Graduate Admissions and Enrollment Management

Graduate Admissions and Enrollment Management Maureen Kilroy, Assistant Dean Office of Graduate Studies and Research Georgia Institute of Technology

I. The data: where we are now and how we got here Enrollment, Fall Quarters 1997-01 Admissions, AY98 - AY02 Degrees,AY98 - AY02 New Graduate Degree Programs, AY00 – AY02 II. Graduate Admissions at Georgia Tech The role of Graduate Admissions The Process III. Enrollment Management Recruiting & Admissions /Retention & Graduation What are other schools doing? IV. Some possibilities for Georgia Tech 1

Enrollment, Fall 1997 – Fall 2001 • Percent Change in Graduate Enrollment by College • Percent Change in Graduate Enrollment by MS/Ph.D. • [See Data Slides] 2

Admissions, AY98 – AY02 • Change in Graduate Applicants, Admitted, and Enrolled for Total Institute • Change in Graduate Matriculants by MS/Ph.D. • [See Data Slides] 3

Degrees Awarded • Graduate Degrees Awarded by Year, AY95 - AY02, MS/Ph.D • Graduate Degrees Awarded by College by MS/Ph.D., AY01 - AY02 • [See Data Slides] 4

New Graduate Degree Programs Approved AY00 – AY02 • AY00: • Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering (with Emory University) • MS Quantitative & Computational Finance • MS Building Construction/Facilities Management • MS International Logistics • AY01: • BS-MS Programs in ME and MSE • AY02: • MS Prosthetics & Orthotics • MS Information Security • M Industrial Design (formerly undesignated MS ARCH) • BS-MS Programs in ECE and LCC 5

Graduate Admissions at Georgia Tech • The role of Graduate Admissions • The Graduate Admissions office provides initial “quality control” in the following areas: • monitors academic records of all applicants to ascertain that all degree-seeking students have accredited bachelor’s degrees or equivalent • calculates standardized 4.0 scale GPA for most applicants, approximately 50% of whom attended non- U.S. institutions • monitors authenticity and completeness of academic credentials for admitted applicants 6

Graduate Admissions at Georgia Tech • The Process - What is supposed to happen • Applications are sent to either the academic department or to Graduate Admissions. • Whichever office gets the application first keeps a copy of everything they need and immediately sends everything else to the other department. • Graduate Admission performs an evaluation of credentials and sends an "Action Sheet" to the department for their admission decision. • The department sends a letter of offer, pending Institute approval, or letter of decline to the student. • Graduate Admissions enters the decision from the Action Sheet on BANNER (creating for "Admits" the permanent paper and elecronic student records). • Graduate Admissions sends the official Institute letter of Admission to the admitted applicant. 7

Graduate Admissions at Georgia Tech • The Process - What actually happens • In many cases, exactly what is described above. • In other cases, academic departments hold on to the applications for a long time, sometimes until after they have received acceptance or decline of their offer of admission. • Departments often make offers before Graduate Admissions has done the credential verification, sometimes before Graduate Admissions has ever received the application. • Why this is a problem: • 1. potential for legal problems • 2. impossibility of making reasonable new student enrollment projections 8

III. Enrollment Management • Recruiting & Admissions • Retention & Graduation 9

III. Enrollment Management • What are other schools doing? • Common Themes: • Strategic Plans with Graduate Enrollment Targets • Standing Faculty Committees for Enrollment Management and/or Strategic Enrollment Officer • Financial Incentives for Reducing Time to Degree 10

IV. Some Possibilities for Georgia Tech • Incorporate Graduate Enrollment Targets into Five-Year Strategic Plans • Standing Faculty Committee on Enrollment Management • Regular Time to Degree studies (graduate) • Financial Incentives for meeting targets • Central determination of enrollment targets for each College • Require new degree program proposals to address the "budgeting" of student headcounts 11

Graduate Admissions and Enrollment Management