Business Michigan School State University
Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:00:59 +0000
About one-third of Central Michigan University’s undergraduate students come from the metro Detroit area.
That fact is the focus of a large portion of the admissions department’s recruiting efforts. Betty Wagner, director of admissions, said the admissions department has an office in Troy which focuses solely on the tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, with a strong emphasis on Detroit Public Schools.
CMU has strong competition in the area and, because of its dense population, Western Michigan University and Michigan State University also receive about one-third of their students from the Detroit region.
But because of the shrinking number of high school graduates in the state, many Michigan colleges have been turning to out-of-state students to keep enrollment numbers up. All three schools said the largest section of their out-of-state students come from the Chicago area. Wagner said out-of-state recruiting is “a real priority” at CMU.
WMU spokeswoman Cheryl Roland said the university is looking all over for potential students.
“We’re also looking at Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota,” Roland said.
Because MSU is a larger institution and more well-known, it attracts a large number of students from different areas of the country, said MSU’s Admissions Assistant Director Gabe Santi.
“We do well in California, New Jersey, New York and Florida,” Santi said. “We also do well where we have large groups of active alumni.”
Wagner said CMU is seeing growth in other areas as well.
“We also have a satellite office in Grand Rapids,” she said. “(Applications are) more rapidly growing there.”
However, there is stiff competition for CMU with WMU, Grand Valley State University and eight private colleges in the area.
Programs
In addition to focusing on specific geographic areas in student recruiting, CMU tries to recruit certain types of students.
“We’re trying to get top scholars, those students with stellar grades,” Wagner said.
The annual Centralis scholarship competition is one of several ways the school reaches out to these students.
“We also look at leadership students,” Wagner said. “They have the potential to be good citizens and give back. They’ll be involved in and lead different organizations and continue to volunteer in college.”
Each university can gain an edge in the competitive market for prospective students by promoting the prestigious academic programs they offer.
WMU’s top draws for students include their fine arts, aviation and geosciences programs.
“We promote our premier programs, which help to illustrate the caliber of the institution as a whole,” Roland said.
MSU has recently seen a growing interest in one specific program.
“Business has been very popular lately,” Santi said.
Engineering and natural sciences also are popular programs at MSU, which is known for its agricultural programs, Santi said.
Wagner said one of CMU’s programs that generally garners a substantial interest is different from WMU and MSU.
“Psychology, traditionally, has the highest number of signed majors,” Wagner said.
E-mail the author: Emily Pfund
1837Institute for Colored Youth founded by Richard Humphreys; later became Cheyney University.1854Ashmun Institute, the first school of higher learning for young black men, founded by John Miller Dickey and his wife, Sarah Emlen Cresson; later (1866) renamed Lincoln University (Pa.) after President Abraham Lincoln.1856Wilberforce University, the first black school of higher learning owned and operated by African Americans, founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Its president, Daniel A. Payne, became the first African American Uniiversity president in the country.1869Howard University's law school becomes the country's first black law school.1876Meharry Medical College, the first black medical school in the U.S., founded by the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church.1881Spelman College, the first college for black women in the U.S., founded by Sophia B. Packard and Harriet E. Giles.1881Booker T. Washington founds the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. The school became one of the leading schools of higher learning for African Americans, and stressed the practical application of knowledge. In 1896, George Washington Carver began teaching there as director of the department of agricultural research, gaining an international reputation for his agricultural advances.1922William Leo Hansberry teaches the first course in African civilization at an American university, at Howard University.1944Frederick Douglass Patterson establishes the United Negro College Fund to help support black colleges and black students.1954In the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans., the Supreme Court rules unanimously that segregation in public schools in unconstitutional.1957President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends federal troops to ensure integration of the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. The Little Rock Nine were the first black students to attend the school.1960Black and white students form the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), dedicated to working against segregation and discrimination.1962James Meredith is the first black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi; on the day he enters the university, he is escorted by U.S. marshals.1963Despite Governor George Wallace physically blocking their way, Vivian Malone and James Hood register for classes at the University of Alabama.1968San Francisco State University becomes the first four-year college to establish a black studies department.1969The Ford Foundation gives $1 million to Morgan State University, Howard University, and Yale University to help prepare faculty members to teach courses in African American studies.2003In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Supreme Court (5-4) upholds the University of Michigan Law School's affirmative action policy, ruling that race can be one of many factors considered by colleges when selecting their students because it furthers “a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body.”Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0872844.html
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