Admissions Annual Report
Kassie Daly Assistant Director of Admissions WIU-QC
Background/Staffing
The office of admissions consists of an Assistant Director of Admissions, Assistant Director
of Graduate Studies and two Admissions Counselors. The addition of the Assistant Director
of Graduate studies is new for the office this year. Antoinette Murphy has joined the team
with her responsibilities to focus on the recruitment of graduate students and providing
the support services needed for students during the application through acceptance
process.
UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS
Undergraduate Recruitment Territory
The recruitment territory for undergraduate admissions includes 10 counties in Illinois
and Iowa counties as far west as Polk County and those north of Lee county. In this
territory for the Fall and Spring 2012/2013 recruitment year there have been 185 high
school visits and 32 college fairs.
Fall recruitment visits are heavier in volume as we visit all of our larger schools and
schools that yield the most inquires and applications for the University. In the spring we
narrow down some of the visits to productive locations to catch seniors still in the decision
making process and Juniors who are beginning to explore their options.
Undergraduate On Campus Events
Each academic year we hold four Discover Western-Quad Cities events and facilitate other
individualized group visits. This year to date we have had five group visits from high
schools and community colleges.
Throughout the year we meet with 6-9 individual appointments (on average) during a
week for the office. We also manage multiple lists of students who have inquired, applied,
or are accepted to the Quad City and Macomb campuses. A big portion of our job is to keep
up constant communication with students who are navigating the application and
enrollment process here at WIU-QC and WIU-Macomb.
Partnerships
One of the areas we pride ourselves in is the partnerships we have established. We work
with academic departments to be present at their events and for them to also take part in
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ours. Faculty have assisted our office in providing mock class sessions for events and
groups, and also keeping our office updated on new happenings within their program.
We also partner with the Director of Marketing for help with event promotion,
communication pieces and the view book. This partnership has resulted in the success of
program participation and even a bronze award for our view book design.
As we continue to be one Western with two campuses our partnership with the Office of
the Admissions in Macomb resulted in two large events being held on the Quad City
Campus this year. The Statewide Articulation Conference brings high school counselors
from around the state to college campuses to hear updates on all the state schools. This was
held at WIU –QC riverfront this year. These counselors were able to preview what WIU-QC
offers by viewing the building and hearing updates. The Community College Articulation
conference was also held at WIU-QC this year. Community College Counselors came to our
campus from as far south as Quincy, Illinois and as far north as Chicago. On the reverse
side, admissions staff from WIU-QC attend and assist with Discover Western Programs in
Macomb and have a presence for students who may want to look at Quad City options.
The Office of Admissions, along with the office of student services, partners with other
educational institutions by performing presentations, assisting with event planning and
promotion, sitting on panels and brainstorming other joint opportunities to offer to the
community. This year staff has presented in classrooms, assisted with "The Next Big Thing"
event in Clinton, Iowa, been present at parent/teacher nights and participated in College
Application Week. This was also the first year for the admissions advisory council which
consists of High School guidance counselors in the Quad City Area.
Updates from Last Year’s Report
Last year there were some renovations taking place to some existing practices. In this year
we have been able to make updates to communication pieces, create a plan for a
communication flow (specifically for Quad City applications), and re-structure (in
coordination with student services) new student orientation. A large project for the office
was re-designing the student planner to serve as a planner, handbook, and information
piece during new student orientation.
GRADUATE ADMISSIONS
Recruitment for graduate admissions has been combined for the last several years within
the Office of Admissions. Starting in January that structure changed with the hiring of a new
Assistant Director of Graduate Studies. The role of this position is to take over the
recruitment process, follow up with applied students and work with Quad City Graduate
programs to increase enrollment. Since 2009 enrollment in graduate programs has
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declined and although there are outside factors to this loss the growth of undergraduate
enrollment surfaced the need for a single person dedicated to graduate prospects, students
and their needs.
Recruitment Efforts
Currently the recruitment efforts for graduate admissions have been to attend graduate
school fairs sponsored by other educational institutions or Agencies (9 total for fall and
spring), scheduling and attending Company or Education Fairs (6 total for fall and spring).
We also keep in constant communication with those that have applied to the Quad Cities
campus to update them on their application status, or what steps to take next after
acceptance. The efforts for graduate recruitment have been a campus wide effort with staff
and faculty reaching out to institutions for additional opportunities.
Recruitment efforts that are scheduled to begin in March are two Open
Houses/Information Sessions, three graduate seminars for current students to transition
our undergraduate students into our graduate programs, more outreach and direct work
with businesses, and working with the advisors from the undergraduate programs to direct
students to graduate studies as the Assistant Director will have a presence at the Riverfront
campus during peak advising hours.
ENROLLMENT
Numbers for the last three years (after 10th day) are as follows:
Undergraduate
Fall 2012: 799
Fall 2011: 735
Fall 2010: 730
Graduate
Fall 2012: 578
Fall 2011: 637
Fall 2010: 631
Total
Fall 2012: 1377
Fall 2011: 1372
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Fall 2010: 1361
See Chart 1.1 & 1.2
The goals for this upcoming fall is to get to 1,420 for undergraduate and graduate
combined. Applications for freshman, transfer and graduate are ahead of year to date from
last year. The projected growth will continue to come from the undergraduate side, but
with increased recruitment efforts for graduate enrollment keeping the numbers in line or,
slightly ahead of last year, will be key as not to loose any more ground.
This year was an interesting year. Usually most of our focus as a campus is on the numbers
for fall, but because of increased retention rates and a larger incoming student population
for spring we almost matched the fall total with 1339 enrollment numbers for spring.
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
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Chart 1.1
Undergraduate
Graduate
Admissions Annual Report March 2013 -- Kassie Daly
Applications
Chart 1.2
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Fall 2012
Freshman
Fall 2013
Transfer
Graduate
BUDGET REQUESTS
This year I am requesting additional funds of the following amounts for different needs of the Office
of Admissions in at the Quad City campus.
$6,000- This amount is being requested due to territory expansion and the absorption of local
Quad City school travel that used to be covered by the Macomb Admissions Office.
$5,000- With the addition of a designated person for graduate recruitment money will be needed
for that positions travel needs, events, mailings, and daily operations.
$1,500- We continue to partner with area educational agencies to promote continuing education in
the Quad City area. This request is to help fund those initiatives.
$2,000- One of the goals for the office this year is to create a distinct communication flow for
students who have applied and will be enrolling at the Quad City Campus.
$3,000- As we add processing functions to the Quad City campus we are in need of the technology
to support such operations.
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Admissions Annual Report March 2013 -- Kassie Daly