MU Strategic Plan

[Herman Cain]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

[jesmu84]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

Can we just get rid of you instead?

[wadesworld]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

Lol

[Herman Cain]

Can we just get rid of you instead?

We have too many losers like you for alumni.

[GGGG]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

Good. Doesn't get wrapped up in meaningless metrics.

[jesmu84]

We have too many losers like you for alumni.

Insulting general MU alumni? Bold choice.

Especially considering you aren't one...

[Herman Cain]

Good. Doesn't get wrapped up in meaningless metrics.

There needs to be an objective standard.  The world is a competitive place.  We need better faculty , better students and better facilities. You get that by having successful alumni who give back a lot of money.

[Herman Cain]

Insulting general MU alumni? Bold choice.

Especially considering you aren't one...

Says the guy who drives a cab. A real great representation of our school.

[jesmu84]

Says the guy who drives a cab. A real great representation of our school.

1. I don't.
2. A really great representation of Marquette is a person who clearly judges/denigrates others for doing what they can/have to to make a living. Quite the Jesuit ideals there. Even more evidence that you didn't attend our great university
3. You should probably spend more time at DaytonScoop from here on out.

What a jerk

[wadesworld]

Says the guy who drives a cab. A real great representation of our school.

“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cab driver. Then they would really be educated.” ~Al McGuire

[GGGG]

There needs to be an objective standard.  The world is a competitive place.  We need better faculty , better students and better facilities. You get that by having successful alumni who give back a lot of money.

It is debatable if there "needs" to be an objective standard.

Regardless, USNWR rankings are crap.  Pablum for the the tea sippers who want to brag about where they are sending junior to school. 

[4everwarriors]

It is debatable if there "needs" to be an objective standard.

Regardless, USNWR rankings are crap.  Pablum for the the tea sippers who want to brag about where they are sending junior to school.

Like it or not, its da gold standard. Ya can ether stick yo head in da sand or get down and dirty like Northeastern did and prosper, hey?

[GGGG]

Like it or not, its da gold standard. Ya can ether stick yo head in da sand or get down and dirty like Northeastern did and prosper, hey?

It isn't the gold standard.  Marquette understands its competitive environment and why people choose to attend.  Chasing these ratings for the sake of the ratings can actually lead to decisions that aren't in the best interests of the school long term and a poor allocation of resources. 

If you want to aspire to be Northeastern, go ahead.  It seems to me that this is more important to certain alumni who want to brag about their school more than anything.

[GGGG]

For instance...let's go back to this years freshman class.

It apparently is very good class both quality and quantity wise.  They targeted their marketing toward students that they believed would seriously consider the school.  And it worked!  However the acceptance rate went up.

According to the USNWR metrics, it would be better if Marquette obtained the same results through mass marketing, encouraging massive applications, and choosing the same exact people.  So the metric dictates that you spend more money on publications, application review, admissions personnel, etc. etc. etc.  The metric dictates that you don't narrow down and target your audience - pretty much what any business aspires to do.

It's silly.

[jsglow]

For instance...let's go back to this years freshman class.

It apparently is very good class both quality and quantity wise.  They targeted their marketing toward students that they believed would seriously consider the school.  And it worked!  However the acceptance rate went up.

According to the USNWR metrics, it would be better if Marquette obtained the same results through mass marketing, encouraging massive applications, and choosing the same exact people.  So the metric dictates that you spend more money on publications, application review, admissions personnel, etc. etc. etc.  The metric dictates that you don't narrow down and target your audience - pretty much what any business aspires to do.

It's silly.

Spot on Sultan.  That is exactly what they chose to do.  And it worked.

And this is new to me. MU Fan in NY is NOT an alum?  Just a fan of the basketball team?

[4everwarriors]

It isn't the gold standard.  Marquette understands its competitive environment and why people choose to attend.  Chasing these ratings for the sake of the ratings can actually lead to decisions that aren't in the best interests of the school long term and a poor allocation of resources. 

If you want to aspire to be Northeastern, go ahead.  It seems to me that this is more important to certain alumni who want to brag about their school more than anything.

Ax a high school junior, or better yet his/her parents, what resources dey consult in makin' college selection decisions. USNWR is a very hot commodity the dey its college rankin's are released, hey?

[wadesworld]

Ax a high school junior, or better yet his/her parents, what resources dey consult in makin' college selection decisions. USNWR is a very hot commodity the dey its college rankin's are released, hey?

I never once ever considered what MU'a school rank was. And I think most Marquette students are coming from the Midwest and the school values and religious ties are much more important to 99% of them than how it compares to Stanford. If someone's down to Marquette and Stanford they should probably not have Marquette in their final 2 schools and I have no problem with that.

[mu_hilltopper]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

Sweet fancy moses.

[jsglow]

The asked and STILL UNANSWERED question is whether MUFNY is an alumni.

[dgies9156]

And I think most Marquette students are coming from the Midwest and the school values and religious ties are much more important to 99% of them than how it compares to Stanford.

This is part of the problem. It's been a long time since I was at Marquette, but I do remember a fairly substantial east coast presence among my fellow students. Marquette knows it needs to expand its regional focus outside Wisconsin and Suburban Chicago (let's understand what Marquette's Midwest really means, here) to ensure it has a strong, diverse student body. When we come from different regions and from different cultures and visions, we're all better off.

Basketball is a big part of this geographical diversity because it keeps Marquette in the national spotlight. A crappy basketball team and we become more regional in focus.

I don't disagree that the Jesuit values are very important. I have two children at a state university which was right for them academically but the campus environment is so much different that what I remember Marquette to be. Some of that is the changing times and some is just simply the lack of an overhanging Catholicism. There's something about the openness of what Marquette subscribes to that's extremely important, both years ago and now.

[Disco Hippie]

This is part of the problem. It's been a long time since I was at Marquette, but I do remember a fairly substantial east coast presence among my fellow students. Marquette knows it needs to expand its regional focus outside Wisconsin and Suburban Chicago (let's understand what Marquette's Midwest really means, here) to ensure it has a strong, diverse student body. When we come from different regions and from different cultures and visions, we're all better off.

Basketball is a big part of this geographical diversity because it keeps Marquette in the national spotlight. A crappy basketball team and we become more regional in focus.

I don't disagree that the Jesuit values are very important. I have two children at a state university which was right for them academically but the campus environment is so much different that what I remember Marquette to be. Some of that is the changing times and some is just simply the lack of an overhanging Catholicism. There's something about the openness of what Marquette subscribes to that's extremely important, both years ago and now.

I could not agree more with this sentiment.  I'm an MU alum from the NYC suburbs.  Had no family ties to the Midwest whatsoever and chose MU due to a great comm program and epic visit as Senior in high school.  Had a great time in MKE those 4 years but had no intention of staying there and moved back to the NYC area after graduating in the early 90's where I've lived ever since.

I don't agree with chasing rankings for rankings sake and while US News rankings aren't the be all and the end all, it's a mistake to discount them entirely.  People in this part of the country take them seriously and if MU wants to expand the geographic footprint of its undergraduate student body, they need to play the game.  If they try to be Harvard, or even Georgetown, they will lose so I'm not advocating for that, but a 77% acceptance rate quite frankly is embarrassing even if all other metrics of the incoming class continue to improve.  MU doesn't even make a cursory effort to recruit at public high schools outside of the Midwest and that's a real shame because they'll only attract the same 1 or 2 students they get to go there every year from the few Catholic high schools here.  If they think students are unwilling to travel there they're wrong.  UW Madison has 1000 times as many students from this area that Marquette does and MKE is more accessible from this area then Madison.  I just don't understand it. 

[Brewtown Andy]

Basketball is a big part of this geographical diversity because it keeps Marquette in the national spotlight. A crappy basketball team and we become more regional in focus.

Shoutout to the men's and women's lacrosse teams.

[warriorchick]

a 77% acceptance rate quite frankly is embarrassing even if all other metrics of the incoming class continue to improve.

So Marquette is stupid if it only recruits kids who are actually interested in Marquette, keeps its admission standards just as high, enrolls the largest freshman class in several years, and saves hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruiting costs?

The organization who is stupid here is USNWR for using the raw acceptance rate as a metric to judge educational quality.

[GGGG]

So Marquette is stupid if it only recruits kids who are actually interested in Marquette, keeps its admission standards just as high, enrolls the largest freshman class in several years, and saves hundreds of thousands of dollars in recruiting costs?

The organization who is stupid here is USNWR for using the raw acceptance rate as a metric to judge educational quality.

Amen. 

People want schools to "act more like a business."  That's exactly what Marquette is doing here.  Targeting their resources.  The reason that Marquette doesn't recruit at public schools in the northeast is because the cost / benefit analysis was way out of whack.

Nothing embarrassing at all about it.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

I find it interesting that there is no reference to upping our US news rating in the strategic plan. Obviously Lovell and Company are dumbing the standard down.  The sooner we get rid of him the better.

I agree it's important to be improving the communication of excellence for MU academically. Boosting into a significantly higher ranking would be similar to what the Final Four did for admissions, but based on academics.

Disagree that the USNWR is an objective measure, but some of the underlying metrics are certainly measured by MU and something they are trying to boost:

1) # of applicants
2) Yield
3) Avg GPA/Test Scores

These things all rose with the Final Four, and should continue to rise for non-basketball reasons as well.