In this paper, we describe a two-year study of the factors influencing freshman and first-year transfer student enrollment at the College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM) at DePaul University. Our results show that the reputation of the institution, the particular degree programs at DePaul CDM, and to a lesser degree the diversity of degree programs available, were all positive factors for application and enrollment at DePaul. Factors that were not of primary importance included parental influence, the fact that DePaul is a liberal arts institution, and recommendations from relatives and friends.

Effective student recruitment is an important issue for computing educators.We describe a mentoring program designed for prospective students at DePaul University and begin to understand the effectiveness of such a program. The program has been in place since 2004, and an initial analysis of survey data has led to changes in the way the program will be run and in how data will be collected for the next phase of the study.