A new plan at Ohio State hopes to recruit students who are more prepared for the college experience.The Student Enrollment and Retention Plan is designed to attract and keep students with skills necessary for success at a large research institution. ‘The (administration) has been talking a lot about improving the university,’ said Jim Mager, assistant vice president of admissions. ‘We decided to put it down on paper.’The University Functional Mission Statement set the foundation for the plan.The mission statement mandates that OSU provide accessible, high-quality undergraduate and graduate education for qualified students who benefit from a scholarly environment. The plan was initiated because OSU’s student profile and retention were falling compared to other Big Ten universities, Mager said. According to the Student Enrollment and Retention Plan, OSU hopes to improve student academic profiles and place in the top half of the Big Ten universities by 2000. The first goal of the plan is to adopt admissions criteria that better reflect a research-oriented learning environment.Strategies to achieve this goal include recruiting talented students and continuing programs that will increase OSU’s diversity, the plan said. The admissions criteria is aimed at attracting better students and reducing the number of at-risk students, Mager said. At-risk students are students not prepared for OSU who should start at a smaller college, like Columbus State Community College or one of OSU’s regional campuses, he said. The second goal is to improve academic quality in all aspects of the undergraduate experience, the plan said. This includes improving advising, establishing academic contact with students, increasing research opportunities and improving the delivery of course information, the plan said. The third goal of the plan is to improve retention and graduation rates by improving the student learning environment and support services. OSU’s average rate of graduation after six years is 60 percent. Strategies to reach this goal are improving admissions and freshmen orientation and instituting programs for academically at-risk students, the plan said. Gail Stephenoff of enrollment management, said Term One, a program for at-risk students, is intended to give extended instruction to students in a smaller environment. The last goal of the plan is to enhance enrollment management capabilities to predict enrollment and course demands for the future.Ohio State will do this by investing in marketing and institutional analysis research to support recruitment and retention strategies, the plan said.