Ever wonder whether all those student surveys just float around the Internet once they’re submitted? DePaul continuously sends out surveys regarding housing, drinking and faculty, leaving students to wonder who actually processes this information and if it really makes any difference.

“Part of my job is to help analyze different surveys administered within DePaul to better understand the student’s perspective in various aspects of enrollment,” said Connie Castellucci, a research analyst in DePaul’s institutional research and market analytics department. “With over 25,000 students enrolled at DePaul, it is one of the primary sources of gathering timely and accurate information on the student population.”

Survey results are altering the ways that the admissions department communicates with its applicants.

“Not only are the surveys being tallied and analyzed, but the results often are used to implement changes into the university’s policies and procedures to better serve its students,” said Castellucci.

An example of a change prompted by data collected from a survey occurred in the admissions office for DePaul’s graduate school. The office of Institutional Research and Market Analytics worked in collaboration with the graduate admissions office to figure out how to improve the distribution of information about scholarship opportunities to newly admitted students. They surveyed students who were admitted during Winter Quarter about a specific scholarship opportunity and were surprised by what they found.

“We learned that 75 percent of the students surveyed were not aware of the scholarship opportunity even though the information had been sent to them,” said Castellucci.

This information granted the graduate admissions office an opportunity to reassess its modes of communication and their efficiency. In response to these findings, the office is now trying to implement more effective ways to communicate important information to its applicants.