While no single theory describes how to organize a college or university better, contingency theory asks only that an institution know itself well before choosing a model to imitate. College administrators who want to improve their organizational structure should be familiar with the contingency approach. (Author/MSE)

Meaningful student opinion and attitude information is often difficult to obtain, but content analysis of student writing samples such as essays written as a part of a university-wide assessment program in English provide a convenient and economical opportunity to collect such information. (MSE)

A survey of one college's freshman and transfer students was used to test a five-component model of college choice behavior. It looked at the relationships between students' perceived decision influences (recruitment strategies) and student gender, residency status, and religious affiliation. (MSE)

A survey of all part-time students over 25 years old enrolled at North Carolina State University looked at the relationship of four kinds of learning motivation (self-improvement, job enhancement, social contact, and job change) to gender, age, educational level, and income. Implications for recruitment and retention are discussed. (MSE)

Potsdam College's development and implementation of a survey concerning the institution's public image to enhance enrollment planning and recruitment efforts is outlined. Results of the survey are analyzed in terms of the project's overall planning objective. (MSE)

American graduate schools need to sharpen their techniques when screening the growing group of foreign applicants requiring professional skills. An institution's admissions process can either enhance its overall institutional quality and prestige or seriously harm it in a short time. (MSE)

The current status of computer use in student admissions and records functions in colleges and universities is briefly reviewed, and the changes occurring in Brigham Young University's admissions office functions during the 13 years of computer applications are outlined. (MSE)

A study of the effectiveness of ridge regression over ordinary least squares regression as applied to both cognitive and noncognitive admissions data is reported. Separate race equations and a general equation were used. The analysis used did not improve on existing regression analyses. (MSE)

The role of the college registrar is neither universally understood nor professionally established, and the historical development of academic administration through five periods in the United States reflects an ambivalence and lack of consensus toward full-time administration. Each period characterizes a different approach to or set of registrar…

A registrar replacing a long-time college registrar describes how it feels to follow an institutional legend and outlines some facts, approaches, and viewpoints learned during his first year of experience in the job, such as student and faculty attitudes, typical situations, and pitfalls. (MSE)

A retiring registrar/admissions officer describes his career to encourage others to work with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. The discussion includes campus/association activities, coping with change, adjusting to campus hierarchy, academic standards, career rewards, etc. (MSE)

A review of a case study of market research use at a four-year liberal arts college briefly outlines current attitudes toward market research, the study's content and results, and the potential usefulness of the study's instruments. (MSE)

Results, limitations, and policy recommendations emerging from a series of four studies of the attendance patterns, achievement, and persistence of freshmen and transfer students new to the three Regents' Universities of Iowa in the academic years 1960-61, 1965-66, 1970-71, and 1975-76 are reported. (MSE)

A survey of institutions concerning their reporting of data on the Higher Education General Information Survey and specifically examining the differences in definitions and calculations among reporting institutions, confirmed suspected problems of comparability of information. The impact of these differences on data interpretation is discussed.…

A passive computer application using student course transcripts to group and arrange specific degree requirements to produce an advising worksheet is described, and the language used by a math department for this purpose is outlined. A sample advisement form resulting from the program is reproduced. (MSE)