1998 Student Profile
Glossary
GLOSSARY
Age
A student's age is computed by subtracting year of birth from 1996. Therefore, students born in January 1972 and December 1972 will both be reported as age 24 (1996-1972).
Classification
Classification describes the student level and/or type and includes freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, special undergraduate, special graduate, master, and doctorate.
College
The University is divided into six undergraduate colleges: Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources (ASNR); Arts and Sciences (A&S); Business Administration (CBA); Education (COE); Engineering, Architecture, and Technology (CEAT); and Human Environmental Sciences (HES). Data for CEAT are sometimes divided into two data sets--one for Engineering & Architecture (ENGR), and the second for the Division of Technology (TECH).
In addition to these six undergraduate colleges, students may enroll in the University Academic Services, the Graduate College, and the College of Veterinary Medicine. In this report, students enrolled in the Graduate College are usually distributed for reporting purposes to the respective undergraduate college which administers their major coursework.
Ethnicity Codes and Definitions
For purposes of reporting OSU enrollment by ethnicity, the total enrollment at OSU excluding internationals (non-U.S. citizens) is divided into the following categories:
White: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe (except Spain and Portugal), North Africa (above the Sahara), or the Middle East. This category would include, for instance: Italy, France, the British Isles, Scandinavia, Germany, Russia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.
African American: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Africa south of the Sahara.
Native American: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North or South America.
Hispanic: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Spain or Portugal. This category would generally include, for instance: Chicanos, Mexican-Americans, Mexicans, Central and South Americans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Spaniards, and Portuguese.
Asian: All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Pacific Islands. This category would include, for instance: China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Samoa, Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, and the Indian subcontinent which includes all persons from Afghanistan, Nepal, Burma, India, and Pakistan.
In order to present a set of data regarding OSU enrollment which sums to OSU's total enrollment (including international students), some tables and figures which present data by ethnicity in this report include an additional column or row of data pertaining to the balance of the student body--the international student population.
Resident Status
A student is categorized as a resident if he or she was a legal resident of the State of Oklahoma at the time of original admission to OSU. If not a legal resident of Oklahoma at the time of admission, the student is a nonresident. If the student was a legal resident of a country other than the United States at the time of admission, the student is categorized as an international.
Retention
Student retention is usually expressed as a percentage figure which is derived by comparing the size of a specific group of students who were enrolled at OSU for a given semester to the size of the same group when they are enrolled for a successive given semester.
A non-returning student is defined as a student who was enrolled at OSU for a given semester and who did not graduate and who did not return to OSU for a successive given semester.
Special Undergraduate/Graduate Student
A special undergraduate student is a non-degree seeking student who has not earned a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university. A special graduate student is a non-degree seeking student admitted to the Graduate College.
Student Location
Beginning with the Fall Semester 1983, every student on the Student Master File was defined by one of the following Student Location Codes:
0 Enrolled only in courses on the OSU main campus (OSU)
1 Enrolled in courses on the OSU main campus and also taking courses at Oklahoma State University at Tulsa (OSU + OSU-T)
2 Enrolled in OSU courses only offered at the Oklahoma State University at Tulsa (OSU-T)
For purposes of reporting data, students are reported as OSU-T students only if they are enrolled in OSU courses exclusively at Oklahoma State University at Tulsa (2 above). If a student is enrolled in a course on the OSU main campus, he or she is reported as a "main campus" student, irrespective of whether that student is also enrolled at Oklahoma State University at Tulsa (0 and 1 above).
Type of Admission
A new student admitted to OSU is classified as a new freshman, a transfer student, or a readmission. All other students are classified as returning students. A transfer student is classified as such only for the first semester that he attends OSU; after one semester a transfer student is reclassified as a returning student. Similarly, new freshmen are reclassified as returning students after their first semester at OSU (and are sometimes shown as "other freshmen" when presenting data by classification). A readmission student is a student who has enrolled at OSU in the past but who has not been enrolled at OSU during the previous semester (excluding the summer semester).
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