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The purpose of this research was to examine whether decisions made at one stage of strategic and graduate enrollment management, the admission phase, depend on both applicant and faculty characteristics. Faculty participants (N=62) were randomly assigned to read one of four vignettes of a prospective applicant to their doctoral program. They then rated the likelihood that they would interview and admit the applicant, and they also completed other surveys. Participants’ empathic orientation and first-generation college student status and higher Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores were associated with more favorable admission decisions. Participant and applicant characteristics also interacted to predict admission decisions. The results have implications for strategic and graduate enrollment management professionals.

bio-headshot-cano@3xAnnmarie Cano is Associate Dean of Student Services in the Graduate School and Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University. She oversees graduate enrollment management and is particularly interested in improving equity, diversity, and inclusion in the graduate student body with evidence-based interventions. She is the Wayne State site co-PI of the NSF-funded Michigan Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate to support women and underrepresented graduate students in STEM and the social and behavioral sciences. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Princeton University and her master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology from Stony Brook University.
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Lee Wurm is Professor of Psychology at Wayne State University. He conducts research on psycholinguistics and quantitative methods. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities and holds a master’s and doctorate in experimental psychology from Stony Brook University. He also held a postdoctoral fellowship at Binghamton University.

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Jennifer Nava is an undergraduate psychology major and NIH ReBUILDetroit Scholar at the University of Detroit–Mercy. Her research interests include mental health in vulnerable populations and equity and access in higher education.

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Farron McIntee serves as the Faculty Coordinator of the NIH-funded ReBUILDetroit Consortium at Wayne State University, where she manages programs related to undergraduate research enrichment and training and facilitates an undergraduate learning community targeting enhanced student success. Her scholarly work focuses on identification of best practices for recruitment and retention of undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds to biomedical science. She earned her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spelman College, holds a Ph.D. in pathology from New York University Sackler Institute of Biomedical Sciences, and conducted postdoctoral work in nutritional science at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Ambika Mathur is Associate Provost, Office of Scientific Training, Workforce Development and Diversity; Dean, Graduate School; and Professor of Pediatrics. She served as Associate Dean, the first director of the Wayne State University M.D./Ph.D. program, first director of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, founding director of Wayne Med Direct program, and is PI of both the NIH-funded WSU-BEST Program and the NIH-funded ReBUILDetroit Program that support the development of underrepresented students who seek to pursue careers in biomedical research.

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