The Seton Hall graduate programs offered by the University's colleges have seen increased enrollment as well as positive complements from graduate students.
The most popular individual program overall last year was the School of Law, and the most popular on the South Orange campus were the MBA in Finance and the MA in Human Resources, Training and Development, according to Greg Burton, associate provost and dean for research and graduate services.
"Generally we have more applications for graduate programs each year than the year before, and last fall we received 78 percent more applications than 10 years earlier," Burton said.
According to Burton, Seton Hall often competes for top students with schools like Boston College, Villanova, NYU, Rutgers and Montclair.
Seton Hall's student body size is closest to Villanova but about 46 percent of its students are graduate students compared with approximately 33 percent at Villanova.
"We are interested in our program inventory adapting to new needs and new markets, and the programs we have generally have the capacity to provide for more students so we do have a goal of increasing enrollment" Burton said.
Burton also said that most of the programs also have goals for the incoming students' standardized test scores and undergraduate GPA, and over the past two years the schools have worked to make some of the goals a little more formal.
According to Burton, it is possible that the fall 2011 semester has set the record for graduate enrollment, however the statistics are not in yet.
Also according to Burton, the college with the most distinct graduate programs is probably the College of Education and Human Services, though the total number depends on what is considered a different program for different purposes.
Students have expressed satisfaction with the new environment that comes with being in graduate programs.
"Though we meet only once a week, the classes are more challenging which is one reason I like the graduate program more" student Christina Carothers, who is in the masters degree program for Diplomacy and International Relations said.
"I never looked at any other grad programs because I applied so early (both for my GA position and grad school), but I'd imagine that it compares to other schools just like our undergraduate programs -- we're towards the top of the ladder," Anthony Angelella, a student in the instructional design program through the College of Education and Human Services, said.
Carothers said she likes the graduate program because she is able to specialize and take classes that are similar to her interests.
"All the professors are helpful and wanting to help you achieve and find a job after graduation" Carothers added.
Angelella also agreed that professor feedback has given him a positive graduate program experience at Seton Hall.
"The professors I've had so far are great," he said.
According to Burton, graduate recruitment works in a variety of different ways, using the school website, print ads, the Open House, college recruiting events, material sent to peer institutions and so on.
"For example, some of the programs have been very pleased with the results of an effort to place QR codes, the computer-generated patterns that allow a Blackberry or iPhone or the like to instantly connect to a website, at highly-trafficked locations especially around New York City," Burton said.
Also according to Burton, certificate programs are an important part of the graduate operation and a new one in data visualization and interpretation is being established with the collaboration of both the math and psychology departments.
The credit level and format of classes differs greatly with masters degrees along with the types of assignments.
Carothers said that her classes are mostly discussion based.
"I enjoyed my classes as an undergraduate, but I love the graduate program so much more," she added.
Ashley Duvall can be reached at ashley.duvall@student.shu.edu.
Charlotte Lewis can be reached at charlotte.lewis@student.shu.edu.
