Institutional Research and Planning Room 306 1871 Old Main Drive Shippensburg, PA 17257 Phone: (717)-477-1154 Fax: (717)-477-4077 irp@ship.edu

Admitted Student Questionnaire The Admitted Student Questionnaire (ASQ) was designed by the College Board with the intent of providing colleges and universities with additional information regarding marketing and admissions. Specifically, the ASQ focuses on the attractiveness of the university in a number of areas to students with offers of admission and the effectiveness of admissions programs. Additional comparisons are made between students that did and did not enroll and among competitor universities. The following report summarizes results from a recent administration of the ASQ and extracts university strengths and weaknesses found in the data. The ASQ was administered to 3412 students admitted to the Fall 1998 semester. The ASQ was distributed to 1212 enrolling students and 2200 non-enrolling students. A total of 1481 students returned the instrument for a response rate of 43%. The ASQ is composed of 90 items categorized into four primary areas: college characteristics, options, information sources, and cost/financial aid. There are also items that collect general demographics. Regarding college characteristics and options, two responses are required of participants. First the importance of the characteristic is asked followed by a comparison of "this" to "other" colleges. This comparison between Shippensburg University and its competitors is continued in the topics of information sources (how prospective students learn about the university) and cost and financial aid. An additional section asks participants to select from a list those words that they believe are widely held images of the university. The ASQ concludes with demographic items and comment space focused on the admissions program (results are summarized in Appendix A). The ASQ was administered to all enrolling freshmen during the Fall Orientation in August 1998. The method produced a 100% response rate. The ASQ was mailed to all admitted applicants that did not confirm attendance; only 12% of this group responded via the mail. The results were processed by the College Board and returned to the university. Shippensburg University successfully attracts students. The university continues to meet its access mission. Minorities show high rates of acceptance and trends show the university provides opportunities for students of lower income and grade performance given adequate assessment of their potential success. Prospective students perceive the university to be attractive in appearance, low in cost, with accessible faculty compared to our competitors. Particularly, the quality of social life and faculty give us an advantage. Admitted students view the university to be comfortable, friendly, and provide opportunities for a fun social life. The marketing plan appears to function with on-campus interviews and personal contact among the most successful strategies. All of this leads to high "win" rates for students when competing with certain universities. Findings of this study resonate with currently held perceptions of the university's attractiveness and marketing. The study suggests that there are opportunities for improvement when data are benchmarked against our competition. Perceptions exist in the pool of potential students that the university is less challenging and exciting than other campuses and is somewhat isolated. Other perceptions are that the university provides poor access to off-campus activities and some student's homes. Many prospective students rate the surroundings less positively than other campuses. Reduced contact with coaches and staff and faculty from the colleges during marketing may have exacerbated these problems. In particular, the results indicate that the university is disadvantaged when competing with certain universities.