When Jeffrey Bakken became dean of the Graduate School in 2012, there were 578 total graduate students and 42 new international students. Since then, the program has grown leaps and bounds.
This fall, the Graduate School welcomed 185 new international students, a higher enrollment than last year’s 92.
This increase is due to changes brought about by Bakken and Graduate School faculty and staff in the area of student relations and communication.
“We started trying to be proactive and receptive of our international students,” Bakken said. “[In previous years], there was limited communication with prospective students. The students typically did not have housing, they were uninformed about how to prepare for campus, and they were not provided proper guidance on leaving their home country and traveling to Peoria.”
A few methods the Graduate School utilized included personal emails with links on how to obtain visas and a look into the department prior to arrival, connecting the students with each other via social media sites such as Facebook and an RSVP system that asks vital questions the students need to address before coming to Bradley.
To further help students, the application process was simplified. Prospective students can now apply, submit files and track progress online, seeing their status in real time.
One incentive offered by the Graduate School is a scholarship program based on GPA of their last 60 hours of undergraduate study. Students with a GPA between 3.75 and 4.0 receive a 35 percent tuition reduction, and students with a GPA between 3.25 and 3.74 receive a 20 percent reduction in tuition. Students who do not receive a scholarship when admitted can apply for scholarships after their first semester at Bradley.
Note: The printed version of this story contained information that was incorrect. The graduate school enrollment numbers as well as the GPA requirements and tuition reduction numbers have been changed to reflect this. The Scout regrets this error.
