COLUMBUS -- In a few short weeks, The Ohio State University's Columbus campus will come alive as some 48,000 students return for the start of autumn quarter. With a population equal to a mid-sized city, choices and opportunities abound for all students. Still, many students need personal attention to find their niche.

"I want all students to know they have been expected at Ohio State and what to expect when they get here," said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for the First Year Experience (FYE) and interim director of undergraduate admissions. "We hope to get admissions counselors more involved in the autumn welcoming process so that incoming freshmen will see some familiar faces -- especially the Ohio State recruiters who first talked with them about attending Ohio State."

It's all part of a new, more personalized approach to welcoming Ohio State's first-year students as the university continues a trend of attracting freshman classes with increasingly strong credentials. For the fifth consecutive year, Ohio State is welcoming a best-ever freshman class in terms of high school performance, test scores and other indicators of students' academic qualifications.

"Any way you measure it, our academic indicators have moved up steadily for the past several years," said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean for undergraduate studies. "Once again, this is the strongest class we've ever had."

In comparison with other institutions, Ohio State's entering class academic profile has risen from near the bottom of Big Ten universities to the middle in just five years, and progress is expected to continue, said James Mager, associate vice president for enrollment services.

The university intentionally sought to reduce the class size to maximize personal attention and opportunities for the incoming students, and is projecting an enrollment of 5,800 freshmen, down from 5,986 last year, Mager said.

By the time the entering class arrives in 2001, a new First Year Experience (FYE) program will be in full swing under Freeman's leadership. The intent of the new program is to integrate and coordinate recruitment, welcoming events and first-year education programs to create a seamless transition for Ohio State's newest students.

The FYE program will extend the concepts of the university's Honors program, which for 15 years has provided a specialized environment for first-year and continuing students. Continuity of new students' contact with Ohio State personnel and collaboration among the areas involved in recruitment, enrollment and the welcoming process will be critical to the new concept.

"Ideally, messages students receive during the admissions process should be repeated during orientation, tied to Welcome Week activities, reinforced in the college survey courses and sustained in their on-campus residential environment," Freeman said. "We want to reduce the fragmentation so students have successful first-year experiences. The ultimate goal is for everyone to return for the second year, continue their academic pursuits here and graduate. To achieve that, we have to take very good care of students in their first year."

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(LO)