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QUEST: A Program to Attract and Recruit Highly Qualified Engineering Students through a Summer Program Focused on the Needs of the Students

Robert A. Green, Robert P. Taylor

James Worth Bagley College of Engineering, Mississippi State University / University of Alabama

Abstract

The James Worth Bagley College of Engineering at Mississippi State University has been experimenting with a program aimed at recruiting highly qualified students to study engineering. The premise of the program is the belief that once high school students experience engineering college life on campus, their interest in both engineering and the University will be piqued and new freshmen will be gained.

Initially the program involved bringing students to campus during a regular summer term, registering them in two college classes which would either apply to engineering or serve as a foundation for engineering studies, and offering them a series of enrichment seminars that explained the various fields of engineering and offered insight on how to become a successful college student. After meeting with limited success, the program moved away from college courses and toward engineering research while maintaining the enrichment seminars. We also found that the length of the program needed to be reduced in order to be more attractive to students.

The program has been successful in attracting students and developing relationships between the high school students and the faculty members. The evolution of the program is described and the reasons for why changes were made are discussed.

Introduction

A challenge which faces most colleges of engineering is how to attract and recruit highly qualified students. Those students who are most qualified to pursue an engineering career are often the most difficult to attract for a variety of reasons. These students are recruited by the best colleges and universities in the nation and it can often be difficult to keep the local students in a nearby university. Given their drive and ambition, the prospect to explore schools out of state or even out of the region can be difficult to overcome. These students are also well-qualified to pursue most any career of their choosing often making it difficult to interest them in engineering. Having little exposure to engineering in high school, science majors are enticing to these students.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Taylor, R., & Green, R. (2005, June), Quest: A Program To Attract And Recruit Highly Qualified Engineering Students Through A Summer Program Focused On The Needs Of The Students Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14239