A major challenge for The College of Wooster over the next five years is to maintain stability in enrollment and at the same time to attract and retain a student body of high quality and broad diversity. Increased national recognition will make these tasks easier, and the College's future success will be determined by having reputation and influence which is defined not just regionally but also nationally and internationally.

Objective: To attract and retain students well-prepared for a Wooster education.

Goals

• To increase the student applicant pool by 6 percent each year over the next three years and thereby improve selectivity from 86 percent to 70 percent by 2001;
• To stabilize enrollment at 1,675 - 1700 residential students, with continued balance between men and women;
• To maintain the national nature of the College by enrolling at least 50 percent non-Ohio residents in each first-year class;
• To improve the indicators of academic preparation and potential, such as grade point averages, rank in class, and test scores;
• To increase "retention through graduation" to 75 percent in six years, by achieving 90 percent retention from first to second year and 80 percent retention from first to third year.

National Recognition

The College stands to gain substantially in admissions and other areas of its operation from increased national recognition. As Wooster gains in stature, the College will attract greater external support in the form of gifts, institutional and faculty grants, and opportunities for positions of leadership in national conferences, boards, commissions and other activities that are shaping American education. Ultimately, enhanced national recognition will enable the College to achieve its objectives for the academic program and gain greater control over enrollment.

Objective: To achieve greater recognition as a liberal arts college of national stature.

Goals

• To be counted among the top rank of those institutions recognized as national liberal arts colleges by the Carnegie Foundation.
• To increase the number of national liberal arts colleges in the top rank which appear among Wooster's forty top overlap schools in admissions applications.
• To organize and institutionalize the collection, analysis, and dissemination of data and information on all aspects of the College's operation, including enrollment and national recognition.

The Academic Program

Campus and Community Life

Resources

Conclusion

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