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 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  Percent Change in Graduate Enrollment by College  Percent Change in Graduate Enrollment by MS/Ph.D.  [See Data Slides]

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 u In many cases, exactly what is described above. u 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. u 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 : u 1. potential for legal problems u 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