Key Factors in Choosing to Attend Valparaiso University
Faculty Sponsor
Lissa Yogan
College
Arts and Sciences
Discipline(s)
Sociology
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Symposium Date
Spring 5-4-2017
Abstract
Our research project will be focusing on the factors that are important to students who chose to attend Valparaiso University. We will be stratifying our research sample based on colleges within the university. This means we will be surveying students within each college at VU proportionately, through an online survey. We hypothesize that the reputation of the college will have been the most important factor in applying to those surveyed within the colleges of nursing, engineering, and Christ College than to members of the College of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences. We also hypothesize that financial aid will be one of the most important factors in the decision to attend Valparaiso University for students in all five colleges. Factors we ask about in our survey include proximity to home, financial aid, program reputation, and family and friends' connection to Valpo. This is significant in that it will indicate what factors are important particularly in choosing a smaller school such as Valpo out of all other schools that were viable options to students.
Recommended Citation
Riethmeier, Bethany; Almanza, Brian; and Vandermolen, Hannah, "Key Factors in Choosing to Attend Valparaiso University" (2017). Symposium on Undergraduate Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 643.
https://scholar.valpo.edu/cus/643
Biographical Information about Author(s)
Bethany Riethmeier, a criminology major with a minor in political science, became interested in the topic after wondering what factors were influential to others in choosing Valpo, as she has family history at this university, and that was the most influential in her decision. Bethany plans on going to law school to go into environmental law.
Hannah Vandermolen is a psychology and criminology major, a commuter who stated that proximity to home was an important factor to her, and was curious about why students from further away attend Valpo. Hannah plans to attend graduate school to pursue her majors further.
Brian Almanza is sociology and coaching education major, and he is also a commuter who came to Valpo for its proximity, among other reasons. He is not planning to pursue a career in sociology, but is fascinated by sociological studies. He wants to go into coaching.