admissions
January 23, 2025
GC returns to three-day orientation
Starting next fall, Goshen College will return to a three day orientation for first-year students, paring down the full week model that started in the fall of 2021. An email went out to GC employees on Tuesday afternoon that attributes this decision to their continued effort to “decrease costs while maintaining high quality.” The transition to a full week came in response to perceived loss of learning by high school students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While GC has seen an increase in retention from first-year students during this period, Academic Dean Ann Vendrely told The Record that the rising...
October 10, 2024
Classroom space stretched for large first-year class
This fall, Goshen College has seen a spike in the number of first-year students with the enrollment of 201 first-year students compared to last year’s 156. After five consecutive years of classes numbering less than 200, the college must now figure out how to accommodate these extra students in the classroom. GC has many classrooms of varying sizes to meet the needs of classes as some need more space than others or need to be held at a certain location or time. This new class has presented several challenges in order for GC to meet those needs. To find appropriately...
September 12, 2024
New tactics increase enrollment
As reported in The Record last week, this 2024 first-year class is the biggest since 2017, with 201 new students. While it may seem on the surface that Goshen College is still the same place, something had to cause this uptick in enrollment. The admissions office sits in the back corner of the Leaf Raker. Nearly all students pass by it every day while getting food, and it’s easy to identify, with large windows surrounding the suite. If students traveled inside, they’d find the reason for the increase. Heather Zile, the director of admissions at GC, said “We want students...
September 5, 2024
Admissions bounces back
Following a remarkably small incoming class in the fall of 2023, Goshen College saw a sharp enrollment spike this semester. This first-year class brought in 201 new students, the highest number since 2017. The shift was dramatic from last year’s freshman cohort of only 156; it marked an increase of almost 30%. When asked about the difference from 2023 to 2024, Ben Koop, a member of last year’s incoming class, said, “I think it’s more apparent to me now coming in as a sophomore that our class was smaller because I do notice that there are significantly more first-years this...
September 8, 2023
Admissions gets a makeover
With the beginning of each new school year, Goshen College welcomes new faculty and staff to campus. One department with notable shifts is admissions, which, prior to this year, has had some unfulfilled positions. However, to begin the 2023-24 school year, the department is full with 13 people on staff. Filling the director of admissions space is Heather Zile. Before GC, Zile was the early childhood director of Lewis Cass Intermediate School District in Cassopolis, Michigan, gained fluency in Spanish as a missionary working in Monterrey, Mexico and, most recently, she held a similar position at Southwestern Michigan College (SMC)....
February 16, 2023
Hufford’s 51 weeks of work for just seven days
By the time orientation week wraps up every year and classes get underway, there’s one person that every freshman on campus knows: Adela Hufford. Hufford is Goshen College’s director of orientation, transition and retention. She works in a wide variety of roles — and she’s held just as many positions at GC — but the one she’s most widely known for is the biggest part of her job: orientation. “Being a part of orientation didn’t happen for me until I was at the tail end of admissions and enrollment,” Hufford said. “It intrigued me. I love event planning and I...
January 26, 2023
Ortiz supports Latino students at GC
For students from Elkhart County all the way to Puerto Rico, Adriana Ortiz, assistant director of admissions at Goshen College, is usually part of the initial stages of a student’s experience. Although many see the smaller parts of Ortiz’s job, like an email letting someone know the next step in their admissions process, she is not a traditional admissions counselor. In fact, she does much more than that, especially for Latino students at GC. Ortiz mentors, advises and most importantly, listens to prospective and current students. While listening, she learns more about the students to understand their “why,” their potential...
January 26, 2023
New state grant becomes available to GC students
According to Goshen College institutional research, 99.6% of students receive financial aid with an average package of nearly $29,000. The Indiana State Budget Committee recently approved an additional request from the Indiana Commission of Higher Education (ICHE) for the largest increase in state grant funding since 2008. “We are thrilled to see that the [ICHE] is increasing the Frank O’Bannon Grant for the 2023-24 school year,” said Matt Wimmer, assistant director of financial aid. The Frank O’ Bannon/Freedom of Choice Grant will become available to students who complete their FAFSA by April 15, hold a GED or high school diploma,...
October 28, 2022
Fly and Drive weekend to bring prospective students to campus
Fly and Drive Weekend is an event hosted by the Goshen College Admissions Office to give current high school junior and prospective senior students a chance to travel over 100 miles to visit campus. Students may receive partial reimbursement for their travel costs. For one official individual visit or one official visit event, GC will reimburse half of the transportation costs up to a maximum of $200. “This year, we have students visiting from the greater Midwest as well as Georgia, New Jersey, Oregon and many more states,” said Madison Swartzendruber, enrollment coordinator. In 2020, Fly and Drive Weekend was...
September 8, 2022
Goshen College welcomes 2026 class
Goshen College’s welcome team was proud to introduce the second year of a week-long extended orientation to the fall 2022 student cohort. New students checked in on Aug. 21 to meet peers, attend sessions with professors, participate in activities and meet with their ICC (Identity, Culture, and Community) classes. Adela Hufford, director of orientation, transition and retention, said that the goal is to “acclimate new students to campus ahead of returning students” while giving them “some sense of confidence before the school year begins.” Based on student, faculty and staff feedback, Hufford and other orientation members integrate changes to ensure...
February 11, 2021
New admissions counselor for graduate programs hired
On Feb. 5, Goshen College admissions announced they had hired Lawrence Giden to fulfill the role of adult and graduate studies admissions counselor. The role had been previously held by Richard Warren, who recently transitioned to a new role as annual giving and advancement coordinator. The position is responsible for recruiting students for adult degree completion programs, adult certificate programs, and master’s and doctoral programs. Giden, a graduate of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, is familiar with the Mennonite higher education and has a Master of Arts degree in Christian formation. According to Linda VandenBosch, director of admissions, his experience as...
October 8, 2020
Without test requirements, GC admissions process changes
SAT and ACT scores, historically used by Goshen College to calculate financial aid packages, will not be required for applicants during the 2020-21 admissions cycle. Without the standardized test requirement, the admissions office has noted a high percentage of completed GC applications compared to this time in normal years. Students don’t have to wait for test scores in order to submit their applications. “This decision strives to make our admissions requirements more accessible and equitable for students applying to enroll at GC for fall 2021,” said Dominique Burgunder-Johnson, vice president of marketing and enrollment, in the Aug. 4 press release....
September 3, 2020
First-year clas s boasts historical non-white majority
At 198 full-time students, Goshen College’s incoming first-year class is significantly larger than last year’s 160, and is the first incoming class in Goshen College history with a student body that is not majority white. The make-up of the 2020 first-year class is as follows: 46% white, 32% Hispanic, 5% nonresident alien, 4% Black or African American, 3% Asian, 3% of two or more races, 1% American Indian or Alaska Native, and 6% of unknown race or ethnicity. “The fact that we have a student body that is more representative of the diversity in the community around Goshen is really...
February 16, 2020
Goshen College to ‘refresh’ and ‘revitalize’
Goshen College is working with two consulting firms to tweak its image and offer new majors in an effort to increase enrollment. Through changes in marketing strategy, coupled with the addition of public health and criminal and restorative justice programs, the college is projecting enrollment increases over the next three years, according to Ann Venderly, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Academic Dean. Last May, GC hired the consulting firm SimpsonScarborough to help adjust the college’s marketing strategy. Representatives from the firm met with focus groups of current students, faculty and staff to learn about what makes GC distinctive, said...
November 6, 2019
Goshen College maintains high retention rates
Goshen College retention rates are high, compared to other Mennonite institutions and other universities in Indiana. Retention refers to the number of students who start as full-time students and return for a second year. Universities are specifically interested in first- and second-year students because those are the most tumultuous years of college, when students are most likely to leave due to institutional circumstances. Historically, Goshen College has maintained high retention rates. In the 18 years, from 2001 to 2018, the average retention rate was 79.9%. Retention for the most recent cohort, current sophomores, was slightly lower at 75.5%. Adela Hufford,...