September 3, 1999

Class of 2003: Best in years

by Mariel Coen A'00 Intern in the Office of Public Affairs

It seems that more and more people opt for a Loyola education; our numbers are growing. The Class of 2003 is enter ing with 818 students. "This is the largest number of confirmed freshmen in Loyola's recent history," says Debbie Stieffel, acting dean of admissions and enrollment management.

Compared to last year, there has been a 22-percent increase of deposited freshmen from Louisiana and a 34-percent increase in deposited freshmen from out of state. 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.

The Class of 2003 has an average high school grade point average of 3.62 (out of 4). Students have an average Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) combined score of 1166 (out of 1600) which is above the 1013 national average and an average American Collegiate Test (ACT) score of 25.5 (out of 36) compared with a national average of 20.9. The overall ethnic minority percentage of the new first year class is 24.5 percent, with African-American students and Hispanic-Americans representing 10.9 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

Stieffel attributes this year's successful recruitment efforts to the new recruitment strategies that have been implemented, including predictive modeling, financial aid leveraging, and the new Sequitur recruitment management software, a prospect management system. "It helps us target and direct our marketing effort to students in a more specific way and to track them in an individual manner," says Natalie Cross, director of admissions, marketing and recruiting. "It enables us to be personalized in recruitment efforts and in learning what the students' interests are as well as refining our statistical reporting."

Steiffel also credits the involvement and renewed enthusiasm of faculty, staff, and students in the recruitment process. For example, 72 percent of the prospective students who attended the President's Open House in April applied to Loyola.

With the new recruiting tools in place as well as the 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.

Loyola's total enrollment is 5,500 students, 3,500 of whom are undergraduate.