MU Admissions Update for 2023 and Beyond

[Macallan 18]

The University Academic Senate meet earlier this week and there was an admissions update.

Applicants were notified of acceptance on December 20th, May 1st is deposit day nationally.

Undergraduate Students:

• Goal is 1,926 for freshman class. More than 13,000 applications received.
• Admitted students up 1.4% over same time last year.
• Campus visits are #1 predictor of acceptances and are up 18% over last year. 

Developing projections for high school grads going forward, admissions is working with 3 datasets WICHE, HEDI, RNL.

Some take aways from the data: 

• IL - Slow decline began in 2019, decline will accelerate in 2026 with an 11% decline by 2030. 
• WI - Peak will be in 2026, then a rapid decline.
• MN - Will also peak in 2026, then decline.
• By 2030, the undergraduate enrollment projection for domestic and international students is 1,851.

Surveys of prospective students have revealed: 

• Cost - Initial high sticker price is causing them to not apply to some schools. 
• Some are questioning the value of higher education and don't value it as high as previous classes.
• Federal and Pell grants are subsidizing smaller proportion of tuition, putting more of the cost burden on students and families.
• "Lost admits" are often going to state institutions. Often universities with lower prices, and higher rankings.

 

[Dr. Blackheart]

So, when are we adding back football to help enrollment?

[WarriorFan]

My son will be a frosh in 2023-4.  Applied to business but got admitted to arts & crafts.  MU screwed that up and my $$$ (and my son) will go elsewhere.

[warriorchick]

My son will be a frosh in 2023-4.  Applied to business but got admitted to arts & crafts.  MU screwed that up and my $$$ (and my son) will go elsewhere.

You're blaming Marquette because your son didn't qualify for the Business School?

You know, he can always transfer in later if his grades are good enough. If he takes the right courses, he will even graduate on time.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The “questioning the value of higher education” statement always occurs in a hot job market.

[wadesworld]

My son will be a frosh in 2023-4.  Applied to business but got admitted to arts & crafts.  MU screwed that up and my $$$ (and my son) will go elsewhere.

Sorry to hear that. Glad he’ll be doing something more important than arts and crafts.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Yeah people who label the liberal arts core “arts and crafts” are probably best going elsewhere.

[mu_hilltopper]

Is my memory wrong .. When I went to MU, (late 80s) I can't recall being admitted to a school.  You got into MU, and you started picking classes, hopefully in line with whatever major you were interested in.

Did that change?

.. And with MU's 86% acceptance rate .. do they really reject people going to certain "schools"?  Hard to fathom, especially for Business, with lots of capacity.

[PorkysButthole]

Great Info Macallan!  Thx for posting.

Porky has a few questions and comments.

More than 13,000 Applications received.   Do you know how many more?  Last year MU had just south of 16,000.....15,883 to be exact.   More than 13K implies less than 14K so if you split the difference and estimate they had 13,500 applicants that would be a 16% decline from previous cycle which is not good.

If they admitted 1.4% more applicants than last year with an already very high 86% acceptance rate that's pretty bad optics in Porky's humble opinion.  That issue has been debated ad-nauseum on this board and while Porky understands many folks on here don't think it matters and even Porky doesn't think it should in theory, in the real world it does.  Being a coastie, Porky is all too aware that elitism is alive and well and while that's not a stat that should matter, it still does to a hell of a lot of folks in Porky's neck of the woods, and MU absolutely loses some students because of it.

Campus Visits are #1 predictor of acceptance?   Really???   Presumably MU isn't deciding who to admit based on who visited campus, so Porky hopes you meant to say #1 predictor of deposits.

The predicted declines in WI, IL and MN are cause for concern.   MU needs to more aggressively recruit outside of the Midwest, particularly the Northeast and So Cal, where there is more wealth concentration and students' parents are able to pay a higher percentage of the sticker price since they don't qualify for need based aid.  Unfortunately MU mostly recruits at Catholic High schools in Porky's region which is a HUGE mistake.  If anything they should ignore Catholic high schools and focus exclusively on the great public high schools in the NE which 95% of the market attends.  To those that say such a strategy is anathema to MU's mission, Porky couldn't disagree more and feels very strongly that if MU had more of these kinds of students from wealthier families, they would presumably have more $$ to execute their mission and provide more meaningful financial aid to minority and first generation students that MU is recruiting more and more of each year.   Compared to Private universities in the Northeast, MU is a bargain but a lot of folks there care about rankings and acceptance rates so perhaps they think MU isn't up to snuff on those metrics despite the cost advantages and that's why MU underperforms in that region?  Porky Not sure.

Questioning the value of higher education is ludicrous.

For those lost admits that are going to less expensive state schools with higher rankings, Porky was recently introduced to a current MU Junior from an MKE suburb who was initially accepted to MU out of high school, but passed on MU and decided to go to another Midwestern state school (not Madison) due to MU's high cost, high acceptance rate, and lower ranking in that order.  She told Porky the high acceptance rate in particular was a major turn off.  She didn't have a great experience her Freshman year, and decided to transfer to MU, where she's much happier and thinks the education is better and more personal.  Porky is guessing she isn't the only like this so perhaps MU should track these transfers and collect data on where they came from.   A school like MU isn't going to be higher ranked than most Big 10 /12 schools due to it's undergrad focus and less research activity.   That's ok.  Doesn't mean the education or student experience is inferior and in many cases actually better.  MU probably shouldn't even be in the same category as those places but that's an argument for another day.

MU talks a big a game about being a "National University" but are they really?  Porky thinks not, despite being as proud an MU Alum as they come.  MU needs to place more emphasis on geographic diversity to thrive.  Wash U in STL actually brags on their website about the fact that over 70% of their undergrads come from at least 500 miles away to attend there!  Porky understands that MU is not in the same class as Wash U, and MU will never be that kind of school, but if they could bring the 75%  WI / IL figure down to 60% with 15% more students from everywhere else, that is a reasonable goal.   See recent MU Wire article below:

https://marquettewire.org/4083166/opinion/dysart-marquette-must-geographically-diversify/

[4everwarriors]

Porky knows college admissions, aina?

[Uncle Rico]

Porky knows college admissions, aina?

St. Louis doesn’t have any crime, though

[cheebs09]

Is my memory wrong .. When I went to MU, (late 80s) I can't recall being admitted to a school.  You got into MU, and you started picking classes, hopefully in line with whatever major you were interested in.

Did that change?

.. And with MU's 86% acceptance rate .. do they really reject people going to certain "schools"?  Hard to fathom, especially for Business, with lots of capacity.

In 2007, I think you were directly admitted to schools. One of the reasons I chose MU.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Is my memory wrong .. When I went to MU, (late 80s) I can't recall being admitted to a school.  You got into MU, and you started picking classes, hopefully in line with whatever major you were interested in.

Did that change?

.. And with MU's 86% acceptance rate .. do they really reject people going to certain "schools"?  Hard to fathom, especially for Business, with lots of capacity.

You were admitted direct to a school in the 1980s.  I was told to apply direct to engineering which I got into.  Was told if I did not get in would probably be offered another college.

[dgies9156]

I was directly admitted to my college of choice in the 1970s.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Great Info Macallan!  Thx for posting.

Porky has a few questions and comments.

More than 13,000 Applications received.   Do you know how many more?  Last year MU had just south of 16,000.....15,883 to be exact.   More than 13K implies less than 14K so if you split the difference and estimate they had 13,500 applicants that would be a 16% decline from previous cycle which is not good.

If they admitted 1.4% more applicants than last year with an already very high 86% acceptance rate that's pretty bad optics in Porky's humble opinion.  That issue has been debated ad-nauseum on this board and while Porky understands many folks on here don't think it matters and even Porky doesn't think it should in theory, in the real world it does.  Being a coastie, Porky is all too aware that elitism is alive and well and while that's not a stat that should matter, it still does to a hell of a lot of folks in Porky's neck of the woods, and MU absolutely loses some students because of it.

Campus Visits are #1 predictor of acceptance?   Really???   Presumably MU isn't deciding who to admit based on who visited campus, so Porky hopes you meant to say #1 predictor of deposits.

The predicted declines in WI, IL and MN are cause for concern.   MU needs to more aggressively recruit outside of the Midwest, particularly the Northeast and So Cal, where there is more wealth concentration and students' parents are able to pay a higher percentage of the sticker price since they don't qualify for need based aid.  Unfortunately MU mostly recruits at Catholic High schools in Porky's region which is a HUGE mistake.  If anything they should ignore Catholic high schools and focus exclusively on the great public high schools in the NE which 95% of the market attends.  To those that say such a strategy is anathema to MU's mission, Porky couldn't disagree more and feels very strongly that if MU had more of these kinds of students from wealthier families, they would presumably have more $$ to execute their mission and provide more meaningful financial aid to minority and first generation students that MU is recruiting more and more of each year.   Compared to Private universities in the Northeast, MU is a bargain but a lot of folks there care about rankings and acceptance rates so perhaps they think MU isn't up to snuff on those metrics despite the cost advantages and that's why MU underperforms in that region?  Porky Not sure.

Questioning the value of higher education is ludicrous.

For those lost admits that are going to less expensive state schools with higher rankings, Porky was recently introduced to a current MU Junior from an MKE suburb who was initially accepted to MU out of high school, but passed on MU and decided to go to another Midwestern state school (not Madison) due to MU's high cost, high acceptance rate, and lower ranking in that order.  She told Porky the high acceptance rate in particular was a major turn off.  She didn't have a great experience her Freshman year, and decided to transfer to MU, where she's much happier and thinks the education is better and more personal.  Porky is guessing she isn't the only like this so perhaps MU should track these transfers and collect data on where they came from.   A school like MU isn't going to be higher ranked than most Big 10 /12 schools due to it's undergrad focus and less research activity.   That's ok.  Doesn't mean the education or student experience is inferior and in many cases actually better.  MU probably shouldn't even be in the same category as those places but that's an argument for another day.

MU talks a big a game about being a "National University" but are they really?  Porky thinks not, despite being as proud an MU Alum as they come.  MU needs to place more emphasis on geographic diversity to thrive.  Wash U in STL actually brags on their website about the fact that over 70% of their undergrads come from at least 500 miles away to attend there!  Porky understands that MU is not in the same class as Wash U, and MU will never be that kind of school, but if they could bring the 75%  WI / IL figure down to 60% with 15% more students from everywhere else, that is a reasonable goal.   See recent MU Wire article below:

https://marquettewire.org/4083166/opinion/dysart-marquette-must-geographically-diversify/

Oh God...you're back to thinking that acceptance rate really matters for something.  And that Marquette should be recruiting public schools in the northeast. Why should they waste their recruiting resources on such a low yield area?

Marquette really is just fine. A smaller class focused on high revenue majors like business, engineering and nursing is a strong strategic enrollment play.

[Sir Lawrence]

I was directly admitted to my college of choice in the 1970s.

Really?  What college was that?  Not challenging just wondering.  Cuz I applied to MU.  Didn’t have a choice of college that I recall.  But I’m old and memory issues prevail. 

[dgies9156]

Brother Porky made some interesting observations that should not be glossed over. While I won't argue change is hard -- and I'm not an Admissions Officer so I don't have experience -- change is coming.

1) Illinois and particularly the Chicago suburbs is Marquette's second largest market after Wisconsin. Take a good hard look at what's happening in Illinois and then tell me we don't need change. The economy is a mess, corporations are pulling out for greener pastures (i.e., Caterpillar, Boeing, Citadel, Allstate is severely reducing its footprint, Takada etc) and the population is falling. The corporate headquarters that Illinois once could count on (including banks) are gone. Politically, the state hasn't done an especially good job of dealing with its problems, which may well cause an ever bigger flight in the years ahead.

I can't speak to population projections for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa but these states are aging and most likel;y not to be in a position to attract significant new economic investment.

2) Catholic Church Attendance. Compare the number of faithful who attend Mass today to as recently as 10 years ago and you'll see the numbers are way down. Without commitment to the faith, the Catholic primary and secondary education system becomes at risk. With few faithful and fewer attendees at Catholic schools comes fewer Catholic school candidates for Marquette.

3) Costs. This is more than just MU's costs, which I acknowledge are lower than the stated rate for most students. When one combines the cost of a private high school with a private university, there often is a choice between private high school and private universities.

Ultimately, I'd argue Marquette should focus on whatever works. I'd think Texas, Tennessee, So Cal and maybe Arizona would work, but the folks on campus know better than me. What I do know is the trends do not bode well for the University's traditional markets.

Brother Lawrence: I was admitted to the College of Journalism in the mid-1970s.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The population in the Chicago metro is not falling dgeis. Its the third largest metro area in the country and is 100 miles south of campus. Every major midwestern university focuses on it, and without a significant local public university, it makes perfect sense to do so.

[Sir Lawrence]

Good stuff.  Still don’t recall admission to a specific college but journalism wasn’t on my radar. 

Your third point is the better argument IMO.

[dgies9156]

The population in the Chicago metro is not falling dgies. Its the third largest metro area in the country and is 100 miles south of campus. Every major midwestern university focuses on it, and without a significant local public university, it makes perfect sense to do so.

First off, Illinois did shrink and at best, the only reason Chicago didn't was in-migration of people who arguably may not be there legally.  The city itself is barely at 2.9 million people, down from 3.6 million in 1950. The metro area has been stagnant for two decades, particularly when compared to national growth rates.

Don't get me started on Census 2020 either. While my own experience may have been anecdotal, the inability of an Illinois municipality to take no for an answer suggests the census probably has a significant level of inflation.

Second, Marquette should recruit in Illinois. However, the time will come where it will be a lot tougher to recruit in Chicago because the competition will stay the same but economic and demographic change will make the supply considerably smaller.

Third, as far as Chicago being the nation's third largest city, how long will it be before Houston, Dallas-Ft. Worth or some other high-growth metropolis passes it? Even the thought of this pains me as I'm a deep Chicago loyalist, having lived in the area for 44 years, the facts are there. Chicago and Illinois are not where people go to start or grow business and industry.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Well, I guess if you want to argue against actual quantifiable numbers and bring up nonsense conspiracies to justify your take, I guess you can do so.  But the growth in Chicagoland is happening in the suburbs. And there are plenty of people there to base a solid recruiting base.

And sure DFW is likely to surpass Chicago at some point. But WTF cares? Marquette is going to have enough of a presence in a significant market to justify its focus there for a generation or more. Planning beyond that isn't worth the time.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/22956/chicago/population

So...how is the Chicago metro are shrinking?

[WarriorFan]

You're blaming Marquette because your son didn't qualify for the Business School?

You know, he can always transfer in later if his grades are good enough. If he takes the right courses, he will even graduate on time.

Not blaming.  He would be well above the "average" GPA and SAT score.  To put it into the overall perspective, the universities are simply out for maximum revenue.  There are several schemes we are experiencing:
- admit but not into the school of choice... the University is hoping for an extra year of tuition due to transferring in to the school of choice
- Admit out of state students.  State schools where my son is in the bottom half of applicants are admitting him because we would need to pay out of state tuition.  (several examples already - the good part is his "stretch" school(s) are coming through
- No direct admission to colleges like business.  These schools are clearly and blatantly trying to keep students 5+ years.

I further suspect that when the schools see income levels well above the financial aid threshold they behave differently.

It was disappointing for us to see MU playing one of these games.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Did he talk to his admissions rep? Because if he is a low need student with good grades, and he says he is going to have to go elsewhere without the direct admit, they may be able to do something.

Cause no school is playing financial games like you think they are with low need children of alumni. They may just not have room.

[MUEng92]

The College of Engineering was direct admit back in the late 1980’s and I assume is now as well.  Of course our tuition was higher than other programs as well.

[warriorchick]

Not blaming.  He would be well above the "average" GPA and SAT score.  To put it into the overall perspective, the universities are simply out for maximum revenue.  There are several schemes we are experiencing:
- admit but not into the school of choice... the University is hoping for an extra year of tuition due to transferring in to the school of choice

- No direct admission to colleges like business.  These schools are clearly and blatantly trying to keep students 5+ years.

It was disappointing for us to see MU playing one of these games.

That is a load of crap.

Marquette is very proud of its 4-year graduation rate and uses it as one of their primary recruiting tools. It helps counter the fact that it is more expensive per year than a state school where you may not be able to get into the classes you need to graduate on time.

Someone who wants to be a business major can easily take all Gen Eds freshman year and if their grades are good enough, transfer into the B-school Sophomore year and still graduate on time. My guess is that they could declare a Business minor and even take an intro Bus Ad course or two.

[Dr. Blackheart]

MU's admissions will go up 20% once we when another natty.  No worries here.

Nice job by MUAD and Admissions yesterday at the pre-game event.  I think they said 33 newly accepted applicants and their families were in attendance.  Travis gave a nice response about why being a MU grad is special and the relationships never leave you unlike other schools.

[PorkysButthole]

That is a load of crap.

Marquette is very proud of its 4-year graduation rate and uses it as one of their primary recruiting tools. It helps counter the fact that it is more expensive per year than a state school where you may not be able to get into the classes you need to graduate on time.

Someone who wants to be a business major can easily take all Gen Eds freshman year and if their grades are good enough, transfer into the B-school Sophomore year and still graduate on time. My guess is that they could declare a Business minor and even take an intro Bus Ad course or two.

Absolutely spot on!   The current MU Jr. from the MKE burbs Porky referenced who originally passed on MU out of high school for another large midwestern state university (not in WI) transferred to MU following their freshman year due to lack of direct admit to college of choice, more difficulty to get into classes needed to graduate in 4 years, and the fact that those classes would be considerably larger even if able to register for them.  The reasons she originally passed on MU may be superficial, but they're definitely real and MU needs to pay more attention to how they're perceived.  And this was a local student, not some snob from a rich suburb of Boston, NYC or DC.

[Macallan 18]

Marquette really is just fine. A smaller class focused on high revenue majors like business, engineering and nursing is a strong strategic enrollment play.

They mentioned the nursing expansion has paid off - nursing class of 200 (FY24-FY26) helps mitigate enrollment declines - and are going to work with the same consulting firm used in 2017 to determine which other majors should be expanded.

Even though there are direct admits to specific programs, there has been an increase in enrollments of undeclared majors within the college admits.  

The class shaping strategy looks to balance across multiple goals including (but not limited to):

• Headcount (e.g., Overall, by College, by Program)
• Diversity (e.g., Race/Ethnicity, Gender, Geography)
• Net Revenue
• Market Share
• Quality / Selectivity
• Program Array

Regarding Porky's question, they did not state an exact figure, just more than 13K. Should have said campus visits are #1 predictor of student putting in their deposit and accepting their admission offer.

Admissions has found that the following items in the recruiting process have the most impact on getting students to chose to come: 

• More and smaller recruiting events, initially started due to COVID, have continued as they appear to be effective.
• Targeted visit visit opportunities, for example to specific departments or programs the student is interested in.
• Students welcome and appreciate communication, for example text messages and pre-recorded voicemails from faculty in a students program.
• Individual financial aid counseling sessions for every in-coming student – this has helped a lot to overcome the initial sticker price as students and families can see what the real cost of coming to Marquette would be.

Here is an article from the Marquette Tribune with a few quotes from the presentation including this one regarding the change in valuing of education:

https://marquettewire.org/4091671/news/academic-senate-discusses-enrollment-commencement/

“Overall, students and families are increasingly questioning the value of higher education,” Troyer said. “When surveyed, Gen Z tends to value higher education less than their millennial counterparts.”

It is about 3K to go through the CDL program at MATC and you can be making 75k+ with benefits after you graduate. Not saying it is for everyone, but it goes against the narrative that you won't have a good paying job with benefits without a four year degree. And if you are smart with your money and invest wisley, you can retire by the time Elon has replaced all commercial trucks with self-driving and self-unloading semis.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Absolutely spot on!   The current MU Jr. from the MKE burbs Porky referenced who originally passed on MU out of high school for another large midwestern state university (not in WI) transferred to MU following their freshman year due to lack of direct admit to college of choice, more difficulty to get into classes needed to graduate in 4 years, and the fact that those classes would be considerably larger even if able to register for them.  The reasons she originally passed on MU may be superficial, but they're definitely real and MU needs to pay more attention to how they're perceived.  And this was a local student, not some snob from a rich suburb of Boston, NYC or DC.

Isn’t the lesson here that a student should go where they feel a fit, and various outcomes based metrics, versus some silly exclusivity stat?

[warriorchick]

Admissions has found that the following items in the recruiting process have the most impact on getting students to chose to come:

• More and smaller recruiting events, initially started due to COVID, have continued as they appear to be effective.
• Targeted visit visit opportunities, for example to specific departments or programs the student is interested in.
• Students welcome and appreciate communication, for example text messages and pre-recorded voicemails from faculty in a students program.
• Individual financial aid counseling sessions for every in-coming student – this has helped a lot to overcome the initial sticker price as students and families can see what the real cost of coming to Marquette would be.

Another thing that might be helpful is to target highly desired recruits the way the sports teams do.  My kids had high test scores and otherwise great-looking applications.  They got multiple phone calls from the same dedicated admissions counselor from several of the private schools to which they applied.  We were on a first-name basis with some of them.  Glow Jr. even got a phone call from the college dean of the program to which he had applied begging him to come for a visit.  At Butler, he got to meet Brad Stevens one-on-one, and they brought him into Hinkle and flipped the lights on for him like it was a scene out of Hoosiers.  Those schools made them feel like rock stars.

For their Marquette applications, they got the acceptance letter, the standard scholarship offer, and then, crickets.  If they hadn't been Marquette basketball fans since they were little kids, I am not sure that they would have even wound up going there.

[PorkysButthole]

Isn’t the lesson here that a student should go where they feel a fit, and various outcomes based metrics, versus some silly exclusivity stat?

Of course!   But given the substantial investment needed particularly for private higher education, not enough 18 year-olds (or their parents either unfortunately) think that way.   Those that do are mature beyond their years.   Applications to the most prestigious / exclusive institutions continue to increase to ridiculous levels and applications to most private schools not ranked in top 50 are declining in most cases.  Even the Ivy Admissions directors acknowledge it's ridiculous, but if they can't change people's behavior I don't see how a school like MU can.   Just sayin....

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Of course!   But given the substantial investment needed particularly for private higher education, not enough 18 year-olds (or their parents either unfortunately) think that way.   Those that do are mature beyond their years.   Applications to the most prestigious / exclusive institutions continue to increase to ridiculous levels and applications to most private schools not ranked in top 50 are declining in most cases.  Even the Ivy Admissions directors acknowledge it's ridiculous, but if they can't change people's behavior I don't see how a school like MU can.   Just sayin....

I actually thinks it’s the parents way more than the kids are those who care about these types of metrics.

Anyway, in a declining demographic environment, the acceptance rate isn’t going to go down.

[Warriors4ever]

Nice to hear that the pregame event was a good recruiting tool. I understand Lovell was in the walkway between the Marriott and Wintrust. Lots of MU fans at the game which would help show prospective students our fierce loyalty as well.
These stories always make me laugh when I think about how I applied to colleges  fifty years ago. I never visited one place, unless you count the fact that Northwestern was in Evanston and Loyola in Rogers Park, though I don’t know that I had actually been on Northwestern’s campus. I ended up at Marquette in large part because it was away, but not too far away, and close enough to have varied options for getting home when I wanted to do so. I think we came up in the summer just to scope out the dorm rooms. People put more thought into kindergarten than I did for either undergrad or law school, and I don’t think I was alone in that.

[Not A Serious Person]

Isn’t the lesson here that a student should go where they feel a fit, and various outcomes based metrics, versus some silly exclusivity stat?

Yes

But college is no longer about "higher education" (actually, it has not been for decades). It is about the credential.

So the driving determination of which school one goes to is the credential it bestows on one. Or its ranking (actual, like for US News, or perceived).

You probably agree with me that this is wrong, but it is the way of the world.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Yes

But college is no longer about "higher education" (actually, it has not been for decades). It is about the credential.

So the driving determination of which school one goes to is the credential it bestows on one. Or its ranking (actual, like for US News, or perceived).

You probably agree with me that this is wrong, but it is the way of the world.

Well...kind of. But you are making it way too simplistic.  I had a friend from Marquette who was in charge of recruitment at a "Big 6" accounting firm (back when there was 6.)  He said that in Wisconsin, they only recruited at four schools - Marquette, UWM, Madison and Whitewater. That has nothing to do with their USNWR ranking, or their acceptance rate.  It has to do with the quality of their accounting program. And my guess is that once you are placed in the firm, your career progression has little if nothing to do with the school where you received your undergraduate degree.

That's one of the things I meant by "outcome based metric." How is the program perceived in the workforce. One of my kids faced this choice when looking at schools. One placed graduates in cool jobs all over the place. The other he felt was a better fit, but didn't quite have the same reputation. He ended up going with the latter, and it has worked out for him just fine.

[cheebs09]

Well...kind of. But you are making it way too simplistic.  I had a friend from Marquette who was in charge of recruitment at a "Big 6" accounting firm (back when there was 6.)  He said that in Wisconsin, they only recruited at four schools - Marquette, UWM, Madison and Whitewater. That has nothing to do with their USNWR ranking, or their acceptance rate.  It has to do with the quality of their accounting program. And my guess is that once you are placed in the firm, your career progression has little if nothing to do with the school where you received your undergraduate degree.

That's one of the things I meant by "outcome based metric." How is the program perceived in the workforce. One of my kids faced this choice when looking at schools. One placed graduates in cool jobs all over the place. The other he felt was a better fit, but didn't quite have the same reputation. He ended up going with the latter, and it has worked out for him just fine.

Agreed. Marquette has some really top tier programs that I believe carry much more weight than acceptance rate.

[Not A Serious Person]

Well...kind of. But you are making it way too simplistic.  I had a friend from Marquette who was in charge of recruitment at a "Big 6" accounting firm (back when there was 6.)  He said that in Wisconsin, they only recruited at four schools - Marquette, UWM, Madison and Whitewater. That has nothing to do with their USNWR ranking, or their acceptance rate.  It has to do with the quality of their accounting program. And my guess is that once you are placed in the firm, your career progression has little if nothing to do with the school where you received your undergraduate degree.

That's one of the things I meant by "outcome based metric." How is the program perceived in the workforce. One of my kids faced this choice when looking at schools. One placed graduates in cool jobs all over the place. The other he felt was a better fit, but didn't quite have the same reputation. He ended up going with the latter, and it has worked out for him just fine.

You underestimate how much parents view a school as a credential first.

[muwarrior69]

Nice to hear that the pregame event was a good recruiting tool. I understand Lovell was in the walkway between the Marriott and Wintrust. Lots of MU fans at the game which would help show prospective students our fierce loyalty as well.
These stories always make me laugh when I think about how I applied to colleges  fifty years ago. I never visited one place, unless you count the fact that Northwestern was in Evanston and Loyola in Rogers Park, though I don’t know that I had actually been on Northwestern’s campus. I ended up at Marquette in large part because it was away, but not too far away, and close enough to have varied options for getting home when I wanted to do so. I think we came up in the summer just to scope out the dorm rooms. People put more thought into kindergarten than I did for either undergrad or law school, and I don’t think I was alone in that.

Same here living in Jersey. I just applied to various schools but never visited them. The only reason I applied to Marquette was because my 3rd cousin from Indiana went there and said she liked it. I also wanted to be far enough away where "home" would not be a distraction. I was also a pretty shy introverted kid so being so far away it forced me to overcome my shyness. My first elective was public speaking, which became so valuable on job interviews. Was not much of a basketball fan, until I came to Marquette and watched Al put us on the national stage.

[muwarrior69]

Brother Porky made some interesting observations that should not be glossed over. While I won't argue change is hard -- and I'm not an Admissions Officer so I don't have experience -- change is coming.

1) Illinois and particularly the Chicago suburbs is Marquette's second largest market after Wisconsin. Take a good hard look at what's happening in Illinois and then tell me we don't need change. The economy is a mess, corporations are pulling out for greener pastures (i.e., Caterpillar, Boeing, Citadel, Allstate is severely reducing its footprint, Takada etc) and the population is falling. The corporate headquarters that Illinois once could count on (including banks) are gone. Politically, the state hasn't done an especially good job of dealing with its problems, which may well cause an ever bigger flight in the years ahead.

I can't speak to population projections for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and Iowa but these states are aging and most likel;y not to be in a position to attract significant new economic investment.

2) Catholic Church Attendance. Compare the number of faithful who attend Mass today to as recently as 10 years ago and you'll see the numbers are way down. Without commitment to the faith, the Catholic primary and secondary education system becomes at risk. With few faithful and fewer attendees at Catholic schools comes fewer Catholic school candidates for Marquette.

3) Costs. This is more than just MU's costs, which I acknowledge are lower than the stated rate for most students. When one combines the cost of a private high school with a private university, there often is a choice between private high school and private universities.

Ultimately, I'd argue Marquette should focus on whatever works. I'd think Texas, Tennessee, So Cal and maybe Arizona would work, but the folks on campus know better than me. What I do know is the trends do not bode well for the University's traditional markets.

Brother Lawrence: I was admitted to the College of Journalism in the mid-1970s.

In the mid-60s from what I recall there was Schools for: Journalism, Business, Engineering, Nursing, Speech Therapy, Education and the Arts and Sciences with subsets like Medical Technology and Physical Therapy that one could directly apply. Of course there was the Medical, Dental and Law School. I might have missed some as its almost 60 years ago.

[PorkysButthole]

Interesting opinion piece in the NY Times today about how screwed up the admissions process has become at selective colleges.  Porky included the link for Scoopers that are also NYT subs and a Word Doc for those who aren't.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/opinion/college-admissions-common-app.html

[Herman Cain]

Interesting opinion piece in the NY Times today about how screwed up the admissions process has become at selective colleges.  Porky included the link for Scoopers that are also NYT subs and a Word Doc for those who aren't.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/opinion/college-admissions-common-app.html

PorkysButthole:
Thanks for sharing ( the document was helpful)

[GOO]

Does Marquette’s on court success this year make for more student’s accepting admission?  And more applying next year? 

I know it isn’t a final four run, but got a lot of pub.

Check out Villanova acceptance rates over the years IF that is a true indicator of team success leading to school success.  I do know they went from 50% to low 20% and they seem to attribute a lot of that to the teams success.

[Macallan 18]

Update on enrollment from Monday's UAS meeting.

Undergraduates:   

• May 1st is the deposit deadline.
• Goal for freshman class: 1,926 students. 
• 602 Deposits as of Monday, up 12 deposits over last year. Still a lot of work to do. 
• Diversity is strong again, about 31%; also good quality students.
• Campus visits: up 12% over last year. Campus visits are a good predictor of students putting in their deposits. 

Graduate:

• Up 38% in completed apps.
• Up 15% in matriculations.

There was also a recap of the February meeting of members of the UAS Executive Committee with the Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Excellence (CAE). Sounds like they could have used Wojo's help in making their PowerPoint.

The group presented data from the College of Arts and Sciences to show how while enrollment has been relatively steady in the college over 10 years, the number of tenure track faculty positions have been reduced by 31 positions to date, with the bulk of these changes happening in the last two years.

It was also discussed that staff positions across all areas at Marquette have been reduced by 240 positions since 2018. These changes resulted in many on campus feeling stretched thin, doing more teaching, more research, more advising, more service, more administrative work, or otherwise taking on the work of colleagues who have left the university.

The group reported a number of comments made by members of the Board of Trustees CAE that were not supportive of faculty and staff.

• A member said that the Board had reviewed data on Marquette's tenure track faculty and found that the average age of our faculty members was high, relative to other institutions.  Also that they noted differences in teaching loads across faculty with some faculty members teaching one course and others teaching more. This was found to reflect an “abuse of tenure” and that it was a goal to have fewer tenure track faculty.
• A Board member also indicated that they felt the newly created Faculty budget committee was a “bad idea” and not a good structure, despite the UAS group working hard with the executive leadership team to create a structure that can strengthen shared governance in the area of budgets and financial decisions.
• A board member scoffed at their concerns over Marquette’s higher expenses for upper administration, saying that they didn’t think President Lovell would want to be paid like a Jesuit.

The faculty members of the UAS executive committee stated they left that meeting feeling unheard, disrespected, and not valued.

[MUfan12]

It was also discussed that staff positions across all areas at Marquette have been reduced by 240 positions since 2018. These changes resulted in many on campus feeling stretched thin, doing more teaching, more research, more advising, more service, more administrative work, or otherwise taking on the work of colleagues who have left the university.

This doesn't surprise me at all, and the budgeted compensation they have to backfill positions is so uncompetitive it's crazy, even for higher ed.

[shoothoops]

Update on enrollment from Monday's UAS meeting.

Undergraduates:   

• May 1st is the deposit deadline.
• Goal for freshman class: 1,926 students. 
• 602 Deposits as of Monday, up 12 deposits over last year. Still a lot of work to do. 
• Diversity is strong again, about 31%; also good quality students.
• Campus visits: up 12% over last year. Campus visits are a good predictor of students putting in their deposits. 

Graduate:

• Up 38% in completed apps.
• Up 15% in matriculations.

There was also a recap of the February meeting of members of the UAS Executive Committee with the Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Excellence (CAE). Sounds like they could have used Wojo's help in making their PowerPoint.

The group presented data from the College of Arts and Sciences to show how while enrollment has been relatively steady in the college over 10 years, the number of tenure track faculty positions have been reduced by 31 positions to date, with the bulk of these changes happening in the last two years.

It was also discussed that staff positions across all areas at Marquette have been reduced by 240 positions since 2018. These changes resulted in many on campus feeling stretched thin, doing more teaching, more research, more advising, more service, more administrative work, or otherwise taking on the work of colleagues who have left the university.

The group reported a number of comments made by members of the Board of Trustees CAE that were not supportive of faculty and staff.

• A member said that the Board had reviewed data on Marquette's tenure track faculty and found that the average age of our faculty members was high, relative to other institutions.  Also that they noted differences in teaching loads across faculty with some faculty members teaching one course and others teaching more. This was found to reflect an “abuse of tenure” and that it was a goal to have fewer tenure track faculty.
• A Board member also indicated that they felt the newly created Faculty budget committee was a “bad idea” and not a good structure, despite the UAS group working hard with the executive leadership team to create a structure that can strengthen shared governance in the area of budgets and financial decisions.
• A board member scoffed at their concerns over Marquette’s higher expenses for upper administration, saying that they didn’t think President Lovell would want to be paid like a Jesuit.

The faculty members of the UAS executive committee stated they left that meeting feeling unheard, disrespected, and not valued.

Diversity? Geographic diversity? Do you have geographic numbers by region? i.e. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, South, Mid-South, SouthWest, West Coast, Northwest?

And do you have the specific racial diversity numbers?

Thanks.

[Macallan 18]

Diversity? Geographic diversity? Do you have geographic numbers by region? i.e. Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, South, Mid-South, SouthWest, West Coast, Northwest?

And do you have the specific racial diversity numbers?

Thanks.

They did not have that level of breakdown. Although the Admissions Office said they are an avid reader of Scoop and know how important it is for them to prioritize increasing the Northeast recruiting pipeline.

Data for previous classes can be found on the Institutional Research and Analysis website. They usually publish the latest class data at the start of Fall semester.

There is a dashboard for all students enrolled, although it looks like they do not break out racial diversity other than White and Students of Color -
https://www.marquette.edu/institutional-research-analysis/interactive-reports/enrollment-dash.php

There is also a dashboard with just the First-Year Student data - https://www.marquette.edu/institutional-research-analysis/interactive-reports/freshman-dash.php

[mu_hilltopper]

Wow .. MU is at 42% men, 58% women now.  I know that imbalance is happening all over.  Looks like in 2021, for the US, it was 59.5% women.

https://feed.georgetown.edu/access-affordability/women-increasingly-outnumber-men-at-u-s-colleges-but-why/

I wonder what %age triggers special programs and scholarships to encourage men to enroll?  35%?  30%?

If male participation was lower than, say, non-white participation, would there be a change in policy?

[Macallan 18]

Does Marquette’s on court success this year make for more student’s accepting admission?  And more applying next year? 

I know it isn’t a final four run, but got a lot of pub.

Check out Villanova acceptance rates over the years IF that is a true indicator of team success leading to school success.  I do know they went from 50% to low 20% and they seem to attribute a lot of that to the teams success.

Well according to the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions there is no direct correlation, but it doesn't hurt - https://www.wpr.org/marquette-university-national-spotlight-ncaa-march-madness-tournament

Troyer said there's not a direct correlation to an increase in student enrollment for events like this, but he did say it doesn't hurt. Marquette will also likely air commercials showcasing the university during the games they appear in.

"When events like this happen, I think what it does is it draws positive attention to some universities who sometimes high school students aren't really thinking about," he said.

Troyer said it can make high schoolers who have already accepted offers for Marquette even more excited to be enrolled. It can also put the university "on the map" for other students who are still thinking about where to go for college.

[Macallan 18]

Wow .. MU is at 42% men, 58% women now.  I know that imbalance is happening all over.  Looks like in 2021, for the US, it was 59.5% women.

https://feed.georgetown.edu/access-affordability/women-increasingly-outnumber-men-at-u-s-colleges-but-why/

I wonder what %age triggers special programs and scholarships to encourage men to enroll?  35%?  30%?

If male participation was lower than, say, non-white participation, would there be a change in policy?

The Chronicle of Higher Education did a series on this topic and it has been a tough sell at other higher education institutions to create programs to increase male (especially white male) enrollment - https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-problem-nobodys-talking-about

At USF, years of efforts to raise graduation rates have virtually eliminated completion gaps by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Yet the gender gap remains, with women nearly 25-percent more likely to graduate on time than men.

Even so, the mentoring program was a tough sell, especially since the second-most underperforming group, relative to women, is white men, just behind Asian men.

“The fact that white men are not doing well at USF doesn’t cause too much concern,” among many faculty and staff members, said Cummings. Carmen Goldsmith, executive liaison to the vice president for student success, says white men are “even harder for people to get behind, because it’s an even more privileged group” than men in general.

Robbins, of Stony Brook University, faced similar pushback when he created his male-success team and began interviewing groups of men about their challenges.

“We needed to explain over and over again why it was important for half the population to be educated,” said Robbins, who is now the college’s executive director of the Center for Changing Systems of Power.

[PorkysButthole]

Great update Macallan thanks!   Did the Admissions dean say anything about the total # of applications they received?  It seems MU has gone out of their way to actually discourage more students from applying over the years and it's unfathomable to Porky as to why. 

For whatever reason it seems like MU doesn't want 3x 4x or 5x more students applying than they can reasonably accommodate.  Porky knows they adopted an extremely targeted data-centric approach a few years back and started only targeting students who meet their requirements, although that seems like it would be much more challenging in the test optional era.   

Porky understands they don't want to be bothered having to review applicants that aren't likely to be admitted, but what Porky doesn't understand is why they're unable to increase the number of QUALIFIED applicants to stoke demand so they can be even more selective. 

Fordham U in NYC has a slightly larger undergrad population than MU and is a slightly larger institution overall but they have 3x the number of applicants which doesn't make sense.  They don't have big time sports and their ranking isn't substantially enough higher than MU's to justify that difference but they have 47K applications to MU's 14K.   

Sure MKE isn't NYC and they're about 30% larger than MU in terms of total enrollment so you would expect them to have more applications than MU but not 300% more.  That's an insane difference given how comparable both institutions are.   

Porky agrees that acceptance rate doesn't correlate to quality but the optics of an 88% acceptance rate are effing terrible and in Porky's view the main cause of MU's extreme lack of geographic diversity. 

There's gotta be some folks on the BOT that think this is an issue no?  Just the other day a friend of Porky's son who is currently a high school JR and knows his old man went to MU started looking into MU as a potential option due mainly to MU's recent BET success.   

Porky Jr. told Porky Sr that this kid would likely apply to MU because it seems almost everyone gets in.   

Either the powers that be aren't aware that this is how MU is viewed or they just don't care.  Porky is fairly certain it's the latter.  What Porky isn't certain of is why?????????

edit: paragraphs are free when you subscribe to MUScoop+.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Ziggy would be on favor of bringing in more new England kids if their parents knew what a paragraph is.   

[muwarrior69]

Great update Macallan thanks!   Did the Admissions dean say anything about the total # of applications they received?  It seems MU has gone out of their way to actually discourage more students from applying over the years and it's unfathomable to Porky as to why.  For whatever reason it seems like MU doesn't want 3x 4x or 5x more students applying than they can reasonably accommodate.  Porky knows they adopted an extremely targeted data-centric approach a few years back and started only targeting students who meet their requirements, although that seems like it would be much more challenging in the test optional era.   Porky understands they don't want to be bothered having to review applicants that aren't likely to be admitted, but what Porky doesn't understand is why they're unable to increase the number of QUALIFIED applicants to stoke demand so they can be even more selective.  Fordham U in NYC has a slightly larger undergrad population than MU and is a slightly larger institution overall but they have 3x the number of applicants which doesn't make sense.  They don't have big time sports and their ranking isn't substantially enough higher than MU's to justify that difference but they have 47K applications to MU's 14K.   Sure MKE isn't NYC and they're about 30% larger than MU in terms of total enrollment so you would expect them to have more applications than MU but not 300% more.  That's an insane difference given how comparable both institutions are.   Porky agrees that acceptance rate doesn't correlate to quality but the optics of an 88% acceptance rate are effing terrible and in Porky's view the main cause of MU's extreme lack of geographic diversity.  There's gotta be some folks on the BOT that think this is an issue no?  Just the other day a friend of Porky's son who is currently a high school JR and knows his old man went to MU started looking into MU as a potential option due mainly to MU's recent BET success.   Porky Jr. told Porky Sr that this kid would likely apply to MU because it seems almost everyone gets in.   Either the powers that be aren't aware that this is how MU is viewed or they just don't care.  Porky is fairly certain it's the latter.  What Porky isn't certain of is why?????????

...If that is true I have a hard time believing that 42% of applicants are male.

[Macallan 18]

Great update Macallan thanks! Did the Admissions dean say anything about the total # of applications they received? 

No, he did not get that specific about total applications.

Previously he stated that after Marquette went test optional in 2020, 18% of students chose to apply with that option. Not sure what it is up to now.

He has mentioned in the past that high numbers of admitted students does not necessarily mean higher numbers of students will come to the university.

They take a data driven approach to admissions as it is a more staff and cost efficient and ethical than reaching out to students and asking them to apply when Marquette knows they would not likely be admitted or be academically successful at Marquette.

Wisconsin and Illinois are the two states they heavily recruit form each year. Despite this the Admission Office notes that the university makes a conscious effort to reach broadly in the recruitment process. They develop and update a recruitment plan that creates meaningful engagement opportunities with any student interested in pursuing their undergraduate education at Marquette.

[Macallan 18]

The last University Academic Senate meeting of the year was yesterday. Updates regarding recruitment and retention:

• The undergraduate goal was 1,926 students. Marquette has received 1,938 deposits as of yesterday morning.  Discount rate came down a "smidge" (no clarification on how much a smidge is). Student quality is high; diversity is high, 32.8% of incoming students are diverse.
  
• Program expansions for College of Business and Nursing - up about 100 students and 200 students respectively.
  
• In the update about the Student Success Initiative the presenters stated 17% of incoming  freshmen will transfer and graduate elsewhere, or not graduate at all from Marquette. 
  
• The initiatives goal is to improve coordination of services and support to increase the six-year graduation rate to 90%, year 1-2 retention rate to 94% and first destination to 94%. First destination is how new graduates fare in their careers within six months of graduation.
  
• The curent state of retention is 89.5% (#102 among US News nationally ranked institutions). Graduation is 82.5% (#70; #66 for graduation rate performance)​and First destination is 94% employed/enrolled/service.

[warriorchick]

News release regarding class of 2027:
 
Strategic Planning
Marquette set to welcome 1,938 students to campus as Class of 2027
MAY 9, 2023

Marquette University has 1,938 incoming students committed to join the Class of 2027 as of National Decision Day, May 1.

Brian Troyer, dean of undergraduate admissions, attributes the success, in part, to his team’s mission-based, personalized approach to working with students and families.

“I am proud of the truly coordinated effort to demonstrate what makes Marquette such a special place and we saw, once again, that our best tool was the campus itself,” Troyer says. “It is such an important element for prospective students to personally experience our campus and interact with members of the Marquette community, including our faculty, staff, current students and alumni. We worked hard to meet these prospective students where they live, and we found that once we got admitted students to campus, they were committing to the university at a tremendous rate.”

Among their many outreach efforts, Troyer and his team held recruitment dinners and receptions in 27 cities, at which over 50% of attendees committed to Marquette. The team also saw a nearly 4% increase in admitted student visitors, and they hosted over 500 students over two Admitted Student Days. All told, Marquette yielded a nearly 63% commitment rate.

Diversity of student body improves

Based on the current numbers, over 33% of the incoming class identifies as a student of color, the second-straight year that figure has seen a greater than 10% increase. True to the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and heritage, first-generation students make up over 23% of the incoming class, and 171 students hail from Jesuit high schools.

New class demonstrates academic excellence

Importantly, Marquette increased its class size and furthered its commitment to academic excellence. The incoming class boasts an average GPA of 3.56 and standardized test scores for those who submitted them improved. The class’s average SAT score is 1269 and their average ACT score is 27.7.

Additionally, an impressive 14.5% of the Class of 2027 has been accepted and committed to the Honors Program.

Increased enrollment from Illinois

Geographically, more students in the class hail from Wisconsin’s neighbor to the south, with nearly 42% coming from Illinois. Over a third of the class is from Wisconsin.

All told, students are headed to Marquette from 43 domestic states, three U.S. territories and 13 countries.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

News release regarding class of 2027:
 
Strategic Planning
Marquette set to welcome 1,938 students to campus as Class of 2027
MAY 9, 2023

Marquette University has 1,938 incoming students committed to join the Class of 2027 as of National Decision Day, May 1.

Brian Troyer, dean of undergraduate admissions, attributes the success, in part, to his team’s mission-based, personalized approach to working with students and families.

“I am proud of the truly coordinated effort to demonstrate what makes Marquette such a special place and we saw, once again, that our best tool was the campus itself,” Troyer says. “It is such an important element for prospective students to personally experience our campus and interact with members of the Marquette community, including our faculty, staff, current students and alumni. We worked hard to meet these prospective students where they live, and we found that once we got admitted students to campus, they were committing to the university at a tremendous rate.”

Among their many outreach efforts, Troyer and his team held recruitment dinners and receptions in 27 cities, at which over 50% of attendees committed to Marquette. The team also saw a nearly 4% increase in admitted student visitors, and they hosted over 500 students over two Admitted Student Days. All told, Marquette yielded a nearly 63% commitment rate.

Diversity of student body improves

Based on the current numbers, over 33% of the incoming class identifies as a student of color, the second-straight year that figure has seen a greater than 10% increase. True to the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and heritage, first-generation students make up over 23% of the incoming class, and 171 students hail from Jesuit high schools.

New class demonstrates academic excellence

Importantly, Marquette increased its class size and furthered its commitment to academic excellence. The incoming class boasts an average GPA of 3.56 and standardized test scores for those who submitted them improved. The class’s average SAT score is 1269 and their average ACT score is 27.7.

Additionally, an impressive 14.5% of the Class of 2027 has been accepted and committed to the Honors Program.

Increased enrollment from Illinois

Geographically, more students in the class hail from Wisconsin’s neighbor to the south, with nearly 42% coming from Illinois. Over a third of the class is from Wisconsin.

All told, students are headed to Marquette from 43 domestic states, three U.S. territories and 13 countries.

But what about students from the northeast?!?!?!

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

This really validates how Marquette has focused the last few years. Concentrating on certain majors and really diving into certain geographies.  The discount rate is going to increase - it pretty much has to at all but the elite schools with the demographics in question.

I'm sure a re-emerging basketball program helps.

[The Lens]

If I'm reading correctly, 75% are from Wisconsin and Illinois.  Is that normal?  It seems high.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

It's higher than it has been, but I think that's intentional. These numbers show they are REALLY concentrating on Chicagoland, which is smart because it is relatively better off financially, full of college bound students, and still relatively Catholic.

[The Lens]

I do know that it is not a lay up for kids to get into MU anyore from places like Loyola Academy.  I guess that's good news.

[Herman Cain]

News release regarding class of 2027:
 
Strategic Planning
Marquette set to welcome 1,938 students to campus as Class of 2027
MAY 9, 2023

Marquette University has 1,938 incoming students committed to join the Class of 2027 as of National Decision Day, May 1.

Brian Troyer, dean of undergraduate admissions, attributes the success, in part, to his team’s mission-based, personalized approach to working with students and families.

“I am proud of the truly coordinated effort to demonstrate what makes Marquette such a special place and we saw, once again, that our best tool was the campus itself,” Troyer says. “It is such an important element for prospective students to personally experience our campus and interact with members of the Marquette community, including our faculty, staff, current students and alumni. We worked hard to meet these prospective students where they live, and we found that once we got admitted students to campus, they were committing to the university at a tremendous rate.”

Among their many outreach efforts, Troyer and his team held recruitment dinners and receptions in 27 cities, at which over 50% of attendees committed to Marquette. The team also saw a nearly 4% increase in admitted student visitors, and they hosted over 500 students over two Admitted Student Days. All told, Marquette yielded a nearly 63% commitment rate.

Diversity of student body improves

Based on the current numbers, over 33% of the incoming class identifies as a student of color, the second-straight year that figure has seen a greater than 10% increase. True to the university’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and heritage, first-generation students make up over 23% of the incoming class, and 171 students hail from Jesuit high schools.

New class demonstrates academic excellence

Importantly, Marquette increased its class size and furthered its commitment to academic excellence. The incoming class boasts an average GPA of 3.56 and standardized test scores for those who submitted them improved. The class’s average SAT score is 1269 and their average ACT score is 27.7.

Additionally, an impressive 14.5% of the Class of 2027 has been accepted and committed to the Honors Program.

Increased enrollment from Illinois

Geographically, more students in the class hail from Wisconsin’s neighbor to the south, with nearly 42% coming from Illinois. Over a third of the class is from Wisconsin.

All told, students are headed to Marquette from 43 domestic states, three U.S. territories and 13 countries.

Excellent progress. Average Grades and SAT is very helpful to the cause .

[mu_hilltopper]

I wonder .. what's the gender breakdown for the incoming class?  Still a 42% downward trend for men?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I wonder .. what's the gender breakdown for the incoming class?  Still a 42% downward trend for men?

Ya know what brings in a large crop of males to balance the gender breakdown.....

[MU82]

It's higher than it has been, but I think that's intentional. These numbers show they are REALLY concentrating on Chicagoland, which is smart because it is relatively better off financially, full of college bound students, and still relatively Catholic.

Also, the Chicago metro area has had stable to slightly growing population trends.