admissions
November 1, 2019
Open Space hosts conversation about admissions
Student Senate hosted an Open Space about enrollment and recruitment at Goshen College on Monday, Oct. 28. The event was facilitated by Sharada Weaver, a senior and vice president of Goshen College Student Senate, along with other senate members who were in attendance. During the hour, about 10 students participated by asking questions about various topics related to admissions. Dominique Burgunder-Johnson, vice president for marketing and enrollment, and Linda VandenBosch, director of admissions, were at the Open Space to answer student questions and provide information about the recruitment and enrollment processes at Goshen College. The majority of the hour was...
September 21, 2019
Goshen College faces drop in Mennonite enrollment
As Goshen College celebrates its 125th anniversary, many reflect on its long-lasting legacy as a Mennonite-affiliated institution and its changing student body. GC was initially founded in 1894 as the Elkhart Institute of Science, Industry and the Arts, a small privately-owned school by H.A. Mumaw. The Elkhart Institute gave Mennonites and others the opportunity to further their education in ways that represented Mennonite values. Although GC has a historical relationship with the Mennonite Church, it has experienced substantial demographic changes in student enrollment and a decline in self-identified Mennonite students. In the last decade, the percentage of enrolled Mennonites has...
September 12, 2019
First-year student enrollment down; not a trend
Nearing the end of peak admissions season last spring, Goshen College predicted the coming year’s first-year enrollment numbers would be down. They were right. With a first-year undergraduate student count of 160 students this fall, there is a notable size difference compared to last year’s first-year class numbering 200 in total. Dominique Burgunder-Johnson, vice president for marketing and enrollment, said that the source of these low numbers can only be traced back to the admissions office itself. “We had a lot of significant transition in our admissions office in the fall,” Burgunder-Johnson said. “Three out of our five undergraduate admissions...
September 6, 2018
First-year class brings energy and excitement to campus
As the new academic year begins, Goshen College welcomes the class of 2022, a group of 200 students representing 31 states and 12 countries. Fifty-one transfer students have also joined the campus community. This year marks the first time in over a decade that the college has seen two consecutive first-year classes with 200 or more students, a testament to the work admissions staff has been doing since 2014 to increase enrollment. However, this year, the first-year class enrollment dropped by 15 students. Last year, GC welcomed 215 students. But that drop in enrollment doesn’t deter the admissions team’s excitement...
October 12, 2017
GC office relocations
More than a dozen Goshen College employees have a new view this fall, having relocated offices in an effort to provide easy points of service for prospective and current students. The admissions team and the Center for Intercultural and International Education (CIIE) swapped locations over the summer, with admissions moving to the Union Building and CIIE taking over the lower level of Wyse Hall. Adriana Ortiz, a senior admissions counselor, said, “The move was necessary. This beautiful institution should always be open to anyone interested in visiting or studying here. In our previous location we did not have enough space...
September 21, 2017
Incoming class largest in 8 years
Goshen College this fall welcomed the largest incoming class since 2009, with a total of 215 full-time first-year students and 55 full-time transfer students. That represents a 16 percent from the incoming class last year, according to Jodi Beyeler, director of communications at Goshen College. The total enrollment at Goshen College, or overall headcount, is 950, which is up 9 percent from last year. That figure including adult, graduate and traditional students, according to Beyeler said. Allie Gordy, a first-year student from Elkhart who is studying nursing is excited to “meet new people, and [experience] the dorm life.” The number...
March 30, 2017
GC works for Latino Higher Education
Goshen College will be co-sponsoring the first Indiana Latino Higher Education Conference at The University of Notre Dame on Thursday, April 13. The goal of the conference is to showcase what Goshen College and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) have done in the past several years to promote Latino student enrollment and retention in higher education and to encourage other independent colleges to do the same. To be considered a HSI, the institution must have an undergraduate Latino enrollment of at least 25 percent. This conference was conceived in early 2016 by Richard Aguirre, director of corporate and foundation relations, and...
February 2, 2017
GC announces 12 new programs of study
Goshen College recently announced its upcoming addition of 12 new programs of study in hopes of increasing student enrollment. The new majors that will be offered are engineering physics, environmental and marine science, sign language interpreting, sustainability management, sustainability studies and sustainable food systems. New minors include music for social change and musical theater. There are also tracks in earth and climate science and a music for social change concentration. Additionally, an English learners license is being offered as an add-on for working teachers. “Faculty were invited to develop new program proposals for investment that build on the college’s identity...
January 26, 2017
Anna Barnard leaves mark on community
Part of the Goshen community was tragically lost on Dec. 18, 2016. Anna Barnard, a senior at Bethany Christian High School, lost her life from injuries that she sustained in a car crash on Indiana 23. Barnard was the passenger in the car of another Bethany student when their car drifted into the lane of oncoming traffic and collided with another vehicle carrying six other people. The driver of Barnard’s car was treated for several serious injuries, while the passengers of the car opposite to them sustained only minor injuries. Barnard, an exchange student from Belgium, is described by many...
September 15, 2016
An in-depth look at the first-year class
For the second year in a row, Goshen College’s incoming first-year class has seen tremendous growth. In 2014, 159 first-year students enrolled at GC; in 2015, there were 176. With the start of the 2016 fall semester, the number of first-years jumped to 185. While these numbers indicated growth in enrollment, they also mean a change in dynamics for the campus. Adela Hufford, dean of admissions, said of the class of 2020, “We’re pleased not just with the size, but with the quality.” These new students bring more than just the numbers that represent them; they bring unique backgrounds and...
April 14, 2016
Gilberto Perez continues to work towards a more diverse Goshen
Gilberto Perez works at the Center for Intercultural and International Education, or CIIE. He’s worked there for two years and is tasked with seeing the movement in three different areas. The three areas are intercultural leadership, intercultural community engagement and intercultural dialogue. Each area has a different goal that it is working towards. The intercultural leadership area works at overseeing student programs and intercultural academies. “[In] the leadership academies we partner with the chamber of commerce,” said Perez. “Last year we did ‘Cultivating Leaders of Tomorrow.’ [We brought] business professionals together to think about their leadership style.” Intercultural community engagement...
April 14, 2016
Scott Barge to move to EMU position next year
Anyone on Goshen’s campus can tell you that the the student body is relatively few in number, even to other schools in our sports divisions or nearby in northern Indiana. Scott Barge, vice president of enrollment and marketing, knows the entire process of enrollment, the years of data behind the current trend and optimistic outlook on future class sizes. He also knows what it’s like to take classes at Goshen, graduate and come back to work at his alma mater. As a 1999 graduate with a degree in elementary education, Barge went on to get his masters and doctorate at...
March 3, 2016
From Students to Admissions Counselor: Caleb Longenecker
After graduating from Goshen College in 2015, Caleb Longenecker took a position as an admissions counselor in the very office that accepted him as a student almost five years ago. People who know Longenecker can attest to his love for Goshen College—even as a student, he was recruiting students in a casual, offhand way by simply describing his experience here. Despite being a natural at sharing his love of Goshen College, Longenecker did not immediately foresee his year after graduating in this position. “Last spring I was presented with the opportunity to be an admissions counselor, and I have found...
November 12, 2015
CIIE and local African American communities
This fall, Goshen has had its most diverse first-year class ever, with 40 percent of traditional students identifying as non-white, compared with 15 percent in 2006-2007. Goshen College’s Latino student population, in particular, has skyrocketed. But that was not the only advancement towards growth in minority student enrollment. CIIE is currently working with the African American community in both Elkhart and South Bend to make higher education much more achievable. Since 2006, Goshen College has dramatically increased minority student enrollment. During the 2015-2016 academic year, 36 percent of traditional undergraduate students were minority or international students, compared with 17.7 percent...
November 5, 2015
Fact Book 2015 released
One fact that has been left out of the Goshen College Fact Book is that not many students actually know what the Fact Book is, let alone have ever used it. The GC Fact Book is an online collection of data about the college that has been gathered from various departments and offices such as the registrar’s office or the office of the vice president for finance, college relations, and admissions. Given that it includes information on topics like enrollment, athletic records and a number of other things from the last ten years, the Fact Book serves as a way...