Required course: Online applications

The days when college-bound students had to wade through stacks of application forms are virtually numbered. West Virginia Wesleyan College-a small, liberal arts school-has become the nation's first undergraduate institution to require all student applications to be filed online.

It certainly won't be the last. Indeed, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's MBA program also requires online filing of applications. The technology for West Virginia Wesleyan's application process is being supplied by Embark.com, a Web site that offers Internet services to schools and students. Katie Madden, spokeswoman for Embark.com, says a recent survey of higher-education institutions found that 77 percent were offering some sort Internet-based application option.

A study done for Embark.com found that almost all university-bound students had access to a computer and 93 percent of them could access the Internet. Nonetheless, West Virginia Wesleyan says that students who can't get online won't be left out: its admissions recruiters travel with laptops to help prospective students apply. Currently, the school receives 1,600 applications a year, but it's not yet sure if the online requirement will increase that amount.

West Virginia Wesleyan may be a small school, but it's no stranger to the forefront of information technology.

It's an IBM Thinkpad University, and students and faculty members regularly use laptops in the classroom. For the last three years, it has issued enrolling students a laptop, which means that this year every one of its students will have one. Requiring online applications, notes President William Haden was "the logical next step for us."

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Nov 2000
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