DSU acceptance rate near 65 percent

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Dickinson State University accepted nearly 65 percent of students who applied for admission in the 2011-12 school year, according to records. Those who were not accepted did not meet standards or did not complete requirements.

“There could be a myriad of reasons, but for one reason or another they did not complete the admissions process and were not accepted,” said Marie Moe, DSU Office of Enrollment Services and Communications.

The university’s admissions requirements include a high school diploma or GED and proper immunizations.

DSU received 691 applications for the fall semester as of June 1, compared to 1,622 total applications received for fall 2011, Moe said.

“Usually the bulk of our applications come in between June and August,” she said. “It’s difficult to know if this is consistent with where we were at the same time last year, but we do have a healthy application pool and a good number of those students are progressing through the application process at an acceptable rate.”

The last school year was a rocky one for the university. Richard McCallum, the school’s former president, was fired for enrollment inflation along with other accusations. An audit showed hundreds of international students received unearned degrees, among many other challenges.

DSU President D.C. Coston said the enrollment process has been thoroughly reviewed.

“Our goal was to strengthen what we do to assure that we’re in compliance with all appropriate federal, State Board of Higher Education and North Dakota University System Guidelines as well as best practices throughout higher education in the United States,” Coston said. “We did this by reorganizing our marketing along with our enrollment area.”

He said the alterations have had two outcomes.

“We’re seeing that we have processes now in place that better serve students and help them get the information they need and also help us have a very organized way of getting information we need to be able to admit them and then work with them until they actually arrive,” Coston said. “The second outcome is we’re more effectively showcasing Dickinson State and what a wonderful institution it is and what a great place it is to go to school.”

Moe added she is confident the new process ensures those who apply have met all admission requirements.

Whether the scandal that plagued the university will affect enrollment has yet to be seen, she said.

“We still have a large number of international applications from a variety of countries,” Moe said. “We have a nice, qualified applicant pool and I feel good about the enrollment for fall.”

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