Already Doing It | For Universities
For Universities

Your ambassadors are brilliant. But they’re not independent.

Already Doing It gives prospective students the honest conversation no university can have about itself, and gives your team the impact data and perception intelligence to prove what it changed. Fully managed. Fully evidenced. Minimal admin for your team.

100% independent
APP-ready impact data
Minimal admin for your team
The honest conversation universities can’t have themselves

You cannot pay someone to represent your brand and ask them to be independent at the same time

Your student ambassadors are excellent. But both sides know the context. They are paid by your university and representing your brand, and however genuine they are, prospective students filter everything through that lens. That is not a training problem. It is structural.

Already Doing It is different by design. Our near-peer mentors have no institutional loyalty to any university. They are trained to give honest, unfiltered insight: the challenges, the surprises, what they would do differently. Because they have nothing to sell, prospective students receive what they say completely differently.

The evidence backs it: in our survey of current university students and graduates, those who had an honest conversation before choosing were twice as likely to be happy with their degree choice.

That independence is not something you can replicate internally. It is the product.

A real 1:1 Uni Insider session: expectations versus reality

Inside a real 1:1 session, delivered on Google Meet.

The pilot results
The conversation works. And we can measure it.
102
one-to-one sessions delivered across seven pilot schools
83%
confidence about what they want to do after sixth form, up from 52%. A 60% increase after a single conversation
4.92/5
average mentor rating from students across all sessions
100%
student satisfaction across the pilot programme
Source: ADI pilot programme, 2026. Based on 102 completed sessions with pre and post session student reflection data.
Perception intelligence

The intelligence a campus tour cannot capture

In students’ own words: what draws them to a course, and what quietly puts them off. By course. By institution. These are the objections your recruitment team never hears, because students do not say them to you. They say them to someone with nothing to sell.

What appealed
“Course lets you specialise later, suits me because I’m undecided.”
“The placement year is what’s drawing me in.”
“City sounded brilliant and it’s not too far from home.”
“After my session I actually went and looked up Data Science at Bristol properly. Hadn’t really considered it before.”
What gave them pause
“Campus felt isolated, worried I’d feel cut off.”
“Put off by how expensive the city is to live in.”
“Not sure the course has enough hands-on, practical work.”
“Entry requirements feel out of reach and no one’s told me if there’s any flexibility.”
“Realised the course is almost all independent study and I know I need more structure than that.”

And yes, after their session, 5% of students became less likely to apply. We report that too. The data is honest because the conversation is honest, and honesty is exactly why students act on what they hear. An applicant who self-selects out is one your continuation and outcomes data will thank you for.

What your cohort actually talks about

Every session is a read on what’s really on their minds

Aggregated across our pilot programme. The themes prospective students raise tell you where confidence is lowest and where your messaging is, or is not, landing.

Course content & workload77%
University life73%
Career direction50%
Accommodation50%
UCAS & applications46%
University vs apprenticeship35%
Mental health & wellbeing31%
Comparing universities31%
Two ways universities work with us

One platform. Two budgets. Two jobs to do.

We work with Widening Participation and Student Recruitment teams separately, because the priorities, the budgets and the evidence requirements are different. Both are fully managed. Both deliver data you can act on.

Budget pool one

Widening Participation & Outreach

A credible, scalable, cost-effective way to deliver authentic near-peer outreach to underrepresented students, directly evidencing your Access and Participation Plan. ADI addresses the information and confidence barrier, one of the most significant and most overlooked factors in whether a disadvantaged student chooses to apply at all. And every session is documented and measured for your OfS reporting.

What your WP team receives

Confidence shift data, pre and post session. Measurable change, not assumed impact.

Demographic reach. Evidence of engagement with your priority and underrepresented groups.

An APP-aligned Impact Report, mapped to your objectives and delivered within 5 working days of your final session.

Gatsby evidence for your partner schools. Every session gives them evidence against Benchmarks 2, 3 and 7 as standard, with Benchmark 5 where graduate mentors are involved.

A Session Snapshot for every student. Each participant keeps a one-page summary of their session in their own words, with committed next steps, tangible per-pupil value your school partners can hold.

Outcomes, not just activities. 92% of students were open to follow-up contact, enabling the longitudinal outcome tracking your APP evaluation needs.

Zero internal resource. We handle scheduling, safeguarding oversight and delivery end to end.

The reach, in our pilot
29%
of students reached were eligible for Free School Meals or from disadvantaged backgrounds, the cohorts your APP is measured against
52% → 83%
confidence about what they want to do after sixth form, before and after a single honest conversation
100%
felt more confident about applying to university overall
Example Session Snapshot

The Session Snapshot every student keeps (example shown)

Budget pool two

Student Recruitment & Marketing

The most credible form of peer marketing available. Prospective students have read the prospectus, been to the open day and had the scripted ambassador chat. What moves them is a real conversation with someone who chose your university and can speak honestly about what that decision actually looks like. We connect your current students, onboarded and trained as Uni Insiders, with motivated applicants, and we capture the intent and perception signals your team can act on.

What your recruitment team receives

Intent to apply signals, the strongest available read at the point of intervention.

Perception intelligence by course: what appeals about your institution, and what gives applicants pause.

Course-level engagement data. Which programmes are generating the most interest.

Geographic reach. Where your prospective students are coming from.

High follow-up appetite. 92% of students were open to being contacted again, a strong signal of genuine interest. Longer-term, with the right consent in place, this opens the door to tracking outcomes over time.

Sessions move application intent
80%
of students said they were more likely to apply to a named institution after speaking with one of its current students
Typical internal ambassador scheme
£50k–£80k
per year in ambassador wages alone, before administrator and management overhead.
Already Doing It
A fraction of that
More credible, more personalised, with nothing to manage internally once your Insiders are live.

Based on publicly available ambassador hourly rates and typical scheme sizes. A mid-size university running 100 ambassadors across open days spends £50,000 to £80,000 in wages alone before staff overhead.

The two-cycle model

Reach the same student twice, across the journey

The same student can benefit at two stages of the journey: a Year 12 exploration session that widens horizons before any decision is made, and a Year 13 post-application session that captures intent as they choose where to firm. Either stage can sit within Widening Participation or Student Recruitment, and the full cycle can be run as a single programme.

Stage one

Year 12 · Explore

Before they have decided anything. An honest, open conversation that builds confidence and widens horizons, reaching underrepresented students at the point the information barrier matters most.

Stage two

Year 13 · Decide

After they have applied, when they are choosing where to firm. A credible conversation with one of your current students, capturing intent and the perception signals that shape the decision.

Your live portal

Every session feeds a dashboard built for your team

No spreadsheets, no chasing. Confidence shift, demographic reach, perception intelligence by course, and your APP-ready impact report, all updated as sessions complete and exportable in a click.

Already Doing It  ·  University dashboard
Partnership impact
Your Insider programme
Your university · 2025/26 · 84 sessions across 9 schools
Updated weekly Download impact report
80%
of students left their session more likely to apply to your university
84
Sessions delivered
76
Students reached
9
Schools engaged
29%
FSM or Pupil Premium
Likelihood to apply, before and after
4.98.2+67%
Average across consented students · 4.92 / 5 average Insider rating
Perception intelligence
What appealed
Placement year
Specialise later
The city
What gave pause
Cost of living
Entry requirements
Campus feels remote

Illustrative preview. Your dashboard shows your own institution’s data, and only the sections you are set up to see.

How ADI compares

Not another ambassador platform

The independence and the data are the difference. Neither can be bought from a chat platform or built from an internal scheme.

Already Doing ItChat ambassador platformsInternal ambassador scheme
Conversation typeHonest, unfiltered 1:1 videoModerated text chatPromotional, brand-aligned
Student perceptionIndependent and crediblePlatform-mediatedUniversity marketing
Perception intelligence By course and institution Not captured Not captured
OfS-aligned impact reporting Included as standard Not included Internal resource required
Student takeaway artefact Session Snapshot for every student Not provided Not provided
Internal resource requiredNone for WP programmesPlatform managementAdministrator and management
Safeguarding managed byADI, fully managedPlatform-level onlyUniversity HR
Annual costContact us for institutional pricingLicence fee plus admin overhead£50,000 to £80,000+ in wages alone
In their own words

What an honest conversation actually changes

Anonymised student feedback from our 2026 pilot programme. We are building institution-specific case studies through our design-partner pilots.

A university reconsidered
“I’d half written off UCL because I didn’t think it was for people like me, but talking to someone actually there made it feel possible.
A better-matched choice
“I was set on Economics but talking it through I think Policy, Politics and Economics fits what I actually want better.
First in the family
“No one in my family went to uni so I didn’t really know what to expect. Talking to someone who’s done it made it less scary.
The honesty they trust
“She was honest about the bits she didn’t enjoy, which the prospectus obviously doesn’t tell you.
An open day, outdone
“Made Aston Uni sound way better than the open day did tbh.”
Something no one had told them
“Nobody told me you can switch modules in second year. That changes things for me.
“The whole procedure was seamless from start to finish. The student I met was a PhD researcher at Cambridge who was candid about both the subject and student life, giving me a clear picture of the pros and cons. I am so impressed, and will definitely recommend it to others.”
Jemma Garland, Teacher
300+ vetted near-peer mentors
80+ universities and every major subject
99 mentors from 39 universities delivered the pilot
Become a design partner

Shape the programme. Own the first-mover position.

We are partnering with a small number of universities to run design-partner pilots that produce institution-specific impact evidence: your confidence shift, your demographic reach, your perception intelligence, by course. Early partners help shape the programme and gain a first-mover position in honest, data-rich peer outreach.

The first step is not a contract. It is a short, near-cost pilot designed to prove the value on your own students, with your own data. The conversation starts with understanding your priorities and where the gaps are.

Our near-peer mentors

Trained to be honest, not to sell

Every mentor on the ADI platform is identity verified, academically verified and ADI-certified, meaning they have completed our full mentor training programme and passed an end assessment before taking any bookings.

They are trained to give honest, balanced insight: the challenges, the surprises and what they would do differently. Not a sales pitch. Not an open day conversation. The real picture, which is precisely why prospective students believe them and act on what they hear.

“I joined ADI because I know how valuable it is to hear honest advice from someone who’s recently been in your position. In engineering especially, there’s often a gap between expectations and reality. To me, peer mentoring is about being open about that, sharing both the challenges and the opportunities so students can make confident, informed decisions about their future.”
Omar S, Engineering, University College London

All near-peer mentors are identity verified and complete a mandatory safeguarding assessment before taking any bookings. Sessions are structured, time-limited and conducted through a managed platform environment with a full audit trail. Our framework is aligned with the principles of Keeping Children Safe in Education, and for students under 18 a parent or guardian is present at the start of each session. View our full safeguarding policy

Start the conversation

Tell us who you are and what you’re trying to achieve

We work with Widening Participation and Student Recruitment teams separately, and we understand the different priorities, budgets and evidence requirements of each. We will come back to you within 5 working days.

University Enquiry Form