Paths filled with a whirlwind of college visits, platoons of “Be a Billiken” folders that descend on us in the mail and college counselors who work their magic bring students to Saint Louis University.
We feel prized on the way here, like the brightest gems in the world. Post-enrollment, though, we’re absorbed into a faceless crowd of current Billikens, losing some individuality in the eyes of the departments outside of Undergraduate Admissions.
Enrollment numbers this year, as documented by the Department of Institutional Research and Data Integrity, show that undergraduate enrollment has increased by approximately 1,000 students since 2006 (about 7,400 to 8,400).
International student enrollment increased far more dramatically, going from 154 students in 2006 to 752 students today. Transfer student enrollment jumped from 311 last year to 422 this year. With these growing pains, our University is in a transient phase of augmenting the student body.
Such essential changes bring us a wealth of intellect and tuition money alike that flows as the lifeblood of all University activities.
We can see the successes of The Office of Undergraduate Admission. The “Be a Billiken” campaign that started in 2008 spurred this influx of students – more than perhaps SLU can even handle. We can already see how on-campus housing can barely handle the surge in the student population.
Our English as a Second Language program is in flux, attempting to handle the approximately 400 students currently matriculated in ESL. Changes to the program are expected in order to help the transition process for international students.
The most discernible difference between admission and attendance, however, is the way students – the same prized gems of the world – lose their luster for the academic programs here on campus.
SLU does an excellent job marketing to prospective students, as the enrollment statistics show us. Current students, however, definitely feel the marked apathy and lack of energy that counselors and administrators have for them.
While our counselors may be doing their jobs sufficiently, there is a discrepancy between their performance and the energy and gusto of The Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
We urge that this gap be minimized. We want to see campus programs working to keep us here at SLU, not simply working to bring us here.
We see the grandeur of Welcome Week, and the constant campus tours. First-year experience programs make freshman year one of the best we have throughout college. We only hear echoes of events for second and third year experience programs, in contrast.
We want to feel as if being Billikens is a tremendous honor. We want to feel the same sense of importance that we had when we first saw our “Be a Billiken” folder with a letter of admission tucked safely inside, or when we had a friendly sea of orange shirts move us into our dorms.
We have lost the magic of, might we say, “Billiken-ism.” It’s time to bring it back.