The effectiveness of university recruitment systems hinges on an understanding of the factors used by students to discern the comparative quality of schools. This study drew on methods and theory from organizational image research to better understand the factors that students use in forming their overall image of a university as wells as their intentions to attend a particular university. Results found 5 key factors: Program Reputation, Degree Valuation, Familiarity, Extracurricular Opportunities, and Location. These factors, however, influence overall image and intent to attend differently. Results also show some differences in the importance of factors as a function of student ability, with the 5 factors predicting attraction better in higher as opposed to lower ability students.