{"id":12412,"date":"2023-03-15T14:20:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T14:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/?p=12412"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:20:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T14:20:19","slug":"augsburg-leads-with-direct-admissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/2023\/03\/15\/augsburg-leads-with-direct-admissions\/","title":{"rendered":"Augsburg leads with direct admissions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The admissions office at Augsburg University (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Augsburg’s work at the forefront of a movement to transform college admissions has garnered national media attention<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last fall, the university moved to a \u201cdirect admissions\u201d approach for undergraduate enrollment. In this model, known as Augsburg Applies to You, students who meet a certain GPA threshold are automatically offered admission. Most students can complete the streamlined application form in less than 10 minutes.<\/p>\n

Ninety-nine percent of students offered direct admission would have been admitted under Augsburg\u2019s previous criteria. Now, they can move through the process faster and take advantage of deeper pre-enrollment connections.<\/p>\n

Why flip the script? A simpler process benefits both students and staff. Under direct admissions, the traditional roles of applicant and gatekeeper are intentionally reversed to change the power dynamics in enrollment management.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Inside Higher Ed<\/a>, Robert Gould<\/strong>, vice president for strategic enrollment management, said that direct admissions is \u201ca dream come true\u201d for admissions staff, whose attention has shifted from reviewing paperwork to connecting with students about Augsburg and what they hope to accomplish. \u201cThose are the discussions that motivated many of them to become admissions counselors\u201d in the first place, he said.<\/p>\n

Drawn by its promise to reduce barriers and promote equity, many colleges and universities are beginning to explore direct admissions through pilot programs. Augsburg is participating in two such pilots through the Common Application and the state of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

But as reported by Inside Higher Ed, Augsburg\u2019s own streamlined application shows that the university \u201cisn\u2019t waiting\u201d on pilot programs to fully embrace the new model. In November, the Wall Street Journal noted<\/a> that Augsburg’s move toward a radically simpler process contrasts with other institutions whose more complex applications may undercut the goal of direct admissions.<\/p>\n

Augsburg\u2019s enrollment management division has been working to reduce barriers for several years. Recent changes to simplify the application\u2014including test-free admissions, short-answer essays, and optional letters of recommendation\u2014have accompanied Augsburg\u2019s largest and most diverse first-year classes in history.<\/p>\n

\n

Top image: Augsburg students on campus (Photo by Courtney Perry)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Augsburg’s work at the forefront of a movement to transform college admissions has garnered national media attention. Last fall, the university moved to a \u201cdirect admissions\u201d approach for undergraduate enrollment. In this model, known as Augsburg Applies to You, students who meet a certain GPA threshold are automatically offered admission. Most students can complete the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":499,"featured_media":12516,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-12412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-around-the-quad","tag-winter-2022-23"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12412"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12720,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12412\/revisions\/12720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/now\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}