Undergraduate Profile Classification

The Undergraduate Profile Classification describes the undergraduate population with respect to three characteristics: the proportion of undergraduate students who attend part- or full-time; background academic achievement characteristics of first-year, first-time students; and the proportion of entering students who transfer in from another institution. Each of these captures important differences in the nature of the undergraduate population. They do not imply differences in the quality of undergraduate education, but they have implications for how an institution serves its students. See below for the full definition and methodology.

Undergraduate Profile Methodology

For a flowchart illustrating the logic of the six all-inclusive Classifications, click here.

Full Definition

Some institutions serve a primarily full-time student population, while others serve large numbers of students who attend part-time due to substantial work and family commitments outside school. These differences have implications for the scheduling of classes, student services, extracurricular activities, time to degree, and other factors. Part-time students also tend to be older than full-time students, and older students bring more life experience and maturity into the classroom, often accompanied by different motivations for learning compared with those who have not spent any appreciable time away from formal education. Older students also generally face special challenges related to the competing obligations of school, work, and family. For two-year colleges, the proportion of students enrolled part-time is based on all undergraduates. For four-year institutions, it is based on degree-seeking undergraduates.

Among institutions that confer baccalaureate degrees, entrance examination (SAT or ACT) scores describe—with notable limitations—the academic preparation of entering first-year students, which in turn corresponds to the selectivity of undergraduate admissions. Although we do not take this as a gauge of institutional quality, admissions test scores and selectivity are widely used by institutions, academic researchers, and others in determining the comparability of colleges and universities. For all the criticisms of standardized tests, they provide the only comparable, widely available metric for students' prior academic preparation and achievement. Average institution-level entering test scores are also highly correlated with institutional-level graduation rates (typically around r=0.85).

As an increasing number of selective institutions implement a “test-optional” admissions policy (and therefore do not report test scores through the IPEDS admissions component), we added as a backup measure of selectivity, the proportion of applicants that were offered admission, noting that this too is an imperfect measure.

A measure of transfer origin identifies institutions where many undergraduates enter as first-year students and progress to graduation, as compared with those where an appreciable number of students begin their college careers elsewhere. Serving larger numbers of transfer students has a number of implications, such as the planning and assessment of general education, student advising, the structure of majors, and so on. At schools admitting large numbers of transfer students, test score data based on the first-time first-year population may not adequately describe the undergraduate population as a whole.

For some institutions, analysis of aggregate student enrollments in the Undergraduate Profile Classification can conceal the fact that two distinct programs and student populations are included. These institutions offer relatively distinct undergraduate programs—one serves a student body consisting of recent high school graduates who typically attend full-time and who reside on or close to campus (often living with other students), while the other program focuses on degree completion for returning students. Students in degree completion programs typically have families and full-time jobs, and they may attend part-time and commute to school or enroll online. For such institutions, the undergraduate profile classification may not accurately characterize either program.

Data Sources

Data are from the IPEDS Completions survey corresponding to degree conferrals from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 and 2020 Institutional Characteristics and Fall Enrollments Surveys. These were the most recent data available for all institutions as of December 2020.

Level of Institution

Institutions were identified as two- or four-year based on a combination of IPEDS Completions and Institutional Characteristics data (institutional level). If an institution awarded no bachelor's or higher-level degrees and was designated within institutional characteristics as at the two-year level, it was included among two-year institutions.

Enrollment Status

For two-year colleges, the proportion of students enrolled part-time is based on all undergraduates. For four-year institutions, it is based on degree-seeking undergraduates. (We found that for some four-year institutions, including all undergraduates led to anomalous results).

The categories are as follows:

TWO-YEAR

Higher part-time

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 60 percent of undergraduates are enrolled part-time at these associate’s degree granting institutions.

Mixed part/full-time

Fall enrollment data indicate 40–59 percent of undergraduates are enrolled part-time at these associate’s degree granting institutions.

Medium full-time

Fall enrollment data indicate 10–39 percent of undergraduates are enrolled part-time at these associate’s degree granting institutions.

Higher full-time

Fall enrollment data indicate less than 10 percent of undergraduates enrolled part-time at these associate’s degree granting institutions.

FOUR-YEAR

Achievement Characteristics/Selectivity

Institutions that enroll baccalaureate degree seeking students are distinguished according to their admissions selectivity into three groups: inclusive, selective, and more selective. Institutions report SAT and/or ACT scores if those scores are required as part of their admissions policy. For these institutions the selectivity designation is based on test scores. For test-optional, or test not required institutions that are do not indicate that they have an open admissions policy, the designation is based on percent of applicants admitted. Open admissions institutions are all placed into the “inclusive” category.

When entry test scores are used, the measure is based on the distribution of entrance examination scores for each institution's first-time first-year students. Each institution reports its 25th and 75th percentile figures for the SAT Verbal, SAT Math, and ACT Composite. (The 25th percentile score is the top score for the bottom quarter of the distribution of scores at that institution; the 75th percentile score is the top score for the bottom three-quarters of the distribution.) We found comparable results using either the 25th or the 75th percentile figure; we elected to use the 25th percentile figure because it describes more students (three-quarters of first-year students scored above this point). Because schools report SAT scores, ACT scores, or both, we used a concordance table to map combined SAT scores to the ACT Composite scale (College Board). We converted to the ACT scale because it has fewer possible scores than the combined SAT (verbal plus math), and fine distinctions were not required for this analysis. Because of differences in the granularity of the two scales, converting from SAT to ACT involves less risk of error than converting in the opposite direction.

For schools that reported both ACT and SAT scores, we created a weighted composite score based on the proportion of students who submitted each type of test score. Fractional composite scores were rounded to the nearest whole number.

Although the intent of the undergraduate profile classification is to describe the undergraduate population, it is difficult to label groups based on test scores in a way that does not lead to inferences of relative quality. The three groups correspond to 25th percentile ACT-equivalent scores of less than 18, 18-21, and greater than 21.

Among schools that did not report test score data to IPEDS, some are open admissions, while some are selective based upon different criteria. Institutions that indicated they have an “open admissions” policy were put into the “inclusive” groups. For those institutions that are not open admissions but do not require/report test scores, we used the percentage of admitted students according to the number of applications received. Close approximations to the quartile ACT-equivalent scores were found with “more selective” institutions admitting 55% or less of their applicants, and “inclusive” institutions accepting 80% or more. The middle group was considered “selective.”

Because very few "medium full-time" institutions qualified as “more selective,” the “selective” and “more selective” groups were combined. Similarly, there was insufficient variation on the score variable to justify sub-dividing the group with the largest percentage of part-time students.

NOTE: Admissions test scores refer to first-time first-year students only. For institutions that admit a large share of new students as transfers, this measure may not be reflective of the student body as a whole.

REFERENCE: College Board, SAT-ACT Concordance Tables.

http://www.act.org/content/act/en/products-and-services/the-act/scores/act-sat-concordance.html (Accessed May 18, 2022).

Transfer Origin

The measure of transfer origin was only used for four-year institutions. IPEDS now includes in their Fall Enrollment collection the distinction between "First time", "Transfer-ins," and "Continuing" students. We used these to calculate transfer enrollees as a percentage of all entering undergraduates (first time plus transfer-ins). The calculation is based on FTE students (full-time headcount plus one-third part-time headcount) for both first time and transfer students.

Higher part-time

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 40 percent of undergraduates are enrolled part-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions.

Search by Classification

Higher part-time

Higher Medium full-time, inclusive, lower transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate 60–79 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. These institutions either did not report test score data or the scores indicate that they extend educational opportunity to a wide range of students with respect to academic preparation and achievement. Fewer than 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Medium full-time, inclusive, higher transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate 60–79 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. These institutions either did not report test score data or the scores indicate that they extend educational opportunity to a wide range of students with respect to academic preparation and achievement. At least 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Medium full-time, selective or more selective, lower transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate 60–79 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are selective or more selective in admissions. Fewer than 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Medium full-time, selective or more selective, higher transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate 60–79 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are selective or more selective in admissions. At least 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, inclusive, lower transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. These institutions either did not report test score data or the scores indicate that they extend educational opportunity to a wide range of students with respect to academic preparation and achievement. Fewer than 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, inclusive, higher transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. These institutions either did not report test score data or the scores indicate that they extend educational opportunity to a wide range of students with respect to academic preparation and achievement. At least 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, selective, lower transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are selective in admissions (40th to 80th percentile of selectivity among all baccalaureate institutions). Fewer than 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, selective, higher transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are selective in admissions (40th to 80th percentile of selectivity among all baccalaureate institutions). At least 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, more selective, lower transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are more selective in admissions (80th to 100th percentile of selectivity among all baccalaureate institutions). Fewer than 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.

Full-time, more selective, higher transfer-in

Fall enrollment data indicate at least 80 percent of undergraduates are enrolled full-time at these bachelor’s or higher degree granting institutions. Test score data for first-year students indicate that these institutions are more selective in admissions (80th to 100th percentile of selectivity among all baccalaureate institutions). At least 20 percent of entering undergraduates are transfer students.