All this has happened before and will happen again!
The problem time after time and administration after administration is tahat OHIO substitutes cute catch phrases for real action. Who remembers "OHIO'S FIRST AND FINEST." We had it on t-shirts, bumper stickers, window stickers; it was splashed all over Peden....and so on and so on. What the hell did it ever accomplish? Did it result in a billion dollar endowment? Did it result in a ton of 30 ACT freshman matriculating to OUr university? Hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding? Did it result in a string of MAC championship teams?
OUR STATE; OUR TEAM. Sounds great. Love it. Lacking any real action and fight by OUr President and Board, it will just merely turn--five years down the road--into another sun-faded sticker on OUr bumpers.
I guess you haven't heard?
Our freshman classes the last couple years have been growing by leaps and bounds....
More kids are applying (DOUBLE the applications this year compared to 4 years ago)
Smarter kids are applying (much higher ACT's, better GPA's)
And MORE of these kids are choosing OHIO as the school they attend. (largest and smartest freshman class for a couple years running now)
Ohio has made the jump.
And yes, it has resulted in a MAC Championship in basketball, the schools first 2 EVER bowl wins and a Sweet 16 showing. McDavis bet big on athletics and won. The board, the president, everyone who made this happen deserves credit. They weren't just talk. They took action.
Pushing the branding is the next phase.
..
The problem is that you're hearing too much of President McDavis' prooganda rather than actually doing the research and finding the true underlying situation. Yes, applications have increased substantially, but that is ONLY because we adopted the common application. That jump in raw number of applications has been utterly irrelevent because the actual freshman classes have been utterly stagnant in terms of quality. Here are the actual university common data sets for the 2006 freshman class and the 2012 freshman class.
Middle 50% ACT score ranges was 21-26 in 2006 and in 2012? 21-26. On the SAT, we're actually a hair worse than we were in 2006: 980-1200 in 2006 versus 970-1200 six years later.
Nor are we attracting many more high ability students. In 2006, we had 7% with a 30 or higher. Last year, it was 9%. As for low ability students, that hasn't changed either. In both years, roughly half the freshman class scored a 23 or lower. (53% in 2006; 48% in 2012.)
Class rank is no better. In 2006, we had 15% in the top tenth and 19% in the bottom half. Six years later, it was 16% in the top tenth and 19% in the bottom half.
Clearly neither feel good sloganeering nor successful athletic teams are moving the academic profile of Ohio forward. What it will take is real (not feel good soundbite spewing) leadership, solid fundraising and long term faculty recruitment. There are no quick, easy solutions to those needs, and they certainly won't be found on a bumper sticker or a scoreboard.
Since your main premise about the common application is apparently wrong, I would also say that your use of other statistics to back up your argument is not real compelling either. Only 1 stat is actually lower, the rest are the same or have improved-albeit not by huge percentages. Ax to grind-apparently so.
If you will actually check the links those are the freshman class data compiled and maintained by Ohio University. It's on the official university website for anyone to actually investigate and form their own conclusions. The numbers above are drawn from the university's own published statistics.
While I may have been mistaken about being on the common app, it really doesn't matter in the long run because any increase in applications is clearly not driving higher quality students--which was the main contention of Optimist and others who seem to think that winning sports teams and clever catch phrases will increase the academic profile of the university.
I don't have an ax to grind, but some here apparently have putten McDavis on such a do-no-wrong pedestal solely because he is a big booster athletics. That's fine, if that's what is most important to you, but don't spew this fantasy that it is somehow increasing Ohio's academic profile. In those six years, by how many millions of dollars has the university subsidized the athletic program? And the academic results have been negligible. If the ultimate goal is to have winning football and men's basketball teams, then money well spent. If the ultimate goal is to make Ohio a better university, then it appears to be the worst investment since mortgage backed derivative funds. It would seem to me that all those millions of dollars every year would have done a heck of a lot more to move Ohio forward were they devoted to scholarships for all those 30+ ACT students who--while they might be applying to Ohio as a safety school--are still clearly choosing to attend elsewhere.
Honestly, if I'm an administrator at Fiami or O$U, I would want McDavis to stay at Ohio for as long as possible.
man, how can you say that it is "clearly not driving higher quality students" when all the stats except 1 show an improvement or are the same. You are being dishonest when you say there is no statistical improvement. Now, everyone may want more of an increase in quality, but it's not declining and it's not staying the same so it must be better. You have an ax to grind and nothing you have been saying disproves it. I love it when somebody goes off like you do and bases your whole argument on a falsehood and when disproven , says oh that doesn't matter. No credibility at all.
First of all, you're assuming a direct causation. Correlation is not causation! How do you know that the (small) gain in top students has anything to do with football/basketball success? What factors or studies do you have that says top students pick a school based on football success? At the very best, athletic success is driving some increases in applications among average (or even reject) level applicants. It's not driving any quality gains. Secondly, even if these small gains are driven 100% by athletic success is that in any way cost effective relative to the millions of dollars per year that the university is funneling into the athletic department versus using the money directly to recruit and give scholarships to these students?
What has been the total athletic subsidy over the last six years? HINT: it's in the tens of millions of dollars! And what has it produced? 50 or 60 extra 30+ ACT students. Maybe 25 extra students from the top tenth of their high school class. AND THERE IS NO REAL PROOF THAT THOSE SMALL INCREASES EVEN HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ATHLETICS!
And by the way, our freshman class has actually gotten SMALLER counter to what other people believe. In 2006, Ohio enrolled 4075 entering freshmen. In 2012, Ohio enrolled 3884 entering freshman.
Stop listening to McDavis' self-serving propaganda and actually go through the common data sets from the beginning of his tenure to the current one. Ohio is falling further and further behind osu and miami and has even been overtaken by cincy. If you find something in there to counter my argument, I'll be happy to listen.
OUPride person, you don't get it.
First, I'm not terribly big on intangible assets being assigned big value, but think about your handle on this board. Obviously, your very name shows pride in the O H I O. In that same way, most of us here are no longer at the University but care deeply about O H I O. We beam with pride when we win or hear good news of O H I O.
That same pride and caring is certainly considered by prospective students. How do people regard O H I O? In this day of your social network, don't you think that applicants give some consideration as to how O H I O will look on their permanent record?
So, while I can't put a specific dollar value on such as foot and basket and volley teams that win, I assure you that there is value. Your take that success in athletics does not help would seem to not hold much water.
Ask people here if, in the past few years, theyve worn O H I O gear and had people all over the U.S. and internationally ask if they went to school at O H I O. A lot of those who ask know about O H I O because of foot and basket.
Where's the band?!
WHERE"S THE BAND?!
DesignspiritUSA.com
The Pets On The Go Collection of pet gear travel bags
The Holiday Tote Bigg Bagg Collection--over-sized, reversible, extra pockets; now love carrying packages as much as you love shopping!
Last Edited: 8/3/2013 4:40:54 PM by Monroe Slavin