Publication Date

1965

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Alexander, Virgil||Wells, Philip C.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Educational Administration

LCSH

College choice

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the factors which influenced the September, 1964, class of beginning freshmen to select North Central College, a small, private, coeducational, church-related liberal arts college located in Naperville, Illinois, for their undergraduate study. It was assumed that such information would provide some insight into the question of why students choose a particular college. More specifically, it would provide a basis for the evaluation of current recruitment and selection practices of the admission program at North Central College. Procedure: A questionnaire consisting of 108 items listed in eight different category sections was presented to 241 freshmen students. The categories included for student consideration were miscellaneous, curricular, persons, sources of information, religious, economic, physical or geographic, and extracurricular. Students were requested to respond to each item with a qualitative rating (3, 2, or 1) which classified it as a major factor, a minor factor, or not a factor. Opportunity was provided for listing factors not anticipated by the author. At the end of each category students were asked to list the most important factor in that section. At the end of the questionnaire they were asked to list the most important category. Conclusions: One hundred and forty-one students (58.5%) returned the completed forms. The major conclusions are briefly summarized below: No single item was listed as the most important factor by all students, nor was any single category chosen by all students as most important. General descriptive factors relating to size, atmosphere or spirit, and curriculum were the most frequent choices. The single factor listed most important by most students was "size of college; smaller, more personal." The Liberal Arts curriculum was listed as the most important academic factor by thirty-five per cent. Relatives were considered the most important persons by over fifty-five per cent of the students. College personnel were next with eighteen per cent, and friends or former college students accounted for only nine per cent. High school teacher and counselor were listed by eight per cent. Seven per cent listed the minister or church-related personnel. The campus visitation program was the most important source of information, followed by college catalog, interview with admissions counselor, and letters from the Admissions Office. Academic scholarship, relatively low cost, and nearness to home ranked highest as economic factors. The opportunities for participation in various college activities were rated as the most important extracurricular factor by forty-two per cent of the students.

Comments

Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

vii, 67, 4 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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