THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 1995 TAG: 9503010457
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Old Dominion University has experienced a 23.1 percent surge in admissions applications this year and Norfolk State a 14.5 percent increase, dwarfing most other colleges in Virginia, a survey shows.
Statewide, the number of applications received by the end of January had increased 2.6 percent from last year, according to a report by the State Council of Higher Education. The only other four-year schools in ODU's and NSU's league were Clinch Valley College, up 31.3 percent, and Virginia State University, up 15 percent, according to the study.
``We're just doing a much better job of getting the word out in the admissions area,'' said James V. Koch, ODU's president. ``We're better organized.''
Koch also said the campus had been spruced up in the past year. The expansion of Hampton Boulevard, which last year was a muddy mess near the entrance of ODU, and the renovation of the student center have been completed.
``We can bring them into Webb Center with a sense of pride,'' Koch said. ``A year ago, they were walking through plywood corridors.''
Christopher Jones, a senior at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, has other reasons for choosing ODU: ``It's a good engineering school, because I want to be an engineer, and it's close to home.''
Dana D. Burnett, ODU's vice president for student services, said he expected the freshman class to increase from this year's 1,500 to 1,600. Even so, the university might become slightly more selective. ODU accepted about 86 percent of the applicants last year, state records show.
Burnett said ODU might cut the number of its ``provisionally admitted'' freshmen who don't meet the university's 700 cutoff score on the SAT, from the current 200 to about 180.
Jesse Lewis, NSU's vice president for academic affairs, attributed Norfolk State's increase to the greater presence of faculty in recruiting trips and a blitz of good publicity for the school, including visits by U.S. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary and a $10 million federal grant last fall for materials research.
``We believe the institution is becoming better known,'' he said.
Lewis said NSU would not increase the size of its freshman class.
``This is our opportunity to be more selective in the people we're enrolling,'' he said. NSU last year accepted 98 percent of its applicants, the highest rate in Virginia, the state records show. University officials have said they will require a C average, with few exceptions, by 1997.
The state's biggest schools - the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech - posted 3.4 percent and 2.6 percent increases respectively, which won't translate into a lot more competition for spots, officials said. ``Overall, we will probably be slightly more selective, but not enough for anybody to notice,'' said U.Va.'s admissions dean, John A. Blackburn.
The report shows that Christopher Newport had a 9.8 percent rise in applications, but as of mid-February, that increase shot up to 43 percent, said admissions director Robert LaVerriere. Newport officials attribute that to a heavier recruitment blitz outside the Peninsula.
The study does not include community or private colleges. But Regent University reports a 24.2 percent drop in applications. President Terry Lindvall attributes that partly to initial snags in the university's move last year to decentralize the admissions office, transferring duties to each college.
Lindvall also said he had cut down on his appearances on Pat Robertson's TV show, ``The 700 Club,'' because he has been on the road more often lately to raise funds for Regent. That provided less publicity for the school, he said.
Virginia Wesleyan College is also down, 14.1 percent, but that's on purpose, Vice President Martha Rogers said. The goal is to be more selective even in soliciting applications so Wesleyan can attract higher-caliber students. ``What we're trying to do is a better job of targeting markets so we're using a rifle instead of a shotgun,'' she said. MEMO: High school correspondent Joe Marino contributed to this story.
ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
STAFF
COLLEGE APPLICATIONS
SOURCE: State Council of Higher Education, private colleges
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB