A WhatsApp AI agent for private and international school admissions: fees, curriculum, intake dates and the campus tour, without the admissions office falling behind
Admissions enquiries arrive from parents comparing three schools in one evening, and the school that replies with the fees and a tour slot that night is the one they visit. Most schools reply the next working day. An agent answers the standard questions in the parent's language, books the tour, and gives the admissions team a warm lead instead of a cold one.
Quick answer
A school's admissions agent answers curriculum, fee, intake date and age-placement questions from published information, explains the application and assessment steps, books campus tours into slots, sends the document checklist, answers transport, meals, uniform and boarding questions, and hands over scholarship, special needs, mid-year transfer and any individual-child questions to the admissions team.
The split
| Let the agent handle | Keep with a person |
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Age placement, carefully
Parents ask "which year for a child born in March 2019?". Give the agent your published age-to-year table and instruct it to answer with the table's placement and the sentence that the final placement is confirmed by the school after assessment. Never let it promise a year group. Curricula with different cut-off dates (British, IB, American, national) need separate tables.
The campus tour
The tour is the conversion point. Offer two slots in the first reply, confirm with parking and who to ask for, remind the day before, and after the tour hand the lead to admissions with the transcript. The lead card records the child's year group, curriculum interest and intake date so the team does not ask again. Booking mechanics are in appointment booking.
Setting it up
- Knowledge. Crawl the admissions pages (fees, curriculum, calendar, FAQs, transport), upload the fee schedule and the age-placement table as PDFs with real text, and the document checklist.
- Instructions. Role, tone (formal but warm), the placement rule, the scholarship and special-needs handover, and the tour offer in every first reply.
- Booking. Set the services, durations and hours so the agent offers real slots and sends reminders the day before.
- Handover. Name the topics that go to a person, and the agent flags the chat in your inbox and stops replying until you hand it back.
- Test. Send it twenty real messages from your own phone before customers do; the checklist is in the pre-launch test.
ReplyKit connects your number through Meta's official WhatsApp Business Platform. You sign in with your Facebook business account from the dashboard, pick or create the number, and it is live in a few minutes: no pairing, no phone that has to stay online, and no linked-device restriction risk. Replies to customers who message you carry no Meta fee inside the 24-hour service window; reminders and follow-ups sent outside it go as approved templates at Meta's per-message rate. Details in why ReplyKit runs on the official platform.
Languages and data
Parents write in Malay, English, Chinese, Korean or Japanese. The agent replies in kind from one knowledge base; see the multilingual guide. Children's data is sensitive: keep the agent's questions to what admissions needs at enquiry stage (name, year group, intake), keep documents in your admissions system, and publish a privacy notice as described in the privacy notice guide.
Frequently asked questions
Can an AI agent handle school admissions enquiries?
The standard ones: curriculum, fees, intake dates, placement guidance, tours and documents. Decisions about a child stay with admissions.
Can it tell parents which year group their child will join?
It gives the published table's placement and says the school confirms after assessment.
Does it book campus tours?
Yes, into slots with reminders, and hands the lead to admissions with the transcript.
Can it answer in the parent's language?
Yes, including Malay, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.
What about scholarships and special needs?
Handed to the admissions team immediately.
Tours booked the same evening
Fees, curriculum and placement answered in the parent's language. 7-day free trial.
Sources and further reading
- Harvard Business Review, The Short Life of Online Sales Leads (Oldroyd, McElheran, Elkington, 2011) · firms that responded within an hour were about seven times more likely to qualify the lead
- Personal Data Protection Department, Malaysia (PDPA 2010)
- ReplyKit Acceptable Use Policy · what we refuse to automate
ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp. This article is general guidance for running a small business, not legal, financial or regulatory advice.