Kent State’s recruitment efforts led to the third largest class in university history.

The class of 2018 has 4,245 students and the highest incoming GPA, according to the university census.

The Admissions Office aids university growth, and oversees recruitment and enrollment of potential students, according to the its website. The office holds several events during the year to help students make their final college decision.

Nancy Dellavecchia, the director of admissions, said events such as the Golden Flash Days reached more than 1,500 students last year. While speaking to the Board of Trustees, she said a recent survey showed about a 30 percent increase of intention to enroll at the university after students attended the program.

Brian Crescenzo, the assistant director of admissions, said the most important part of the recruitment process is constant communication. The admissions office has 12 territory managers who stay in contact with interested students.

“We follow them through the entire process, from the inquiry of them being interested in attending our campus, to the application when they finally decide to apply to our campus, all the way down to confirming their spot and paying the enrollment fee,” Crescenzo said.

This semester, the university is taking a new approach by recruiting students through alumni. Recent graduates are invited to speak at recruitment events and are encouraged to contact potential students in their area.

The alumni network allows Kent to expand across the country. Alumni from states such as Arizona connect with potential students to share their experiences at Kent.

“It’s kind of like a new way of thinking of recruitment,” Crescenzo said. “It helps us to expand our brand. It helps bring the university together, showing that there are alumni out there that do believe in our university.”

Haley Baker, a university tour guide, thinks that word-of-mouth about Kent is spreading. Recently, she’s noticed an increase in out-of-state students attending campus tours.

“We’re getting our name out there,” Baker said. “I think that’s something we haven’t done very well in the past.” 

The university will continue to rely on its recent graduates to help recruit future students. Crescenzo said the next step is recruiting alumni to write postcards to potential students for the class of 2019.

Contact Erica Batyko at [email protected].