Office of Future Engineers
2018-2019 Annual Report

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Letter from the Director

Wow, what an exciting recruitment cycle this has been! We are so pleased that students from across the globe continue to see the value in a Purdue Engineering degree and want to become Boilermakers. With close to 20,000 applications, we welcomed 2,306 new First Year Engineers to our campus this fall. This was over 150 students more than our initial goal! We have also continued to improve the overall diversity and academic excellence of our student population this year, as seen on the charts near the bottom of this report.

We are proudly the largest engineering program among U.S. News & World Report's top 10 rankings. Our goal is to maintain these large freshman classes, but it will not be an easy endeavor given the following:

  1. The decline in high school graduates, as some predictions are as high as a 15% drop by 2025 nationwide. The Midwest will see some of the largest decreases, including Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, where we enroll the majority of our students.
  2. Generation Z is different than the Millennials! How universities adjust to meet their needs in recruitment through graduation will be important to growing enrollment. Generation Z is very conscientious and practical when it comes to price point and value. They want to be able to customize their education and know a good job awaits them when they finish.
  3. Competition will become fiercer with fewer college age students, rapidly growing online opportunities, and a recent change in recruitment practices allowing universities to recruit students longer and provide incentives such as price breaks up to and even beyond the first day of classes.

So with all this you might think our team would be freaking out and plotting ways to get out of higher education! The thing is that the proof is in our Purdue Engineering students and alumni. We see their effort, creativity, and the difference they make in society every day. There is no doubt that Purdue Engineering is value added, and we just need to continue to share those stories on channels where they can be heard. We will continue to stick to our core values, knowing that platforms and messaging will change.

OFE's Core Values:

  1. Be authentic.
  2. Never lose sight of what is best for students and their families. Are we the right fit for them?
  3. Provide superior customer service for a large population.
  4. Communicate with students where they live, whether that is online via social media, pictures, videos, or physically in person.

I want to thank the OFE team for their passion and dedication to serving the prospective students and their families. It takes the entire community to attract and enroll students. We are truly grateful to all of our remarkable partners, including the Engineering professional schools, Office of Admissions, College of Engineering program offices, and so many more. Thanks so much for checking out our annual report!

Please reach out if you have any questions, feedback, suggestions, or collaborations you would like to discuss.


David Bowker
Director of the Office of Future Engineers
Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach

Our Mission

Aspire to inspire all middle school through high school students to consider engineering as a career, dedicated to recruiting a diverse and academically gifted student body to the First-Year Engineering (FYE) program at Purdue University, and continued engagement of Purdue Engineering Alumni in the development and growth of future leaders in engineering.

Our People

David Bowker

David Bowker

Director
Amy Glenn

Amy Glenn

Associate Director
Heather Coar

Heather Coar

Assistant Director, Communications
Aurie Swartz

Aurie Swartz

Assistant Director, Operations
Lindsay Elias

Lindsay Elias

Office Manager

We are also helped out by an incredible group of current students and interns who assist us with daily operations, web and 2d design, and communications for our office. The Purdue Student Engineering Foundation (PSEF) also collaborates with OFE in our daily information sessions and on-campus events making valuable connections with prospective students and families.

Our Approaches

Education

We educate middle school and high school students, as well as their teachers and counselors, on what being an engineer is all about. Through presentations ranging from what an engineer does to planning a career in engineering to how to pay for college, we hope to get more students of all backgrounds interested in engineering.

Recruitment

Through on- and off-campus events, social media outreach, targeted email, a responsive website, print materials, and personal interactions, we seek to connect with high-achieving students from around the world to provide them with an insider's perspective of Purdue Engineering and campus life to help them determine if Purdue is right for them.

Engagement/Outreach

We constantly seek to partner with both current students and alumni to expand our outreach to middle schools and high schools all around the world.

Student Development

We empower students to increase their skills in public speaking, interpersonal communication, writing, 2D design, project management, and much more.

Daily Presentations

We offer daily Engineering Information Sessions on weekdays all year that see over 20,000 visitors annually and are typically led by current engineering students. The presentation focuses on the first year experience and opportunities available to all Purdue Engineering students, and it also incorporates an interactive team project similar to what students encounter in our First Year Engineering courses.

School/Class Visits

We also visit high schools to discuss a range of topics in the field of engineering, including how to prepare for college, engineering careers, and Purdue Engineering itself. High schools can also request for an OFE representative to visit their high school in person or via webcast.

Request a visit

Strategic Events

We host a number of strategic events annually, each one with a distinct theme, making it easier for our prospective and admitted students and their families to remember Purdue Engineering long after they have attended and have a firmer idea of what Purdue Engineering has to offer.

Social Media

We have an in-house marketing and communications team that maintains social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and BlogSpot. The team uses these channels to increase click-through rates on the web through various social media campaigns throughout the year.

Print Media

In addition to our digital media outreach, we also provide future students with informational and motivational materials during campus visits and through direct mailings. Our mailings focus on admitted students to congratulate them on their admission to Purdue Engineering and provide them with swag to show off to their friends and family.

Alumni Network

We work with our vast alumni network around the country and across the globe to help us with our outreach efforts through alumni open houses, visiting college fairs, and talking with prospective students in their respective areas about Purdue and Purdue Engineering.

Our Feedback

Honestly one of the more engaging engineering tours out there. Keep doing what you are doing.

I loved how passionate the presenting students were about Purdue engineering. The presentation didn’t seem like a job to them. Rather, it seemed like they were really interested in telling us about their Purdue engineering experiences as well as the field as a whole.

I wanted to thank you so much for taking the time to organize and attend the Engineering Open House in Woodstock. It was such a pleasure to speak with everyone and hear all the different perspectives of the school--it really gave me a great idea of what it means to be a Boilermaker.

My favorite aspect of the entire experience was sitting down with fellow prospective students and discussing with them the applications of various engineering careers offered at Purdue. The task was unique and made me feel almost like I were sitting down for a real introductory engineering class at a college, and I wish more colleges took this approach to presenting their tours/programs.

Let me start by saying how much we have enjoyed the live chat sessions! The outreach we have received from Purdue was one of the reasons my son decided on this for his further education and we could not be more excited!

Latest Statistics

Below are the year-over-year trends comparisons of the number of admitted and enrolled students for various categories and the academic profiles of First-Year Engineering students:

Application and Acceptance



Enrolled student demographics





URM Enrollment profile

  2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 1-Year Change 5-Year Change
Black or African American 39 38 33 52 41 -21% +28%
Hispanic/Latino 85 85 119 135 138 +2% +62%
Native American or Alaska Native 3 1 2 1 4 +300% +33%
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 3 2 0 2 2 0% 0%
Two or More Races 52 80 82 122 113 -7% +117%

First-Year Engineering Class Data

Below are the average achievement metrics for the new-beginning First Year Engineering class over the last 3 years.

  2017 2018 2019
SAT - Composite 1316 1402 1414
SAT - Math 682 729 738
SAT - Critical Reading 634 679 683
ACT - Composite 31 31 32
High School GPA 3.92 3.78* 3.79

*Enrollment Management changed how they calculate unweighted GPA beginning with the 2018 academic year.

Summary of Activities

On-Campus Events

368 events

24,142 guests

Off-Campus Events

28 events

1,008 guests

Email Marketing

20 campaigns

407,088 emails

Print Marketing

3 print pieces

24,800 copies