Mae Guinn

Publication Date

8-1993

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Thomas Updike, Vernon Sheeley, Fred Stickles

Comments

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Degree Program

Educational Leadership

Degree Type

Specialist in Education

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine if students who had attended a residential summer camp at Western Kentucky University (WKU) would rate that experience as being an important and influential source of information on the students’ decision to enroll at the university. The study examined four areas of the college choice process including: a) college search activities, b) first sources of information about WKU, c) most important sources of information, and d) the most important factor in the decision to attend WKU.

A questionnaire was distributed to students enrolled in freshman English classes in the spring of 1992 at the Bowling Green campus of WKU. Respondents’ questionnaires (N=445) were divided into a control group (n=393) and a treatment group (n=52). The treatment group consisted of all questionnaires which indicated the student had attended a residential summer camp at WKU during his/her secondary school years.

Both the treatment group and the control group gave high ratings to a) visiting the WKU campus, b) talking with WKU student/graduate, and c) meeting WKU faculty. Among the treatment group, 63% ranked the summer camp experience as a 1 or 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being very positive as a college search activity.

Among the treatment group, 33% listed the summer camp experience as their first source of information about WKU. Both the control group and the treatment group’s most frequently cited first sources of information were a) friends, b) parents, and c) WKU students/graduates.

The treatment group’s three most important sources of information were a) parents, b) summer camp, and c) friends. The control group indicated their three most important sources of information were a) friends, b) campus visit, and c) viewbook/brochure.

For both groups, the most important factors which influenced them to enroll included: a) cost, b) distance from home, c) academic programs, d) academic quality, and e) location.

Disciplines

Education | Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Higher Education | Higher Education Administration | Public Relations and Advertising | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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