Education Essay Sample: Number of Students Enrolled in Universities

The aim of this analysis was to explore the enrollment trends in 50 of the top national universities in the United States. I love statistics and examination of this variable not only expanded my knowledge in descriptive statistics but also was an eye opener into the trends associated with top enrollments in American Universities. I believe that having knowledge of the top 50 enrollments is very informative, especially with regards to popular education destinations. It will inform my future decisions about the likely universities I can opt to advance my studies. The source of data for my analysis is from a website called U.S.News owned by US News & World Report L.P (a multi-platform publisher of news and information, which includes annual print and e-book versions of its authoritative rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools and Best Hospitals). The information published on the website is current (based on the 2017 enrollments countrywide).

Enrollment is an important variable that tells us about the popularity of a university among both local and international students. The popularity of a university plays a very important role in the perceptions of employers worldwide. For example, the employers are likely to consider a graduate from a highly ranked university than from a poorly ranked university. The Times Higher Education reported in the Universities World Reputation Rankings 2016 publication that Japanese students, for example, opted for the biggest universities because they perceived their potential employers as discriminative in terms of the universities attended (with greater preference for graduates who attended top universities). Therefore, knowledge of the most popular universities by their enrollments is a huge step in making decisions about the potential universities to join vis a vis the career aspirations.

The sampling technique used for the acquisition of raw data is systematic sampling. The criteria included the inclusion of only national universities. Systematic sampling is a type of probability sampling method whereby sample members from a larger population are selected according to a random starting point. The starting point in this analysis was national universities.

The results show that the median enrollment of the universities in the sample is 31,094 (half of the universities have enrollments equal to or higher than this value and the other half have enrolments equal to or lower than 31,094). Most universities have an enrollment that is between 28213.25 and 34797.25, but some universities have enrollments that are as low as 25455 and as high as 55776. Figure 1 shows that the enrollment data is not normally distributed because of the presence of skewness. The boxplot has right-skewed data showing university enrollments. Most of the enrollments are relatively lower, and only a few enrollments are very high. Of all the universities, Georgia State University had the lowest enrollment (25,455 students) while the University of Central Florida has the highest enrollment (55,776 students). The top three universities in enrollments in 2017/2018 include the University of Central Florida (55,776 students), Texas A&M University - College Station (50,735 students), and Liberty University (47,050 students). Some of the other universities occupying the top quartile include Ohio State University-Columbus (45,831), Pennsylvania State University - University Park (41,359), and University of Texas - Austin (40,168). The university closest to the Mean (33080.1) is the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign (33,932). The University of Maryland - College Park with an enrollment of 28,472 students cuts off the bottom 25% of the data. Other universities in the bottom 25% are New York University (26,135), University of Missouri (25,898), University of Cincinnati (25,860), and Georgia State University (25,455) among others.

The University of Texas-Austin, the University of Washington, and the University of California-Berkeley include some of the best universities in the country and the world as per the Universities World Reputation Rankings report. The present analysis these three universities rank 8th, 27th, and 34th in the top 50 enrollments among the national universities. The enrollment of students at the University of Texas-Austin was significantly higher than those of the University of Washington and the University of California-Berkeley. However, the difference in student enrollment between the University of Washington and the University of California-Berkeley is insignificant. Seven out of the fifty universities had higher enrolment rates than the University of Texas - Austin, which represents 14% of the total. On the other hand, 52% (26 universities) and 66% (33 universities) out of the 50 national universities ranked higher than the University of Washington, and the University of California-Berkeley, respectively. The University of Texas - Austin is contained within the 4th quartile while both the University of Washington and the University of California-Berkeley are contained within the 2nd quartile (within the interquartile range). The University of Washington is closer to the median enrollment than the University of Texas - Austin and the University of California-Berkeley.

This project has taught me how to use descriptive statistics (measures of central tendency) to synthesize large data for easier interpretation. Both the descriptive values and the graphical representation via the boxplot made my interpretation of the data easier. I could immediately check the distribution of the data in the box plot and decided that because of the skewed data, the Empirical Rule does not apply, but Chebyshev's Rule does on the data. In addition, the universities ranked as best in the United States do not necessarily rank higher in enrollments.

Appendix A

Source: U.S.News, National University Rankings, URL: https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities?_mode=table&_sort=enrollment&_sort-direction=descTop 50 enrollments into National Universities (Alphabetically)

No National University Rank Enrollment

1 Arizona State University--Tempe 42,477

2 Brigham Young University--Provo 30,979

3 California State University--Fullerton 34,576

4 Florida International University 45,813

5 Florida State University 32,929

6 Georgia State University 25,455

7 Indiana University--Bloomington 39,184

8 Iowa State University 30,671

9 Kennesaw State University 32,166

10 Liberty University 47,050

11 Louisiana State University--Baton Rouge 26,118

12 Michigan State University 39,090

13 New York University 26,135

14 Northern Arizona University 26,506

15 Ohio State University--Columbus 45,831

16 Pennsylvania State University--University Park 41,359

17 Purdue University--West Lafayette 30,043

18 Rutgers University--New Brunswick 36,168

19 San Diego State University 29,853

20 San Francisco State University 25,945

21 Temple University 29,275

22 Texas A&M University--College Station 50,735

23 Texas State University 34,244

24 Texas Tech University 29,963

25 University of Alabama 32,563

26 University of Arizona 34,072

27 University of California--Berkeley 29,311

28 University of California--Davis 29,546

29 University of California--Irvine 27,331

30 University of California--Los Angeles 30,873

31 University of California--San Diego 28,127

32 University of Central Florida 55,776

33 University of Cincinnati 25,860

34 University of Colorado--Boulder 27,846

35 University of Florida 34,554

36 University of Georgia 27,951

37 University of Houston 35,871

38 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign 33,932

39 University of Maryland--College Park 28,472

40 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor 28,983

41 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities 34,871

42 University of Missouri 25,898

43 University of North Texas 31,209

44 University of South Carolina 25,556

45 University of South Florida 31,461

46 University of Texas--Arlington 32,775

47 University of Texas--Austin 40,168

48 University of Washington 30,933

49 University of Wisconsin--Madison 31,710

50 Virginia Tech 25,791

Top 50 Enrollments (Alphabetically)

No National University Rank Enrollment

1 University of Central Florida 55,776

2 Texas A&M University--College Station 50,735

3 Liberty University 47,050

4 Ohio State University--Columbus 45,831

5 Florida International University 45,813

6 Arizona State University--Tempe 42,477

7 Pennsylvania State University--University Park 41,359

8 University of Texas--Austin 40,168

9 Indiana University--Bloomington 39,184

10 Michigan State University 39,090

11 Rutgers University--New Brunswick 36,168

12 University of Houston 35,871

13 University of Minnesota--Twin Cities 34,871

14 California State University--Fullerton 34,576

15 University of Florida 34,554

16 Texas State University 34,244

17 University of Arizona 34,072

18 University of Illinois--Urbana-Champaign 33,932

19 Florida State University 32,929

20 University of Texas--Arlington 32,775

21 University of Alabama 32,563

22 Kennesaw State University 32,166

23 University of Wisconsin--Madison 31,710

24 University of South Florida 31,461

25 University of North Texas 31,209

26 Brigham Young University--Provo 30,979

27 University of Washington 30,933

28 University of California--Los Angeles 30,873

29 Iowa State University 30,671

30 Purdue University--West Lafayette 30,043

31 Texas Tech University 29,963

32 San Diego State University 29,853

33 University of California--Davis 29,546

34 University of California--Berkeley 29,311

35 Temple University 29,275

36 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor 28,983

37 University of Maryland--College Park 28,472

38 University of California--San Diego 28,127

39 University of Georgia 27,951

40 University of Colorado--Boulder 27,846

41 University of California--Irvine 27,331

42 Northern Arizona University 26,506

43 New York University 26,135

44 Louisiana State University--Baton Rouge 26,118

45 San Francisco State University 25,945

46 University of Missouri 25,898

47 University of Cincinnati 25,860

48 Virginia Tech 25,791

49 University of South Carolina 25,556

50 Georgia State University 25,455

Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive Statistics

Mean 33080.1

Median 31094

Mode #N/A

Standard Deviation 6949.26333

Minimum 25455

Maximum 55776

1st Quartile 28213.25

3rd Quartile 34797.25

Figure 1. Number of enrolled students in National Universities (Top 50 universities)