Admissions provost leaving

By Mary Georgevich

The man who was brought to Santa Clara to correct enrollment mistakes that left the class of 2007 under-enrolled by about 200 students will be leaving Santa Clara at the end of May.

Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Charles Nolan plans to assume the title of vice president for external relations at Olin College, Boston, leaving Santa Clara after overseeing the admission of a record number of incoming freshmen for next year.

In addition, Nolan will resume work in his previous position as dean of admissions at Olin College's new school of engineering, which opened in 2002.

A new position was created at Santa Clara in November of 2003 -- which Nolan filled -- after admissions admitted the smallest freshman class in almost a decade, said Anthony Vigliotta, assistant director for first year admission and financial aid.

"The idea was just to get things moving in a different direction and to get the numbers back to where we wanted to be," Vigliotta said.

Nolan's goals at Santa Clara were to increase applications and diversity in culture, race, ethnicity and geography, and to stop the financial aid from going over the budgeted amount each year.

This year, Santa Clara accepted 65 percent of its applicants, five percent more than they accepted last year.

The admissions department has admitted more students in the past few years to compensate for the under-enrollment of 2003.

Vigliotta said a larger applicant pool will help Santa Clara in the future by allowing the university more selectivity in the students who are admitted, creating stronger and more diverse classes.

Now that the numbers have evened, university admissions plans to become more selective.

"By increasing the application pool and still admitting the same amount of students, as we did, you are making us more selective, which, in turn, should make even more students apply. So it kind of creates a cycle," Vigliotta said.

Vigliotta said Nolan implemented several programs designed to increase class size.

One of them, known as the "Maguire model," uses a method called the Enrollment Management Forecast Analysis System.

The Maguire model is designed to help admissions use financial aid more strategically to attract students to Santa Clara by determining how much money is required to have a student commit to and attend Santa Clara.

A variety of criteria is used to determine the make-up of incoming classes.

Variables such as grade point average and SAT scores are examined with the Maguire model. The program also takes into consideration geographical, racial, cultural and ethnical variables.

The different properties of each student's application are then analyzed by the program. The program determines which students are most likely to attend the university and how much money the department should offer each student to ensure they choose Santa Clara.

"What we want is a bright class, the best students that are applying," said Miranda Niemoth, assistant director for undergraduate admission. "We want them to be economically diverse, socially diverse, ethnically diverse."

Nolan said two companies presented similar programs. The "Noel-Levitz" model, similar to Maguire, was also considered, but the university decided to use the Maguire model.

Overall, Nolan said he is satisfied with what he has achieved.

"We've increased the applicant pool; we've increased the quality of students by all measures. We certainly have greater geographical diversity now," Nolan said. "And we've kept the amount of financial aid that we've been asked to spend to the budgeted amount."

Contact Mary Georgevich at (408) 554-4546 or mgeorgevich@scu.edu.