 Dear Colleague,
In a very trying time for higher education, the fall 2009 freshman class reinforces the growing strength and reputation for Elizabethtown College and the demand for high quality, private institutions of higher learning. In a campus-wide effort, Elizabethtown enrolled a cohort of students far beyond expectation in both quantity and quality.
By moving its timeline ahead by nearly one month, Elizabethtown was first to market and captured more than its traditional share of applicants in the early months of the application process. These early wins allowed the Enrollment Team to continue with its efforts to shape incoming classes in areas of geography, diversity, quality and academic interest.
More than ever, Elizabethtown’s growing reputation in new and emerging markets outside Pennsylvania were critical to a successful recruiting effort. Because of the economy, a higher percentage of students suggested they would be staying in state and close to home. For a family to commit to a college outside those qualifiers, the college would need to be viewed as a strong value and a secure investment. Elizabethtown was viewed as both as enrolling students from new and emerging markets grew in number (99) and remained stable in terms of percentage of the class.
Additionally, the number of four-year/degree-seeking international students more than doubled. Through partnerships with faculty and staff 17 such students enrolled from 10 different countries around the world.
Ethnic diversity goals also proved to be a challenge in this economic time. Through continued effort and the significant contributions of the Diversity Ambassadors the College worked towards a goal of creating a more diverse and welcoming campus by increasing members from historically underrepresented groups. While the percentage of enrolling students from underrepresented populations fell, the number of students from those groups (52) remained even with last year.
Quality was an area of concern as the recruiting season played out. Knowing the College would need to admit more students to reach its quantity targets, the quality of students who would ultimately enroll attracted considerable attention from the Enrollment Team. The outcome was a class that is nearly identical to the fall 2007 cohort in almost every traditional quality metric.
The pages that follow are a descriptive look at the pool of students who became the Elizabethtown College Class of 2013.The fall 2008 freshman class is a reflection of continued successes in attracting targeted populations and a clear outgrowth of the intentional partnerships across the campus to enroll a cohort of qualified and desirable student subgroups for all corners of the campus community.
The Enrollment Team placed priority on three separate subgroups of students that would serve to strengthen the College, both now and in the future. First, through partnerships with academic departments, Enrollment focused on targeted groups of students with expressed major intentions in a successful effort to attract and enroll mutually desirable quantity and quality of new potential majors. Second, Enrollment focused on targeted populations to successfully attract a distribution of ethnic backgrounds that more closely reflects the populations in the significant geographic markets Elizabethtown serves. Third, Enrollment focused on students from specific geographic regions to regain momentum in penetrating new and emerging markets of interest.
While keeping a close watch on the balance of potential professional and arts & science majors, Enrollment was able to work with departments to impact the quantity and/or quality of entering students. Both the departments of Physics & Engineering and Social Work doubled the number of incoming potential majors (when compared with last fall’s freshman class totals). The Music Department saw increases in both quantity and quality of its new potential majors. Potential Occupational Therapy and Business majors were successfully monitored so as not to overextend the resources of their departments.
Three years of infrastructure development and strategic initiative has yielded the most ethnically diverse class in Elizabethtown’s history. Over 10% of the freshman class is from a historically underrepresented ethnic population. This growth has benefits beyond the learning environment of the community. Demographic trends demand attention to these growing populations in order to sustain the current college enrollment totals.
Efforts to expand Elizabethtown’s visibility in geographic markets of interest rebounded to the highest rate in the three years of this effort. Students from new and emerging markets (markets of growth and potential) made up 18.4% of our incoming class. This figure (up from 14.5% last year) is important to Elizabethtown as the number of high school graduates in our primary markets (and throughout Pennsylvania) will drop off over the next ten years. These new and emerging markets will see growth in the number of high school graduates in that same time period.
The profile page is a descriptive look at the pool of students who became the Elizabethtown College Class of 2012.
Sincerely,
Paul M. Cramer
Vice President for Enrollment
cramerp@etown.edu |
