Enrollment data summaries - Glossary

These enrollment data summaries provide aggregate information on GVSU enrollees by program (level, college, major. minor, or emphasis).

The reports present 5 years' data (where available), and are updated once per year in the fall (typically September). Most of the data presented here (unless otherwise specified) are from fall census counts.

Note that individual tables in the report can be collapsed to save space on screen or printed output.

These data are duplicative by program, meaning that a student who is in more than one program will be counted once in each applicable program. In practical terms, this means that no individual student is double-counted within a single report, but adding figures from more than one report could result in sums that are greater than the actual number of students enrolled. For example: an undergraduate student majoring in Management and Finance would be counted once in each of the following reports:

• Finance (Bachelor's Programs)
• Management (Bachelor's Programs)
• Seidman College of Business (Bachelor's Programs)
• GVSU (Bachelor's Programs)

Demographic and performance data are suppressed for populations with 4 or fewer individuals, in order to protect individual confidentiality.

• Total:
  The total number of students in the program who enrolled in the fall term.



• Classification: (Undergraduate programs only)
  The distribution of fall enrollment by classification (at the beginning of the term -- credits earned during the term in question are not counted toward the classification).
  • Freshman -- 0 to 24 hours earned
  • Sophomore -- 25 to 54 hours earned
  • Junior -- 55 to 84 hours earned
  • Senior -- 85 or more hours earned


• Sex:
  The distribution of fall enrollment by sex.



• Ethnicity:
  The distribution of fall enrollment by ethnicity.
  
  Beginning in Fall 2010, reporting categories for ethnicity changed. Pre-2010 and post 2010 categories cannot be reconciled perfectly, so caution is waranted when considering trends that span that change.



• Age:
  The distribution of fall enrollment by age. Age is calculated as of September 1 of the given academic year.



• Initial Admission Type:
  Initial admission type describes the students' higher education experience prior to attending GVSU for the first time (at their current level).
  • First Time in Any College (FTIAC) -- Student had never attended any higher ed institution (unless it was concurrent with high school) before she/he enrolled at GVSU.
  • Transfer -- Student earned credit from a postsecondary institution prior to attending GVSU. Credit earned concurrently with high school enrollment or in the summer immediately between high school completion and fall GVSU enrollment the same year does not qualify a student as a transfer student.
  • Grand Valley Undergraduate -- Student is currently a graduate student, but previously attended GVSU as an undergraduate student.
  • Non-Grand Valley Undergraduate -- Student is currently a graduate student and did not attend GVSU as an undergraduate student.



• FTIAC Characteristics: (undergraduate programs only)
  Selected descriptive statistics for students who were FTIACs enrolled in the program in the fall term.
  • Percent Female
  • Percent Minority -- minorities include "American Indian or Alaskan Native", "Asian or Pacific Islander", "African American or Black", and "Hispanic or Latino".
  • High School GPA
  • Average ACT Composite



• Hours Attempted:
  The distribution of fall enrollment by the number of fall credit hours attempted.



• Enrollment Status:
  The distribution of fall enrollment by full-time or part-time status. An undergraduate student is considered to be enrolled full-time if she/he is taking 12 or more credit hours. A graduate student must enroll for at least 9 credit hours to be classified as full-time.



• GPA Distribution Entering Fall:
  The distribution of cumulative GPAs of students enrolled in the major in the fall term. GPA's are calculated as of the census date, so grades earned in the given fall term don't contribute to the values. GPAs include all GVSU coursework at the given level (undergraduate / graduate), whether inside or outside the major.
  GPA values are suppressed for N's below 5.



• Semester GPAs:
  The average GPA earned by students enrolled in the program in each of the semesters of the academic year. The number of students with valid GPAs for each term is presented, along with the GPA. These data are based on data captured after the end of the term, so the numbers may not be the same as those presented elsewhere in this summary, since students may drop classes or change majors during the semester. GPAs include all GVSU coursework at the given level (undergraduate / masters / doctoral) during the given term, whether inside or outside the major. Note that each student is weighted equally in the calculation of averages (e.g. if one student has a GPA of 0.00 over 3 credit hours and another has a GPA of 4.00 over 18 credit hours, they'd average to 2.00).
  



• Test Scores:
  Average scores on major placement tests for students enrolled in the program in the fall term. For undergraduate students, ACT and SAT scores are shown. Note that transfer students are not required to submit ACT scores for admission. For graduate students, GRE and GMAT scores are shown. These scores are not required for all applicants.
  Note that test score averages may appear with displayed N's below 5. As noted above, data are suppressed in populations with N below 5, but it is different to know (for example) that there's one person with a test score of 620 among 15 people in a program than it is to know that the average score in a population of 1 is 620. In the former case, the identity of the indiviual cannot be discerned without knowing with certainty who was the only person in the program to submit a score. In the latter case, the individual's score is compromised for anyone who knows the identity of the one person in the program.



• Degrees Granted:
  The number of degrees granted in the program for the academic year. The academic year begins in July, so the August commencement is counted with those from the following fall and winter. Note that degrees are occasionally granted late and back-dated, so totals from past years may change slightly with each annual update of these tables.
  • Total
  • by sex of degree recipient
  • by ethnicity of degree recipient -- Students have the option of indicating more than one ethnic background. Each graduate is tabulated with each ethnic background selected (e.g. a student who indicated "Hispanic" and "White" would be counted twice). As a result, the sum of the counts by ethnicity may be greater than the total number of degree recipients.