The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of university admissions staff and faculty reviewers who have attended an implicit bias, unconscious bias, or diversity training session while working at a higher education institution. The theories guiding this study were Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB)…

Graduate enrollment management (GEM) is a relatively new organizational concept and discipline. As an emerging profession, a common body of knowledge to structure and regulate the profession is critical to its professionalization. Identifying competencies is one method to create that knowledge and is a well-established method of measuring a…

Researchers have extensively investigated the quantitative relationship between various admissions requirements and their predictive capability for academic success in DPT programs; however, limited investigators have examined the perceptions of these requirements by admissions faculty. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the…

College staff performing recruiting tasks without collaboration or shared knowledge formation creates redundancies and knowledge gaps. This study sought to investigate causes and find solutions to recruitment gaps and redundancies. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of interviews with college staff and recent high school…

Using a convergent mixed methodology, this study examined the perceptions and experiences of remote admissions professionals regarding their job satisfaction in relation to retention, by way of semi-structured interviews and a comprehensive survey. With 84 complete survey responses, this represented over 10 percent of the estimated 800 remote…

Black male college enrollment is at concerning and acutely low numbers compared to other groups; this is especially challenging at Historically White Colleges and Universities (HWCUs), where Black men often face hostility and ostracism on campus and during college recruitment and admissions. This study aims to amplify the voices of Black male…

Existing literature finds that holistic admission practices may result in biased decision-making at the undergraduate and doctoral level. This decision-making may happen during the application review or policymaking process. Few studies directly examine master's admission processes as a unique entity. Additionally, researchers have not yet…

The number of international students that travel abroad for their tertiary education has increased dramatically in the last twenty years. Responding to this increase in international student demand and internal motivations for prestige and financial resources, universities in the US have developed international enrollment management offices to…

From the founding of the first colleges in colonial America to the modern-day institution, the question of who is meritorious enough to gain admissions to an institution has always relevant. The early colleges and universities utilized gender, status, and profession to help decide who should enter an institution. Currently, the formula is more…

Low-income students are underrepresented at selective colleges. Most evaluative criteria used by admissions officers are correlated with income, including test scores and performance in high school. Inspired in part by the current state of the use of testing in college admissions, this study examines how the quality of colleges attended by…

Illinois has enacted legislative policies to provide access to higher education and state funding opportunities for undocumented students. Public Act 093-0007, Illinois RISE Act, and Illinois House Bill 3438 all have implications for Illinois four-year public universities and community colleges. This dissertation focused on understanding the…

This study examined the role of chief admission officers (CAOs) in Research 1 (R1) public flagship institutions and how they understand and address the misalignment between admission criteria to STEM majors and the disparate access to STEM opportunities for diverse students in the applicant pool. The research questions this study explored were (a)…

This study examined the lower enrollment of Black students in graduate programs compared to their enrollment in undergraduate programs. In today's climate with the recent Supreme Court case rulings and the enrollment cliff, recruiting Black students is both challenging and incredibly important. To address this problem, the study explored how a…

Improving community college transfer pathways in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields is an urgent educational equity issue in the United States. While there is abundant literature documenting the challenges community college transfer students face in their pursuit of a STEM bachelor's degree, there is limited research on the…

Medical schools throughout the United States have admission committees that explore student applications using a multitude of criteria when choosing students for admissions into medical school. A great deal goes into the criteria that each medical school utilizes in selecting potential students to enroll in their school. Even though there has been…