FY 2008 Annual Report of Achievements - Gallaudet University

12
Admissions, Enrollment, Retention, and Graduation
Highlights and Challenges
For specifics on graduate students, please refer to the section on graduate education.
In October 2007, the interim dean of Enrollment Management and General Studies
presented a strategic enrollment plan as part of the MSCHE reporting process. This plan is based on
recommendations from the president’s Enrollment Work Group, which reviewed various
documents including enrollment reports from 2002 to 2007. The goal of the plan is to return
Gallaudet to an undergraduate enrollment of 1,180 by fall 2008 and to increase the six-year
graduation rate to 55% by fall 2014 while maintaining a diverse student body. To do this, the
university must recruit a minimum of 295 academically qualified new students each year and retain
75% in the first year.
Mindful of the need to broaden recruitment opportunities to increase applications,
recruitment initiatives have targeted students in mainstreamed programs and transfer students. In
recruiting new freshman, the Office of Admissions organized 37 visits to schools for the deaf, 51
visits to local public school programs and 20 visits to postsecondary programs. It also attended 32
conferences or camps for recruitment purposes. Sixteen faculty or staff members were actively
involved in these recruiting efforts. Recruitment efforts have also focused on understanding and
responding better to the needs of specific groups of students. For example, the university has new
Web pages to answer questions students typically ask when considering applying to Gallaudet. These
pages include: “New to Sign Language?” “Academic Bowl for Deaf and Hard of Hearing High
School Students,” and a parents and families Web site. Also, a new Web-based software tool,
Hobsons, has allowed for more customized approaches to student recruiting as well as the ability to
track student communications.
To support the mission of a high quality education, ACT standards were raised to scores of
14 in reading, English, and Math (composite or average) for AY 2007-2008 admissions. This
admission requirement was based on the Office of Institutional Research’s analyses of characteristics
likely shared by successful Gallaudet students. Increased ACT admissions requirements have
resulted in a 25% smaller pool of fall 2007 applicants who meet eligibility requirements than pools
from the past ten years.
Another innovation was the design of an admissions assessment process using multiple
measures that weigh and balance characteristics, such as high school GPA and ACT scores, with
quality of courses taken and letters of recommendation, thus enabling the admissions team to make
decisions based on the total student profile. Whenever student admissions decisions are in question,
a faculty review committee is convened to make decisions. Admissions simulations were run using
this new rubric to further define the efficacy of the admissions criteria.
Although increased ACT admissions requirements resulted in a 25% smaller pool of eligible
fall 2007 applicants, the number of students accepted from that fall applicant pool for AY 2007-2008
is similar to that of the past five years. This data supports the current direction of recruitment
strategies, particularly given the challenge of raising standards and accreditation concerns. All
students who have been accepted have met either the new criteria or have been reviewed and
approved by a faculty admissions committee. Efforts to increase the yield of admitted to enrolled
students from 73% to 85% are in place. For example, faculty have made significant connections
through telephone and video conferencing campaigns with admitted students.