College visit: Dickinson State University

Our final stop on Confluence College Admissions Consulting's spring 2024 tour is Dickinson State University, located in Dickinson, North Dakota. DSU enrolls abut 1,200 undergraduate students. Most students attending DSU are business management majors, although education (both elementary and secondary), nursing, natural science, and agriculture majors are also popular.

DSU had its graduation about a week before my visit, so the campus was quiet. The students I met were friendly, but I feel obliged to be truthful here: they were surprisingly quick to tell me they were unhappy with a recent policy change by the administration to increase minimum class sizes to nine students (which still seems like a small number to me) and increase some freshman survey courses from 40 students to 75. It's unusual for me to encounter students airing their grievances with me so readily when I visit a campus.

A 2012 North Dakota university system audit found that the school had relaxed standards and waived some requirements to increase enrollment of international students and had, over a period of several years, awarded degrees to 584 students who had not completed the required coursework. News media accounts described the audit report as depicting Dickinson State as a degree mill.

Were I advising a student considering attending DSU, I would say several things. First, the "degree mill" situation triggered an internal review of programs that has resulted in better oversight. But the school's reputation was harmed. Do you really want a degree from a school that has been labeled a "degree mill"? Second, there are plenty of regional schools that profile similarly to DSU and are in a similar cost range, and I would advise my client to visit some of those. Third, if the student really wants to check out DSU, I would encourage them to ask a lot of questions during their visit. In fact, I think this is good practice for every visit. After all, college is a huge investment of your time and money, and you want to be sure you're attending a school that helps you get where you want to go.

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