May 14, 1999

Class of 2003 tops 700

As of May 13, the fall 1999 freshman class totals 750 students. This is the largest number of confirmed freshmen in Loyola’s recent history,” according to Debbie Stieffel, acting dean of admissions and enrollment management. Stieffel attributes this year’s successful recruitment efforts to the new recruiting strategies that have been implemented, including predictive modeling, financial aid leveraging, and the new Sequitur recruitment management software. These strategies support the intense efforts of the admissions staff. She also credits the involvement and renewed enthusiasm of faculty, staff, and students in the recruitment process. For example, there was a 72 percent yield from the recent President’s Open House in April.

With the new recruiting tools in place as well as use of the Internet for recruitment, admissions has undergone radical changes in the past couple of years.Seventeen percent of applications are now received online through the university web page and this number is growing. Over 230 applications were generated from the Common Application. This is the inaugural year for Loyola’s membership in the prestigious Common Application Group, which includes a select list of 195 colleges and universities throughout the United States.

Compared to last year, the percentage of admitted students from Louisiana who have deposited has increased by 22 percent; the percentage of admitted students from out-of-state with deposits has increased 34 percent. The academic profile of this year’s incoming class reflects the outstanding profile of last year’s freshman class in terms of both grade point average and standardized test scores.