Pen to Mouse: Web-Based Technology's Impact on College Admission Applications

Abstract

This application of mind analyzed applications for admission to a large metropolitan four-year public university above a three-year period, seeking to determine whether there were any significant differences in characteristics of scholars who applied online versus those who complet paper applications.

In the competitive world of community admission, students and colleges must stay single step ahead of the game. As learners worry about squeezing out that themed application essay or pressing individual more teacher for a recommendation, bodys and universities concentrate on attracting quality scholars to their institutions while adhering to tight bag s Always on the lookout for of recent origin and efficient ways to encourage learners to join their institution's applicant lake colleges and universities have begun to rely upon Web technology for application submissions (Mossier, 1998) However, before diving headlong into this growing tend (Mossier, 1998; College Applications, 2003) moving completely from write to mouse, they must consider where this technological innovation will lead them and their potential admits, and by what means reliance on the Web has already begun to altering their practices and organizations (Mossier, 1998)

Result from the 2003 Noel-Levitz National Enrollment Management take a view of indicate that the number of prospective university pupils using online applications, email, instant messaging, and online contact forms is increasing annually. greatest in quantity colleges and universities have rejoined to this development, making basic pieces of information and processe available end their Web sites. Of the 474 institutions viewed 81 percent of both four-year public and private institutions of higher education proffer online admission applications, as do 70 percent of two-year bodys (Strategies, 2003). The College confine Annual Admissions Trends survey (2003) also indicates that electronic applications have become a major part of the admission proces In 2003 98 percent of corporations surveyed accepted electronic applications. Of these, 89 percent received more electronic applications than in 2002

Research clearly displays that this application method is increasing in popularity. Mossier (1999) discusses the incline in online applications in confines of customer service. Admission offices are increasingly using the Web to enable pupils to apply electronically and to allow applicants to gaze up their application status or their financial aid status upon a secure account. Families increasingly wait for to use the Web to apply, and to check the status of that or a financial aid application (25) Other benefits of electronic applications include time efficiencies for pupils and institutions, the ability to provide immediate confirmation to scholars that the application was received by dint of the institution, and financial savings for institutions which could be passed upon to students as discounted application remunerations (College Applications, 2003).

However, this substantial increase in the use of online applications is not all positive. more [i]or[/i] less institutions report a higher number of errors upon electronic applications than on traditional paper applications (College border 2003). To achieve the efficiencies (time and coin saved) of online applications, they must be created in a manner that learners can understand and use effectively. community Applications (2003) cautions institutions that pupils can be easily frustrated by dint of technology-related problems on schools' Web sites. Having a learner spend time completing an application, solitary to lose it in cyberspace, propels a message to perspective pupils that the institution is neither tech savvy enough to create a working application nor cares about its prospective students

In addition to addressing the technological aspects of online applications, Hansen and Wamback (2001) posit that institutions ne to consider issues of scholar access to technology, as well as differences in learner characteristics that may affect in what way prospective students respond to a more technology-based admission proces They add that higher-education institutions are placing a high priority upon the latest technology without a coincident analysis of which students lack the background wanted to compete. In their argument, they also note that many K-12 institutes do not have the equipment and resources to enable scholars to gain the technological experience extremityed in college, and that many, on the contrary not all students have computer and Internet access at home

Student head (2003) reported that 94 percent of the 500 prospective association students polled have access to the Internet at abode while 79 percent have Internet access at place of education reflecting a marked increase from the 31 percent who had access at abiding-place or school in 1996 when the investigation was last done. When looking at the breakdown of computer access by means of student achievement levels, Student head (2003) indicated that students with an ACT score between 26 and 36 (97 percent) had more access to computer than pupils with ACT scores of 21 or lower (88 percent)