Randy Doss, Guilford’s vice president of enrollment, has recently been faced with a difficult task: increase the college’s admissions by 35 percent over the next five years.“Basically, Guilford has to get bigger,” said the’82 Guilford alum.
According to Doss, the increase is necessary if Guilford is to continue as a quality institution of higher learning.

Guilford’s Board of Trustees expects Doss to increase the current total enrollment of 1,260 students to 1,600 over the next five years, setting the target enrollment for fall ‘01 at 345 first-year students. Last year’s target was 315, but Guilford recruited 322 (this number comprises only first-year, main campus students, not transfer or continuing education students).

Doss plans to achieve his goal, “ith a lot of hard work.” He explained the multifaceted changes and campus wide-effort.

One of the most apparent areas of change is in Guilford’s physical appearance, for which Doss applauds the efforts of John Jenkins and David Petree of the facilities department. “The appearance of a school is a good indicator of institutional health,” said Doss.
The facilities of the Frank Family Science Center, which, surpass most state schools at the moment, is another good example of Guilford’s attempt to draw more interest to the school.

Doss concedes that the sciences are currently a major focus of the school, but explained that, as with the numbers of sports studies majors, Guilford is under-enrolled in the sciences. “The levels of enrollment in those areas are unhealthily low,” he said, “it’s my job to balance them with other areas of enrollment in the school, which is very hard…. Our goal is not to change the quality of Guilford in the process of enlarging it.”
Less apparent, though, are the changes and efforts within Doss’s office in New Garden, where student involvement has increased. All admission counselors are Guilford graduates, which automatically qualifies them as highly informed for their positions. And with student tour guides compensated $250 a semester and prospective hosts lured by Harris Teeter and B.B.’s gift certificates, student involvement is up significantly from recent years. “Much more time and effort is spent matching up prospective and host more closely than in the past, which allows for a more attentive host,” stated Nancy Houston, coordinator for visitor services.

At the moment, Doss is busy strategizing, compiling numbers, finding trends, and trying to figure out where to put 400 more main campus students. Presently, out of an annual average of 25,000 inquires, 5.5 percent apply. “Trying to boost inquiries up 50 percent would be heck,” protested Doss, “ it would