "Each spring, survey our 412 former employees on their phones, one question per screen. Ask what they do now and whether they would consider coming back. For each yes, email our recruiter the person's name and last role, and keep every answer in one table by year." };
Reunion vote goes to homecoming, 104 to 61
Brierwood High School's class of 2016 asks 340 classmates to pick its 10-year reunion weekend, one vote per classmate, checked against the class list. Of the 340, 196 vote. Homecoming weekend gets 104 votes, the Friday after Thanksgiving gets 61, and the July 4 weekend gets 31. The committee books homecoming.
Health care asks for 38 mentors and gets 6
Merrivale University's alumni office wanted a mentor for every student who asked. It asked graduates if they would mentor, and in what field: 74 alumni signed up against 98 student requests. Finance has 31 mentors for 22 requests. Health care has 6 mentors for 38 requests. The office writes to its nursing alumni first.
A recruiter email for every former consultant who says yes
Thornquist Advisory keeps in touch with 412 former employees through a spring survey answered on a phone, one question per screen. This year 187 answered, and 23 said they would consider coming back. For each yes, recruiter Marisol Raske gets an email with the person's name and last role.
How to Run an Alumni Survey
Seven steps to run an alumni survey that reaches your graduates and ends with one decision your office acts on.
Decide what the results will change before you write anything: next year's career programs, a reunion date, or a mentor recruiting push. One decision per round keeps the survey short. Put it in your prompt, and Emergent drafts the questions around it.
Remove addresses that bounced on the last mailing, add the personal emails collected at commencement, and tag every contact with class year and degree. A survey reaches only the graduates your list can find.
Open with what graduates do now: employer, job title, city, or further study. Put questions about their program after that, while they are still engaged. Keep the whole survey near 12 questions. A graduate should be able to finish it on a phone in one sitting.
Ask for class year and degree, or fill them in from the contact list. Every answer can then be split by school and year. A nursing result and a business result blended into one average tell neither school what to change.
Send the draft to three recent graduates and ask them to answer with real details. Check that each answer lands in the right column and that any alert rule fires on the right answer. Fix every question one of them misread.
Send the invite from a professor or the class president rather than a no-reply inbox. Leave the survey open for 3 weeks with 2 reminders, and stop the reminders for anyone who has already answered.
Tell respondents what changed because of their answers: the reunion date, the new mentor push, the career sessions added. Keep the core questions the same next year. Each class then compares with the one before it.
Why Build Your Alumni Survey on Emergent?
Alumni answers gain value each year you keep them. On Emergent every class sits in tables you own, and a prompt changes any question.
|
SurveyMonkey | Microsoft Forms | SurveyHero | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | Survey, logic, and response database, as code you own | Survey builder with templates, including employee engagement | Surveys, quizzes, and polls with response summaries | Survey builder with templates, including employee satisfaction |
| Pricing model | Credits, no response caps or per-response fees | Per-user team plans with a seat minimum, billed annually | Free with a Microsoft account; included in Microsoft work and school subscriptions | Free plan, then per-account plans with unlimited responses |
| Where responses live | A database table you own, plus any integration | SurveyMonkey account | Microsoft Forms, with export to Excel | SurveyHero account, EU data centers |
| Code ownership | Full code export to GitHub on paid plans | None | None | None |
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