How the World Connect Map Boosts Enrollment, Engagement, and Excitement

What is the World Connect Map?

The World Connect Map is one of Goin’s most beloved features by the students, and for good reason. It gives students a live, visual representation of where other admitted or enrolled students are coming from. With a quick glance, students can see that they’re not alone in their journey.

Whether they’re coming from the same hometown or opposite sides of the world, students can find, and connect with, peers heading to the same destination.

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How the Functionality Works

The World Connect Map works as an interactive experience layered with targetted filters and smart discovery features:

• Zoom & Explore: Students can zoom into any part of the world to find peers by city, region, or country.
  
  
• Smart Filters: With Student Findability, users can apply filters to discover like-minded peers; by nationality, study field, shared interests, or more customizable filtering like campus locations.
  
  
• Profile Preview & Connect: Tapping a pin reveals the student behind it, allowing for instant friend requests, messages, or even group invites.

All connections happen within Goin’s closed, invite-only environment, backed by 24/7 moderation and safety protocols. Students control their visibility, and filters help them discover the people they’re most excited to meet.

How WCM Gamifies the Student Journey

Today’s students are digital natives. They’re used to swiping, searching, and unlocking achievements. The World Connect Map plays into that mindset.

• It feels like a game: Watching new pins appear daily, discovering someone from your high school going to the same university, or finding a new friend five minutes away. It sparks curiosity and joy.
  
  
• It inspires early action: Students aren’t passively waiting to arrive. They’re building a network, making friends, and planning meet-ups before they board the plane.
  
  
• It boosts social confidence: By “unlocking” new peers based on filters, location, or shared interests, students build confidence and reduce the anxiety of arriving alone.

It turns preparing for university into a shared adventure.

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Supporting Conversion and Belonging at Scale

The World Connect Map removes the feeling of “I’m on my own” and replaces it with “I’m part of something bigger.” Students see that they’re not the only ones leaving Sri Lanka, Ecuador, or Romania to study in Australia, the Netherlands, or Canada.

Surveys also reveal that students on Goin’ feel 89% more excited about starting their studies and 86% say it improves their sense of belonging and community.

Ultimately, when students feel connected, they’re more likely to convert and more likely to stay. The sense of belonging students develop before arrival has been shown to increase enrollment. Research with Utrecht University showed that the more connections students made, the more likely they were to convert. Reaching as high as 95%. Even more modest levels of connection boosted Bachelor conversion rates by 14 percentage points.

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A Small Feature with Big Impact

The World Connect Map might look like just another tool, but it taps into something deeper: the human desire to find your people. And when students feel connected, supported, and excited before they arrive, everyone wins.

From boosting conversion to building community, the World Connect Map is the next layer to pre-arrival superpowers.

Curious to learn more about how features like WCM help drive engagement and conversion? 

With over 400+ communities and millions of friendships made globally, Goin' has proved that authentic engagement leads to stronger enrollments and an unparalleled student experience. Schedule a meeting with us or Watch a Demo for exclusive insights. Because the better you understand your students, the better you can support them.