Admissions DEIJ Overview
The Division of Enrollment Management is responsible for the recruitment and retention of students at Goucher College. It is composed of four units: Admissions (Undergraduate & Graduate), the Registrar’s Office, Student Financial Services (Financial Aid & Student Accounts), and Retention & Student Success. This update will focus on Admissions, which supports DEIJ in several ways:
- Recruitment: Goucher Admissions intentionally recruits students from all backgrounds, caring deeply about ensuring that students in our inquiry pool come from diverse backgrounds, in terms of socio-economic levels, school type, and region (domestic and international). Admissions staff consistently engage and collaborate with community-based organizations (CBOs) regionally and nationally that allow them to reach students who they might not otherwise meet through traditional recruitment efforts. Each student brings something special to our applicant pool.
- Communicating Goucher’s mission and values: The Admissions team works to ensure that all families, students and high school college counselors are aware of Goucher’s mission, values, and principles.
- Policy creation: Documenting admission policies and procedures ensures they are fairly administered across all student populations.
Goucher’s dedication to social justice, diversity, and multiculturalism guides the Enrollment Management division and admissions team. Activities and programs are geared toward reaching students and families who will be able to contribute to the Goucher community in a meaningful way and to create a community that is comprised of students that are different from one another. To support the division’s DEIJ goals, they work in partnership with every department and office on Goucher’s campus. In essence, all Goucher employees are recruiters for Goucher College in some way.
Challenges
One of the biggest challenges that Enrollment Management is facing currently is the recent Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. By reversing more than forty years of Supreme Court rulings about the use of race in the college admissions process, colleges and universities across the country are revisiting their admissions recruitment and admissions processes to ensure that they are compliant with the ruling.
Highlighted DEIJ Initiatives
There are three initiatives we would like to highlight:
- Goucher College admissions partners with Greenlight Match (now called Enroll360 Match) to recruit lower income and first-generation students. Participation is free for the students and the “reverse” admissions process allows candidates to complete a profile that highlights academic interests, achievements, and the qualities the student is looking for in a college. Participating colleges review the students’ information and offer admission. The students can then opt in for the admission offers and learn more about the colleges.
- Goucher admissions works with the state of Maryland to offer the Guaranteed Access Grant to admitted students; this grant is a need-based grant that provides financial assistance to eligible applicants who enroll at a Maryland college or university.
- In collaboration with the Office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence, the Admissions office assists in the recruitment of students into the LAUNCH network. The LAUNCH network is designed to offer first-generation and Pell Grant-eligible Goucher-bound students support services, skills development, and community building opportunities that will assist them in earning a degree and fully taking advantage of the Goucher experience.
International Students
International students are an integral part of the undergraduate admission’s enrollment. The office has two admissions team members who are responsible for recruiting international students; they conduct extensive travel across the world to engage international students with Goucher’s goal to cultivate global changemakers. Goucher is focused on growing its international student population in the coming years to further support its global education focus and ensure our international students benefit from our accelerated degree programs and 4+1 partnerships with institutions like Loyola and Johns Hopkins that offer accelerated graduate degree pathways.
Admissions recruits international students in much the same way that we recruit domestic students – they share the key differentiators, such as The Goucher Edge and our 100% study abroad requirement – with students and families, and then guide them through the admissions and enrollment process.